Randall E. Auxier

I am sure I would not have read this book if I were not a half-century long fan of Bruce Springsteen, so my bias is already disclosed. The book is a collection of philosophical musings by philosopher fans, so it was quite entertaining to me. The topic range is very broad, evidenced by the titles of some of the essays: “They Played Guitars All Night and All Day: The Ethics of Encores” (the title before the colon is a line from “Rosalita”); “Blinded by the Subterranean Homesick Muse: The Poet as Virtuous and Virtuoso”, “Racing in the Street: Freedom, Feminism, and Collateral Damage”; “Living in ‘My Hometown’: Local Philosophies for Troubled Times”; “A Little of That ‘Human Touch’: Knowledge and Empathy in the Music of Bruce Springsteen”; “Socrates the Sculptor, Springsteen the Singer: Philosophy and Art Against the Tyrants”. Entertaining and thought-provoking, some essays much better than others, so it was a mixed bag; hence, the three-star rating.… (más)

FYI REVIEW This book contains essays by the following writers:
I Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch
Somewhere Over the Rainbow: A Moral Odysset by Luke Dick
The Virtues of The Wizard of Oz by Corey McCall and Randall E. Auxier
Very Good, but Not So Mysterious: Hegel, Rushdie, and the Dialectics of Oz by Gina Altamura and J.M. Fritzman
Freeing the Slaves in Oz by Jason Bell and Jessica Bell
When the Wiz Goes Black, Does it Ever Go Back? By Tommy J. Curry
II If I Only Had a Mind
Oz Never Did Give Nothing to the Tin Man by Michael F. Patton Jr.
Pay No Attention to That Man Behind the Curtain! By Mark D. Tschaepe
III I’ve a Feeling We’re Not in Kansas Anymore
I’m Melting! Melting! by Randall E. Auxier
Off to See the Wizard: The Romantic Eschatology of The Wizard of Oz by James McLachlan
The Wonderful Smallness of Evil in Oz by George A. Dunn
The Possible World of Oz by Randall E. Auxier
IV (Completely) Over the Rainbow
Dude, When Did Pink Floyd Write a Soundtrack for The Wizard of Oz by Phillip S. Seng
Lions and Tigers and Bears: A Phenomenology of Scary Stuff by Randall E. Auxier
V No Place Like Home
Coloring Kansas: Reality by Way of Appearance by Matthew Caleb Flamm and Jeffifer A. Rea
A Sort of Homecoming: Growing Up with Dorothy by Phillip S. Send
Should Dorothy Have Stayed in Oz? by Steve Bickham
There’s No Place Like Home: Dorothy Gale’s Relations by Aaron Fortune
VI Something Wicked This Way Come
Wicked Feminism by Pam R. Sailors
I’m Not That Girl by Richard Greene
Wicked? It’s Not Easy Being Green by Kevin Duranch
In the Merry Old Matriarchy of Oz by Randall E. Auzier… (más)

This series is a lot of fun. It feels light, yet gets into some important philosophical topics, using the stories of The Wizard of Oz as a mechanism to drive the discussion.

The book covers the movie, touching on some of the earlier versions, the original series of books, the books by Gregory Maguire, and a couple of plays. The authors also touch on Rushdie's analysis of Oz. The focus is on the 1939 movie, the first two or three books of Baum's series, and Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

Several philosophers provide short discussions on different topics touched on, intentionally or not, by the different versions of the Wizard of Oz. These include the nature of evil, the value of home and what it means, feminism, morals, slavery, and more. Phillip Seng discusses the relationship between the Pink Floyd soundtrack and its relationship to the movie, and discusses some basic probability with it.

The discussions are very interesting. They are admittedly light, as entire books can be found on most of these subjects, but they provide good food for thought and a solid basis to build on.… (más)