The Strange Places To Which A John R. Neill Obsession Can Lead
Posted 6 November 2008 in Books by Catriona
Someone came across the blog this morning by Googling “Dorothy + Ozma + lesbians,” which I’m fairly certain is not a topic that I’ve ever covered on the blog.
I imagine there’s a fair degree of fan fiction out there along those lines.
I never read their relationship as sexual, but, then, I’m not really looking for sexual relationships between characters when I read children’s fantasy.
For the record, though, here’s John R. Neill’s depiction of their “rapturous” meeting in The Road to Oz:
The Road to Oz (1909). Rand Mcnally, n.d. 205.
Read that as you will.
Share your thoughts [3]
1
Matthew Smith wrote at Nov 6, 06:14 am
It’s an old hag … not it’s two beautiful girls kissing … oh I never can see these optical illusions.
2
Francie wrote at Jan 21, 09:07 pm
I think it’s a stretch to think that two little girls can even conceive of being lesbians. When you’re that young, you can love someone without the relationship being sexual. Besides, what about families who kiss on the lips?
Either way, this is a beautiful illustration, what an amazing artist!
3
Catriona wrote at Jan 21, 09:42 pm
I doubt it is sexual, Francie (welcome to the blog, by the way!). I was fairly astonished by the Google search result, actually.
This illustration is the only one I found that even hints at such a relationship, and, as you say, there are numerous other and (to me) more plausible readings of it than sexual attraction.
(There’s also the socio-cultural aspect: it wasn’t unusual for girls to kiss on the lips in the nineteenth century and, except in explicitly erotic writings, it wasn’t sexualised behaviour.)
I suspect the original Googler was looking for slash fic, rather than actual Oz texts.