Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950)
Author of Tarzan of the Apes
About the Author
Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago. His father, George Tyler was a distiller and a battery manufacturer. Early in life Burroughs attempted to support his family in a variety of occupations, including railroad policeman, business partner, and miner. None of these proved show more successful. However, Burroughs had always enjoyed reading adventure fiction and decided to try his hand at writing. His first attempt, written under the pseudonym Normal Bean, sold very quickly and Burroughs' career took off. Although critics and educators have not always been supportive of Burroughs' writing, the characters in his stories have entertained readers for many years. Tarzan was the most popular, earning Burroughs enough money to start his own publishing house and a motion picture company. Another character, John Carter, is the hero of Burroughs' Mars adventure series. The continuing popularity of these characters has led some critics to reconsider the value of Burroughs' writing and to acknowledge significant themes in his stories. Burroughs died on March 19, 1950. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Edgar Rice Burroughs on July 29, 1939
Series
Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Martian Tales Trilogy: A Princess of Mars / The Gods of Mars / The Warlord of Mars (2003) 977 copies, 13 reviews
Return to Mars: Thuvia, Maid of Mars; The Chessmen of Mars; & The Master Mind of Mars (Barsoom #4, 5, & 6) (1975) 187 copies, 2 reviews
Tarzan of the Apes The First Three Novels, Barnes and Noble Collectible Editions - Bonded Leather (1912) 109 copies
Men of Mars: A Fighting Man of Mars, Swords of Mars, and Synthetic Men of Mars (Barsoom #7, 8, & 9) (2006) 91 copies, 1 review
Tarzan of the Apes | The Son of Tarzan | Tarzan at the Earth's Core | Tarzan Triumphant (1988) 69 copies
The Collected John Carter of Mars, Volume 2: Thuvia, Maid of Mars / The Chessmen of Mars / The Master Mind of Mars / A Fighting Man of Mars (2012) 64 copies
John Carter: The Movie Novelization: Also includes: A Princess of Mars (John Carter of Mars) (2012) 59 copies
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes [1984 film] (1984) — Original book — 47 copies, 1 review
John Carter: Adventures on Mars Collection (Illustrated) (Five "John Carter of Mars" novels in one volume!) (2012) 39 copies
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes: Authorized Unabridged Edition Prepared Especially for Young Readers with an Official Ape-English Dictionary (1964) 36 copies
Tarzan 2-in-1 (Tarzan at the Earth's Core/Tarzan the Invincible) (Tarzan , No 13&14) (1997) 32 copies
Tarzan of the Apes (Fall River Press Edition): The Adventures of Lord Greystoke, Book One (The Adventures of Lord Greystoke series) (2011) 30 copies, 1 review
Carson of Venus SF Gateway Omnibus: Pirates of Venus, Lost on Venus, Carson of Venus (2014) 13 copies
TARZAN OF THE APES SERIES - Complete Collection: 25 Novels in One Volume (Illustrated) (2015) 12 copies
Pellucidar - The Inner World - Volume 2 - Tanar of Pellucidar & Tarzan at the Earth's Core (v. 2) (2006) 7 copies
Pellucidar - the Inner World: Vol. 3 - Back to the Stone Age & Land of Terror (Classic Science Fiction: Pellucidar) (2007) 7 copies
TARZAN: Tarzan bei den Affen / Tarzan und die Schiffbrüchigen/ Tarzan und der Verrückte (2012) 6 copies
Tarzan - džunglivalitseja 6 copies
Complete Venus Series (Pirates of Venus, Lost on Venus, Carson of Venus, Escape on Venus, Wizard of Venus) (Amtor) (1983) 6 copies
