In 1939, Russian writer Alexander Volkov published The Wizard of the Emerald City, supposedly a translation of The Wizard of Oz. While the story of how Elli and her dog Totoshka travel to the Magic Land would be recognizable to most Americans, Volkov changes details and names and adds a couple of extra scenes, such as having Strasheela the Scarecrow and the Iron Woodchopper rescue Elli from a man-eating ogre.
The Wizard in this story is named Goodwin and Magic Land—which is located somewhere in Kansas—is often called Goodwinia.
Volkov wrote several sequels to Emerald City, moving further away from Baum with every one. In Baum’s second Oz book, Land of Oz, Princess Ozma becomes the ruler of Oz, but Strasheela stays king in Volkov’s books.
Urfin Jus and His Wooden Soldiers
Volkov’s second novel takes the magic powder of life Baum introduced in Land of Oz, and puts it into the hands of Urfin Jus, a toymaker who creates and animates an army of wooden soldiers to colnquer the Magic Land.
In The Seven Underground Kings, Urfin Jus tries to control the title subterranean monarchs, then tries to conquer the Magic Land again in Fiery God of the Marrans.
Volkov died after his fifth book, The Yellow Fog came out, but his posthumously published The Secret of the Deserted Castle, had extraterrestrials arrive in the Magic Land with plans to conquer the world.
Magic Land Sequels
Several other authors, such as Sergei Sukhinov, have continued the Volkov series after his death. In Sukhinov's stories, Ellie—now grown-up, widowed and retired—returns to Oz where she battles the daughter of the Witch of the East, Gingema. The online Books of Oz reference site lists them along with every other sequel and adaptation of Oz.
Magic Land Adaptations
The Wizard of the City of Emeralds, a 1974 Russian television series, brought the first three Volkov books alive with charming stop-motion puppetry. Elli and Totoshka are carried the magic land, meet their three friends and the wizard Goodwin, and destroy the witch Bastinda. They battle Urfin Jus’s wooden army, then defeat his schemes to manipulate the seven underground kings.
The 1994 Wizard of the Emerald City
This movie adapted Volkov for a live-action story, though with very poor special effects.
Oz meets Volkov
In 1999, Russian TV released a two-part animated adaptation of L. Frank Baum, Adventures in the Emerald City: Silver Shoes. It’s mostly based on Baum but includes several elements from the Magic Land books. A two part sequel, Adventures in the Emerald City: Princess Ozma, adapted Baum’s Land of Oz.
