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Utopian Tension in L. Frank Baum's Oz(*).

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From: Utopian Studies
Date: 19980322
Author:KARP, ANDREW

In the Oz books written by L. Frank Baum the author explores political and philosophical concerns debated since the founding of the United States: the conflict between personal rights and freedoms and the good of the community. Baum creates Oz, a idyllic community that favors cultural pluralism. Cooperation extends to human beings, minorities, inanimate, mechanical beings and flora and fauna.

Numerous scholars have noted utopian aspects of the society depicted in the fourteen Oz books written by L. Frank Baum between 1900 and 1920.(1) These aspects include, among others, a communal ...

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