Magic Land
From Oz Wiki
Magic Land, or Goodwinia, is the alternative version of the Land of Oz created by Russian author Alexander Volkov in his six books, and developed further by Volkov's followers and imitators. Magic Land shows a broad range of similarities with (and divergences from) L. Frank Baum's original vision of Oz. In both can be found an Emerald City, a Powder of Life, and a little girl heroine from Kansas. The same core grouping of characters and elements exists in both, usually under different names:
- Dorothy Gale = Ellie Smith
- Toto = Totoshka
- Wizard of Oz = James Goodwin
- Scarecrow = Strasheela, or Strashila
- Tin Woodman = the Iron Woodman, Iron Woodcutter, or Iron Lumberjack
- Cowardly Lion = the Cowardly Lion, later the Courageous Lion
- Wicked Witch of the East = Gingema
- Wicked Witch of the West = Bastinda
- Glinda = Stella
- Munchkin Country = Blue Land
- Gillikin Country = Violet Land
- Soldier with the Green Whiskers = Din Gior
- Guardian of the Gates = Faramant the Guardian of the Gates
- Queen of the Field Mice = Ramina, Queen of the Field Mice
- Cap'n Bill = Charlie Black
- Nome Kingdom = Underground Land
- Nomes = Ore-Diggers
- Forbidden Fountain = Sacred Spring
- Water of Oblivion = Soporific Water
- Quox = Oyho
The recurring villain Urfin Jus compares with the Nome King and Ugu the Shoemaker. As Baum introduced subsidiary girl heroines — Betsy Bobbin and Trot — so Ellie has a younger sister, Annie. Volkov's Violet Land is in the West, instead of the North as in Oz.
Curiously, Volkov located his Magic Land within Kansas (an exotic location, perhaps, for his audience of Russian children), though it is isolated from the rest of the state by physical and magical barriers.
Lazar Steinmetz has written The Encyclopedia of Magic Land (2000).
