The Writing Post

In order to understand a novel, we have to understand everything about the book. These factors include the author, the society, and the history to truly understand the nuances and messages we are supposed to take away as readers. In this post, we are going to look at the life and times of L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz.

The Life and Times of L. Frank Baum

Early Life

We know quite a bit about Baum from his work at the newspaper and through correspondences throughout his life. He was a creative but complicated force (as were most of the people from his era due to inept racial attitudes). Baum was born Lyman Frank Baum on May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York. As mentioned in a previous post, this was a time of change in America (or at least it would be soon enough) as the turn of the century loomed. Baum started his writing career in Aberdeen, South Dakota, as an editor of the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer.

“The newspaper is both the reason for, and the product of, the only period in Baum’s life when his energies were channeled solely into the creation of nonfiction materials for a general adult reading audience” (Koupal)

Later Life

Baum would spend most of his life writing fictional children’s literature in the wonderful world of Oz. Before heading down the road of literary immortality, however, Baum attempted many other professions, including “editor and printer of an amateur magazine, Rose Lawn Home Journal … reporter for the New York World; printer for New Era … manager of a string of vaudeville houses in New York and Pennsylvania, author, writer, composer, and director of Irish musical comedies and melodies …” and a whole lot more (Sale).

“I think a lot of the things that he did were trying to see what was popular and trying for himself to profit from that,” said creator of the documentary American Oz. “… I think that comes through all the different things that he did, including in Chicago when he started the magazine about window dressing show windows” (Rockett).

As such, after relocating and working in Chicago, Baum’s published his first book Father Goose (1899), which was went on to be successful, and the next year he published The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

“Baum wrote 13 more Oz books, and the series was continued by another after his death. Using a variety of pseudonyms as well as his own name, Baum wrote some 60 books, the bulk of them juveniles that were popular in their day” (Britannica)

Conclusion

When considering the life and times of L. Frank Baum, we have a history of a fantastical genius who could tie works together with frenetic energy and imagination. We also have a troubled ideology that stems from beliefs of the time period. Either way, upon reflection, Baum’s work remain deeply rooted in children’s fiction, being the progenitor of many tropes and concepts within literary works for young people.

Works Cited

KOUPAL, NANCY TYSTAD. “THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF THE WEST: L. FRANK BAUM IN SOUTH DAKOTA, 1888-91.” Great Plains Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 4, 1989, pp. 203–215. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23531112. Accessed 23 July 2021.

“L. Frank Baum | American Author.” Encyclopedia Britannica, britannica.com/biography/L-Frank-Baum.

Rockett, Darcel. “‘American Oz’: L. Frank Baum Doc Traces ‘Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Wicked’ Roots to Author’s Formative Chicago Years.” Chicagotribune.Com, 19 Apr. 2021, chicagotribune.com/entertainment/what-to-watch/ct-ent-l-frank-baum-wizard-of-oz-american-experience-0419-20210419-r7ftmrzvtrejleq2hz56sbp5ge-story.html.

Sale, Roger. “L. Frank Baum, and Oz.” The Hudson Review, vol. 25, no. 4, 1972, pp. 571–592. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3850065. Accessed 23 July 2021.