Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1995) by Gregory Maguire reimagines the central antagonist of the iconic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, which was published in 1900 by author L. Frank Baum and became central to American popular culture through the 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland. Allusions to the original story recur throughout film, television, and novels. Decades later, expressions like “we’re not in Kansas anymore” or “somewhere over the rainbow” live on, as do prominent symbols like the Yellow Brick Road and Dorothy’s ruby slippers. In Wicked, Maguire adapts these symbols and stories to give voice to the original’s stock villain, the green-skinned Wicked Witch of the West. In humanizing this antagonist, Maguire questions the stark binary between good and evil. His retelling constructs a magical topsy-turvy world that parallels the socioeconomic and political themes of his contemporary reader’s society. Part revisionist history, part social critical analysis, Wicked employs various literary devices to develop a narrative that transports readers to a setting that is both fantastical and all-too human.

Maguire’s interpretation of Baum’s classic was adapted into a sensationally popular Broadway musical called Wicked in 2003.