The sexual tension between the two main characters in Gregory Maguire’s Wicked was intentional, the author revealed in an interview with Them magazine.
Maguire’s 1995 novel is about the relationship between Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, and her college roommate, Glinda, who becomes the Good Witch of the South. The novel was adapted into a hit Broadway musical that opened in 2003; the first part of a film adaptation of the musical, starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, premiered last month.
A prequel to Maguire’s novel, Elphie, is scheduled for publication in March. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a bit of a slog and a bit of a downer, but essential for Elphaba fans.”
Asked by Them contributing editor Mathew Rodriguez about the “sapphic tension” between Elphaba and Glinda, Maguire said, “That was intentional, and it was modest and restrained and refined in such a way that one could imagine that one of those two young women had felt more than the other and had not wanted to say it.…I wanted to propose this possibility, but I did not want to make a declarative statement about [it].”
Maguire also addressed speculation that Elphaba might be either transgender or intersex.
“I do sow seeds of possibility there,” he said. “We are all larger than the sum of the things that happen to us biologically, biochemically, emotionally, experientially, culturally; we are all larger than that. That’s what survival is. Discovering the breadth and scope of your own soul, despite and because of what happens to you. So I’m not going to answer the question about whether she is, but I think to ask the question is absolutely pertinent.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
