Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West
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| Author | Gregory Maguire |
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| Illustrator | Douglas Smith |
| Cover artist | Douglas Smith |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Wicked Years |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
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Publication date
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September 28, 1996 (copyrighted earlier in an unknown month in 1995) |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 406 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 32746783 |
| 813/.54 20 | |
| LC Class | PS3563.A3535 W5 1995 |
| Followed by | Son of a Witch |
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West is a novel published in 1995 written by Gregory Maguire and illustrated by Douglas Smith. It is a revisionist look at the land and characters of Oz from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, its sequels, and the 1939 film adaption The Wizard of Oz. Unlike the popular 1939 movie and Baum's writings, this novel is not directed at children, and contains adult language and content including violent imagery and sexual situations.
It is the first in The Wicked Years series, and was followed by Son of a Witch (published in September 2005), A Lion Among Men (published in October 2008), and Out of Oz (published in November 2011).
In 2003, the novel became the basis for the Broadway musical Wicked.
The novel presents events, characters and situations from Baum's books and the film in new ways, making numerous alterations. The social strife described in The Wicked Years indicates that the two series are set in similar and internally consistent but distinct versions of Oz.
The novel is a political, social, and ethical commentary on the nature of good and evil and takes place in The Land of Oz, in the years leading to Dorothy's arrival. The story centers on Elphaba, the misunderstood green-skinned girl who grows up to become the notorious Wicked Witch of the West. Gregory Maguire fashioned the name of Elphaba /ˈɛlfəbə/ from the initials of Lyman Frank Baum, L-F-B. The story is divided into five different sections based on the plot location. There is also a prologue where Elphaba is spying on Dorothy and her friends, hearing their gossip about her.
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