|
Wizard of Oz |
The
hypothesis is that there is an underlying rationale of Oz and that furthermore
Oz at the supporting, conceptual level is a
Gaelic speaking fairy paradise, Tir nan Og, (pronounced tay nan oz) running on
Chinese fairy metaphysics as interpreted by a Theosophist.
How deep you dig into the obscure and unfamiliar to establish plausibility depends on the acquaintance your audience has to the concepts in question. Narnia is a good example. For a Christian who takes supersessionism for granted, the Christian background is immediately obvious. For a Jew growing up in a supersessionist milieu, obvious when pointed out. For a Buddhist who is vaguely aware of Christianity and has no concept of supersessionism at all, much digging would be required and much would need to be explained. For a practitioner of Bon, the footnotes would be larger than the text. For technical Theosophy we are all like Buddhists. When I was 8 and 9 years old I read through numerous books on Theosophy written in the 1800s and consolidated the technical aspects into a number of notebooks. This was from a public library founded in the early 1900s and which hadn't got rid of a book since. By the late 1800s the concept of basing fictional history on a rationalized background of world-building had become familiar. The Waverly novels of Scott had been immensely popular. Novels set in foreign lands based on travelogue material were kicking butt. This was to develop into what is now called the fully-realized novel. Invented history, language, geography etc of which the most extreme example is Middle Earth. The present most popular example is Discworld which started out as a parody which turned into a Silverlock which turned into a fully realized philosophical entertainment. The Theosophic background that seems to me to be significant will be found in the Notes 1 through 25 and I'll take the Oz books one by one and see if any of it seems to apply. Since I don't see any way this can be quantified I'm not looking to prove anything but rather to see if a fit looks any better than a picture made by mold on a wall. Theosophic Ontology was an Omnium Gatherum of Hieroglyphic, Coptic, Cabbalistic, Druidic, Pythagorean, Orphic, Hermetic, Zoroastrian, Mithraic, Gnostic, Ebionite, Buddhist, Eleusinian, Samothracan ontology, as understood in the 1800s, smurged together, with the rough corners knocked off. As I understand it, the idea was that by all this overlaying, the underlying Truth that exists at the heart of all philosophic and religious systems would become evident. Perhaps... but this at least can be said for it, it was a self defining and consistent whole, and unique in that it answered all the questions of Ontology. I'll keep it brief and to the point, without extended commentary unless requested. I'll avoid the use of Sanskrit and redefine English words to be the appropriate technical terms where necessary. I will put any comments that aren't implied in the notes in double parens. Take everything else as a rephrase of the notes. Sometimes a very broad rephrase. |
| Wizard of Oz | part01 part02 part03 part04 part05 part06 | ||
| Land of Oz | part01 part02 | ||
| Ozma of Oz | part01 part02 part03 | ||
| Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz | part01 part02 part03 part04 part05 part06 | ||
| Road to Oz | part01 part02 part03 part04 | ||
| Emerald City of Oz | part01 part02 part03 part04 |
| Patchwork Girl of Oz | part01 part02 | ||
| Tik-Tok of Oz | part01 part02 | ||
| Scarecrow of Oz | part01 |
| Rinkitink in Oz | part01 |
| Lost Princess of Oz | part01 |
| Tin Woodman of Oz | part01 |
| Magic of Oz | part01 |
| Glinda of Oz | part01 |