It’s probably true that everything I liked as a kid, I still like now.
I was already in my teens by the time I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs. My family was about to move into a new house, and I was supposed to be painting the interiors. Instead, I spent huge swaths of the day reading about John Carter of Mars (or Barsoom, as it’s called by the natives). Eventually I finished the job, but it did not escape my mother’s notice that it took an awfully long time.
Years later, as I was just getting sucked into the internet, I belonged to an online book chat, and one of the topics we discussed was what we enjoyed reading as we were growing up. I mentioned Burroughs, which spurred one of the other contributors to remark, “Some things are probably better left to memory.”
Fast forward another decade. I was sifting through a box of my old paperbacks, when my eyes settled on Michael Whelan’s vibrant cover art, with its six-limbed Green Martians, scantily clad princesses, mad scientists, and swords everywhere. Why would I not want to re-explore?
And you know what? The stories were still terrific.
Scott Tracy Griffin will be our guest on an upcoming episode of “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.” Griffin is a world authority on Burroughs. In particular, he has written extensively on the author’s most famous creation, Tarzan of the Apes. Needless to say, I am taking my preparation entirely too seriously – if having this much fun can be considered serious. I have read literally thousands of pages of Burroughs in preparation for the interview.
Is Burroughs a great writer? From a literary standpoint, probably not. Even his plots can seem a little slapdash, written as they were for the pulps. But he is unquestionably a master entertainer. There is a raw power to his stories and a flamboyant passion underlying his descriptions that defy criticism. It’s easy to understand why he had such a lasting impact on figures ranging from Ray Bradbury to George Lucas to Carl Sagan.
And it’s not like he doesn’t have anything to say. The stories are full of interesting, amusing, and occasionally horrifying observations about social constructs (practical and peculiar), race relations, overweening science, religious fanaticism, ivory tower intellectualism, autocratic rule, greed, lust, love, honor, sacrifice, environmental peril, the beauty of nature, and the mysteries of existence. Furthermore, since his characters and settings extend over multiple narratives, he is able to fully develop these magical, transporting worlds.
Maybe Africa and Mars are not as strange and distant as they once seemed in the nineteen-tens (the era that produced Tarzan and John Carter). But Burroughs’ imagination is evergreen in its inspiration and fascination.
Also, I love his crazy science! It’s not enough for Burroughs to build these insane worlds; he actually attempts at many points to explain how everything works. That his speculative flights are rooted in the science and technology of his own time makes them all the more fascinating. I love that people on Mars travel in aerial warships powered by propeller, and that no one seems to have developed methods of long-distance communication.
Furthermore, despite the existence of rifles and sidearms, swords are still the preferred method of defense. Castles and walled cities are common. So as much as Burroughs looks forward, he also looks back.
Sure, a broken clock is right twice a day, but give Burroughs some credit. He may lack the respectability of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, but he did anticipate wireless technology, the teletype, radar, sonar, the radio compass, autopilot, television, cloning, organ transplants, and the use of radiation in warfare.
Now that “Tarzan of the Apes,” The Return of Tarzan,” and “A Princess of Mars” have all been picked up by Penguin Classics, it’s high time to give Burroughs his due. Tarzan has been as enduringly popular as Sherlock Holmes and more insinuatingly primal than Conan Doyle’s other hero, Professor Challenger. And if you only know Tarzan from the movies, you don’t know Tarzan! These are simple adventure tales, to be sure, but they are also thought-provoking reflections of the era in which they were written that still have the power to enthrall today. Who knew? They are classics, after all.
It’s the summer of Edgar Rice Burroughs! Join us as we chat about these topics and more with author Scott Tracy Griffin, on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, when we livestream on Facebook, Sunday, August 8, at 7 PM EDT.
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner
PLEASE NOTE: There will be no show this weekend, but Roy and I will be back on Friday, August 6, to discuss the 1961 Irwin Allen film, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.”
PHOTOS (counterclockwise from top): Burroughs authority Scott Tracy Griffin, his book “Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration,” the last of the John Carter collections, and the master himself
