emptywishes's Full Review: L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, W. W. Denslo...
When faced with the daunting task of beginning a hundred-page research paper, many first-year masters students seem a bit lost. Thankfully, one of us has had her subject in mind for months, and knew exactly where to start - Michael Patrick Hearn's TheAnnotated Wizard of Oz.
Hearn's book starts out with a long introduction which deals with everything from L. Frank Baum himself, to the conditions surrounding his writing of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, to theatre adaptations and, later on, the 1939 Judy Garland film that has marked children and adults alike for decades. This ninety-page introduction also includes family photographs, playbills, and photos from the filming of the most famous adaptation, among other things. While this section of the book may not be the most useful for everyone, it really sets the tone of the approximately four-hundred pages to come.
However, it is the core of the Annotated Wizard - its treatment of Baum's work - that makes it such a wonderful resource. The text of the original Wizard is shown in its original page format, including W.W. Denslow's gorgeous illustrations, the only addition to them being numbers in the margin, which correspond to Hearn's notes. Hearn keeps his notes on separate pages, usually side-by-side with Baum's text, but are occasionally found a page or two later. These notes address everything from Baum's choice of puns, to changes in later versions of the texts, to criticism or theoretical readings of the Wizard. Hearn is very careful to cite all his sources, allowing the reader to trace a path back to the primary sources.
Following the Wizard, Hearn has included a few pages which he has dubbed "The Denslow Appendix". Due to Baum and Denslow's joint copyright of the books they worked on together (Father Goose, His Book and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), neither really seemed sure who owned the rights to what, and therefore both continued on using the story and characters as they saw fit. This section includes various sketches of Denslow's characters, as well as a short story written by Denslow which features many of the characters from the Oz books. It is a very interesting addition for those who remember the illustrations from their childhood copy of the Wizard.
The only fault with Hearn's Annotated Wizard rears its ugly head at the end of the book - the bibliography. While it lists all of Baum's writings, published both under his name as well as under pseudonyms and anonymously, it really falls short with regards to the work of others. The "About L. Frank Baum" section only lists a half-page of resources, and the "About Baum's Work" heading doesn't come close to listing all the works cited throughout the footnotes of the book. As a work which clearly targets a more academic audience, a more complete bibliography would have surely been appreciated. Yet despite this shortcoming, Hearn's Annotated Wizard of Oz remains an excellent starting point for any Oz-related research, and should be required reading for any student embarking on a related endeavor.
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