Eventized: A Michael Neno Blog

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Thursday, November 14, 2024

Recently Read: Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs' 1912 tale of the son of a British aristocrat being born and raised by apes in Sub-Saharan Africa has been perennial for one reason: the author's expertise in inducing the reader to want to know what happens next. In this tale of heredity vs. environment, the protagonist, Tarzan, learns to read English and speak French before he can speak English, and can batter the largest creatures of the jungle in battle, but not know how to open a paper envelope. His slowly awakening knowledge of a civilization outside the primeval world he's steeped in is compelling. Tarzan of the Apes ends on a cliffhanger, making reading its sequel a must.

Tarzan of the Apes also, alas, suffers from sexism and racism, with castaway Jane Porter's professorial father telling her "...not to worry her pretty little head" about a matter of importance and Porter's family servant, Esmeralda, spouting cliched "mammy" dialect. Porter's father and his assistant are themselves cliched, absent-minded, bickering, doddering "men of the mind", used for (attempted) comic effect.

With plans to read the complete Burroughs, I purchased the first volume of the recent Burroughs Authorized Library but was disappointed in the presentation and most likely won't invest in the rest. The surface of the hardbound book is a weird, rubbery texture unpleasant to the touch (couldn't the publisher charge a higher price for a nicer cloth-bound book?). Although many historical documents are helpfully included, the actual text of the novel is the 1969 rewritten version, with many differences altered from the original for what, presumably, used to be called political correctness. More importantly, nowhere does it state the Authorized Library, edited and published by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., is using altered text. For this reason, I turned to, for the main text, the 1963 Ballantine paperback. This series featured covers painted by Richard M. Powers. The Authorized hardcover reproduces Powers' cover inside but doesn't credit the artist.