Lyman Frank Baum: biography, creativity. Books about the country Oz

Who does not know the tale of Volkov about the girl Ellie, who came to the Magic country? But not everyone knows that, in reality, Volkov's work is just a free retelling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Lyman Frank Baum. In addition to this tale, Baum devoted another thirteen works to the Oz universe, in addition, other, equally interesting children's fairytales also came out from under his pen.

Baum Lyman Frank: biography of the early years

Frank was born in May 1856 in the family of a Cooper of a small American town in Chittenango. Because of problems with the heart of the baby, doctors predicted a short life for him - 3-4 years, but, to everyone's surprise, the boy outlived all his brothers and sisters.

Shortly after Frank's birth, his father became rich and was able to provide his children with better conditions for growing up. All childhood Baum passed on a family farm, where private teachers worked with him.

Early absorbed in books, Baum soon read the entire huge library of his father, which caused his pride. The favorite authors of Baum were Dickens and Thackeray.

In 1868, the boy was sent to the military academy in Pikskill. True, Frank soon persuaded his parents to take him home.

Once a guy received a miniature printing machine intended for the release of newspapers as a gift from his father for his birthday. Together with his brother, they began to produce a family newspaper. The home newspaper of Baumov published not only chronicles of family life, but also the first tales written by young Frank.

Since the age of seventeen, the writer has been keenly interested in philately and tried to publish his own magazine devoted to this topic. Later he worked as a bookstore director. His next hobby was the breeding of thoroughbred chickens. Baum even devoted a book to this topic - it was published, even when the boy turned twenty. However, later he cooled to the chickens and was carried away by the theater.

Baum's personal life

After some time with the wandering theater, Lyman Frank Baum met with the beautiful Maud in twenty-five years, and a year later they got married. The parents of Frank's beloved were not very fond of a dreamy son-in-law, but his father's wealth made them agree to this marriage.

Frank and Maud had four sons, whom Baum loved very much and often told tales before the dream of his own work. Over time, he began to record them, and soon published - so began the literary career Bauma.

A successful career as a writer

After the success of the first children's book a couple of years later Baum wrote a sequel, "The Goose's Father: His Book." However, watching how his own babies grow, he realized that it was necessary to compose a fairy tale for older children who were no longer interested in reading about the adventures of geese in a cattle farm. So there was a plan to write about the girl Dorothy, who happened to be in the fairy-tale country of Oz.

In 1900, the light came out the debut tale of the cycle about the country of Oz. This work instantly gained popularity, and tens of thousands of children began to read out the fascinating adventures of Dorothy. On the wave of success, the author published a fairy tale about Santa Claus, and two years later - its continuation. However, readers all expected a new book about the fairy-tale country from him, and in 1904 another fairy tale of the cycle "Country of Oz" appeared.

The last years of Bauma

Trying to move away from the topic of Oz, Baum wrote other tales, but they were not so interested in readers. Later, the writer completely switched to writing books about a magical land. In total, Baum devoted fourteen books to her, the last two of which were published after the death of a writer who died in 1919 from heart problems. It is noteworthy that the cycle about Oz was so popular that even after the death of its creator, other writers began to publish numerous extensions. Of course, they were inferior to the original.

Summary of "The Amazing Wizard of Oz"

The main heroine of the most popular first part and most of the other books of the cycle was the orphan Dorothy (Volkov renamed her Ellie). In the first book, a girl with a faithful dog Toto carries a powerful hurricane to Oz. Trying to return home, at the prompting of a kind sorceress, Dorothy heads to the Emerald City to Oza who rules it. On the way, the little girl starts a friendship with the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion. They all need something from the wizard, and he promises to fulfill their requests if friends save the country from the evil witch. Having overcome many problems, each hero gets what he wants.

The story of the story "Wonderful country of Oz"

In the second book, the main character is the servant of the wicked witch Mombi Tip. One day a boy runs away from her, taking with him a magic powder that can breathe life into non-living things. Having reached the Emerald City, he helps the Scarecrow escape from there, as the city is captured by an army of belligerent girls with spokes led by Ginger. Together they ask for help from the Tin Woodman and Glinda (a good sorceress). It turns out that they need to find the true ruler of the city - the vanished Princess Ozma. Through time it turns out that Type is Ozma, bewitched by Mombi witch. Returning to the true face, the princess and her friends regain power.

The plot of "Ozma from Oz", "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz", "Travel to Oz", and "Emerald City of Oz"

The little girl Dorothy appears again in the third book. Here she, along with the hen, Billina, is in the Magic Country. The girl with horror learns the tragic story of the royal family Yves. Trying to help them, she nearly lost her head. However, having met Princess Ozma (who came to help the royal family in the company of Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman), Dorothy manages to remove the curse from the family of Yves and return home.

In the fourth book, as a result of the earthquake, Dorothy, with her cousin Jeb and a decrepit horse, Jim are taken to the magical land of glass cities. Here they meet with the wizard Oz and the kitten Eureka. To get out of this completely unfriendly country, heroes have to overcome a lot. The trip ends again in Oz, where the girl is waiting for the good old friends who help her and her companions to return home.

In the fifth book of the series, Princess Ozma had a birthday, in which she very much wanted to see Dorothy. To do this, she confused all roads, and the girl, showing the way to a tramp named Shaggy, herself lost her way and after many wanderings and adventures she got to Oz to Ozma.

In the sixth story of the cycle "Country Oz" because of problems on the farm, the Dorothy family moves to live in the Magic country. However, the Emerald City is in trouble - it is trying to capture the evil king, who is building an underground passage.

The rest of the story about the Magic Country of Baum

Baum intended to complete the epic "Emerald City of Oz". Then he tried to write fairy tales about other heroes. But the young readers wanted to continue the adventures of their favorite characters. In the end, at the insistence of readers and publishers, Baum continued the cycle. In the following years, six more novels have been published: "A shoe from Oz", "Tik-Tok from Oz", "Scarecrow from Oz", "Rinkitink from Oz", "Missing Princess of Oz", "Iron Tin Woodman from the Country Oz. " After the death of the writer, his heirs published manuscripts of two more novels of the Oz universe: "The Magic of Oz" and "Glinda from Oz".

In most of the last books, the author was tired of this topic, but young readers from all over the world asked him about new tales, and the writer could not refuse them. It is noteworthy that even today some children write letters to the writer, despite the fact that Lyman Frank Baum died long ago.

Books about Santa Claus

Although the world fame and name Baum received thanks to an endless epic about the country of Oz, he wrote and other tales. So, after the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the writer composed a wonderful good Christmas fairy tale "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus". In it he told about the fate of a good boy, brought up by a lioness and a nymph Nekil, about how and why he became Santa Claus and how he received immortality.

This tale is also very much liked by children. Apparently, most of Baum's story about Santa Claus was closer than about the country of Oz, and soon he releases the book "Stolen Santa Claus". In it, he talks about the main enemies of Klaus and their attempts to break Christmas. Later the plot of this book was often used for many films.

For his rather long life he wrote more than two dozen books Lyman Frank Baum. These books were perceived in different ways by the public. The greatest popularity brought him exactly the tales. And although the author repeatedly tried to write on other topics, and very successfully, for his readers, he will forever remain the court chronicler of Oz.