'A Modernized Fairy Tale': Revisiting Americanness in L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Abstract

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz needs no introduction. Being a literary success since its publication at the turn of the century, this story has surpassed the limits of time and space, becoming part of the history of America as well as one of the most recognizable children's books of all time. Nevertheless, it is not a conventional fairy-tale. Its singularity relies on its relentless Americanness and L. Frank Baum's purely American concern of creating something new: a modernized fairy tale. This undergraduate dissertation seeks to explore a topic that has been greatly overlooked by critics: the elements that make this classic a quintessential American story. The dissertation argues that, by distancing himself from European traditions, by asserting American values, and by the use of explicit national imagery, L. Frank Baum achieves something never seen in American Literature: a fairy-tale Americans can call their own.