Michael O. Riley

A surprisingly light read. The focus of the Riley's book is on examining the development of Baum's "American fairyland" over his career; to that end, Riley looks at each of Baum's fantasies, Oz and otherwise, analyzing the themes, elements, and passages of prose that contribute to the somewhat contradictory but always distinctly American vision Baum came to espouse. That line of investigation is extremely interesting, even if it can sometimes come off as rather "bitty," especially when discussing the later Oz books (where Baum is refining rather than inventing). There are plenty of interesting things to consider which seasoned Baum fans like myself probably simply take for granted: when, for instance, Baum actually starts to refer to Oz as a "fairy country," when and why he finally puts aside all possibility of death in his fantasy worlds, and when it is that Ozma shifts from being just a "little girl" to an actual, powerful fairy (it is, actually, very late in the game!). None of these revelations are particularly Earth-shattering, but I did enjoy watching Riley put the pieces of the puzzle together and reflect a fair amount of methodology - sometimes, purely commercially-driven - in Baum's world creation.

What's less appealing about the book, especially in a modern light, is Riley's reliance on simple plot description - and how uneven it can be. As this book was published in 1997, before the advent of Project Gutenberg and instant access to every one of Baum's fantasies, it is certainly understandable that Riley chooses to thoroughly summarize many of the non-Oz books, such as The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and John Dough and the Cherub (heck, I've never read John Dough, and I've been reading Baum for almost 30 years). I am completely puzzled, though, as to why The Sea Fairies and Sky Island get only the most perfunctory descriptions of less than a page each, nor why The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (a book that has never been out of print) requires a full three-and-a-half pages of pure summary. It's inconsistent, and of course with today's resources I found myself skimming past the summaries of all but the most unfamiliar works.

Finally, it's a little hard to get a grip on Riley's tone. That's an academic concern rather than a general one, as Riley's prose is never less than readable. The book is very conversational, actually. Yet that same conversational voice sometimes feels like it lightens the book up so much as to make it feel inconsequential. It's not even "pop academic" - it often just seems like a long fan essay. Riley might have been well advised to separate some of his content a little more clearly; keeping the main of the book to his critical analysis, with some of his tangents as footnotes, might have been a good beginning. The reader also might have been well served with the long plot summaries relegated to an appendix.

Regardless, I did enjoy reading Oz and Beyond, although it didn't leave me totally satisfied. What it did leave me with are some new thoughts and questions about the nature of Baum's fairyland, which will doubtless translate themselves into my own research. It was a good "library read," and I would encourage others interested in the topic to see if their university library can obtain a copy for their own studies.… (meer)

I picked this book up to do some research on The Master Key, and I was so engrossed, I read from that point forward, then went back to the beginning and read from there to where I started. It's just a really good, enjoyable read. Riley charts Baum's fantasy career, from his earliest work to his posthumous Glinda of Oz, showing how Oz and the rest of his fantasy realm evolved with time. As anyone who's read the Oz books knows, they weren't terribly consistent at the best of times; Baum changed a lot of things as he went along either because he had new ideas or just because he forgot. Riley skillfully shows how Baum made these changes, how Oz went from a mysterious land that needed to be escaped from to a joyous one that everyone wanted to go back to. Riley effective shows us what was the best about Baum's writing and makes the experience of reading Baum all the more enjoyable, what any critic worth his salt should do. A standout piece of academic work.… (meer)