''A Barnstormer in Oz: A Rationalization and Extrapolation of the Split-Level Continuum'' is a 1982 novel by

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for his sequences of novels, especially the ''World of Tiers ...

and is based on the setting and characters of

L. Frank Baum Lyman Frank Baum (; May 15, 1856 – May 6, 1919) was an American author best known for his children's books, particularly ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and its sequels. He wrote 14 novels in the ''Oz'' series, plus 41 other novels (not includ ...

's ''

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' is a children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz afte ...

''. The central character of the novel is Hank Stover, a pilot and the son of

Dorothy Gale Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his ''Oz'' novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and reappears in most of it ...

, who finds himself in Oz when his plane gets lost in a green cloud over Kansas in 1923. The Oz he discovers is on the brink of civil war; he encounters Erakna, the new Wicked Witch. Farmer takes an unusual approach to the corpus of Oz literature; he depends almost solely on Baum's original Oz book and neglects its many sequels. This "originalist" approach to the Oz mythos is rare but not unique; a few other writers have taken similar tacks, including Roger S. Baum, the great-grandson of L. Frank Baum. In ''Barnstormer'', Dorothy has made only one visit to Oz; when Hank Stover arrives, the Scarecrow still rules the

Emerald City The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900). Fictional description Located in the center of the L ...

, just as at the end of Baum's first Oz book. Since Farmer wrote for adults rather than children, there are elements of sex and violence in ''Barnstormer'' that are not typical of the Oz literature. As the book's subtitle indicates, Farmer indulges a rationalizing and explanatory bent: he treats Oz as a parallel universe in the science fiction vein. He attempts explanations and analyses of some of the fantastic elements in Baum's fictional world, including magic and talking animals. Literary scholars Kent Drummond, Susan Aronstein, and Terri L. Rittenburg have called it "the first instance of Dark Oz" and "the beginning of stand-alone, full-blown literary re-consumptions of Oz", specifying that it introduced the concept of " revisionist Oz, an Oz that purports to offer consumers the 'real Oz', the truth behind the myth."OZ GROWS UP
in ''The Road to Wicked: The Marketing and Consumption of Oz from L. Frank Baum to Broadway'', by Kent Drummond, Susan Aronstein, and Terri L. Rittenburg; p. 143; published June 24, 2018, by

Springer Publishing Springer Publishing Company is an American publishing company of academic journals and books, focusing on the fields of nursing, gerontology, psychology, social work, counseling, public health, and rehabilitation (neuropsychology). It was e ...

Opinions of Farmer's contribution to the literature of Oz span the entire critical spectrum; Jack Zipes called the novel "splendid", while Baum biographer Katharine Rogers considered it "revision to the point of debasement."Katharine M. Rogers, ''L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz: A Biography'', New York, Macmillan, 2002; p. 252. ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' considered it to be "done with almost no whimsy or humor" and "though ambitious, (...) not one of armer'sbetter books;"A BARNSTORMER IN OZ
reviewed in ''

''; published July 30, 1982; archived at PJFarmer.com In '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'',

Thomas Easton Thomas A. Easton (born 17 July 1944) is a teacher and well-known science fiction critic and author. He retired as a professor from Thomas College of Maine in 2014 and now teaches part-time at Mount Ida College in Newton, MA. Easton holds a Bachel ...

opined that the novel "will surely appeal best to those who remember Oz fondly. Others may well find it a touch too cute."The Reference Library
by

, in '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact''; published May 1983; archived at PJFarmer.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnstormer In Oz, A 1982 American novels 1982 fantasy novels Novels by Philip José Farmer Oz (franchise) books Aviation novels Parallel literature Books with cover art by Don Ivan Punchatz Phantasia Press books