Tarzani džunglijutud. 1, Tarzan ja mõrv džunglis ; Tarzan ja merehädalised ; Tarzan ja maailmameister (1997) 5 copies
Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs 5 copies
Edgar Rice Burrough's Pellucidar Series: At the Earth's Core, Pellucidar, Tanar of Pellucidar, Tarzan at the Earth's Cor (1973) 5 copies
Complete Tarzan series 1-24 |Tarzan| 4 copies
Western Adventures: The Bandit of Hell's Bend & The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (2008) 3 copies
Užmirštoji sala: romanas 3 copies
Tagasi kiviaega : [romaan] 3 copies
The God of Tarzan 3 copies
Tarzan The First Five Books (Tarzan) 3 copies
Pirate Blood 3 copies
Tarzán en la selva 3 copies
War On Venus 3 copies
Savage Pellucidar [short story] 3 copies
Tarzán en El tesoro de Chaka 3 copies
VIC: Time Doesn't Matter 3 copies
The John Carter Trilogy of Edgar Rice Burroughs: A Princess of Mars; The Gods of Mars; A Warlord of Mars (2014) 3 copies
Goddess Of Fire 3 copies
Slaves Of The Fishmen 3 copies
"The Lightship Murder" 2 copies
LES CONQUERANTS DE LA LUNE Antares Edtion Originale 1985 Tirage 1000 exemplaires AVEC JAQUETTE (1900) 2 copies
The Tarzan Duology of Edgar Rice Burroughs: Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan: A Pulp-Lit Annotated Edition (2015) 2 copies
The Living Dead 2 copies
The Lion 2 copies
Tarzan Volume Twelve: Tarzan and the Madman, Tarzan and the Castaways & Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (2008) 2 copies
Tarzan And The Jungle Murders 2 copies
Tarzan Annual 1968 2 copies
Amazing Stories Annual: 1927 Issue - Authorized Replica Edition (Amazing Stories Classics) (2016) 2 copies
The Collected Adventures of Tarzan: 19 Novels and Stories by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Halcyon Classics) (2009) 2 copies
2000x: The Moon Maid (Unabridged) 2 copies
John Carter in Swords of Mars 2 copies
Tarzan din neamul maimuțelor 2 copies
The Tarzan Series - Three Volumes in One: Tarzan of the Apes, The Return of Tarzan, & The Beasts of Tarzan (2022) 2 copies
The Custer Siblings Series: The Eternal Lover, The Mad King, Sweetheart Primeval, & Barney Custer of Beatrice (2022) 2 copies
Tarzan a dzsungel fia 2 copies
Tarzan Midianin Maassa 2 copies
O Regresso de Tarzan 2 copies
Tarzan e os Malditos 2 copies
Tarzan And The Champion 2 copies
The Nightmare 2 copies
The Return To Pellucidar 2 copies
Tarzan's First Love 2 copies
Delphi Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs 2 copies
The Capture of Tarzan 2 copies
The Fight For The Balu 2 copies
Tarzan Rescues The Moon 2 copies
The Man without a Soul 2 copies
Tiger Girl 2 copies
Voittamaton Tarzan 2 copies
A Jungle Joke 2 copies
Tarzani Dzunglijutud II 2 copies
The End Of Bukawai 2 copies
The Battle For Teeka 2 copies
Tarzan käy sissisotaa 2 copies
Tarzan ja Ashairin timantti 2 copies
Tarzan And The Black Boy 2 copies
Men Of The Bronze Age 2 copies
Tarzan: Tarzan The Terrible 1 copy
Tarzan: Tarzan Of the Apes 1 copy
Tarzán y el Léon de Oro 1 copy
Tarzan - Nr. 3 1 copy
Intiaanipäälikkö 1 copy
Väkevä Billy 1 copy
Tarzan Raccolta N° 1 1 copy
Red Hawk 1 copy
Tarzani dzunglijutud I 1 copy
Hors de Caspak. (Caspak - 2). 1982. Broché. 221 pages. (Littérature, Science-fiction, Etats-Unis) (1982) 1 copy
Intiaanipäälikön kosto 1 copy
Tarzan Et Pellucidar 1 copy
Tarzan och dvärgfolket 1 copy
TARZAN EN LA SELVA 1 copy
Deep in the Jungle * Read Along Collection * CD & 3 Books * Walt Disney (READ ALONG COLLECTION) (2009) 1 copy
Марсиане - Дочь тысячи джеддаков - Боги Марса [Marsians - A Princess of Mars - The Gods of Mars] 1 copy
The Mysterious Island: A Fantastic Story of Action & Adventure (Annotated) By Jules Verne. (2019) 1 copy
Tarzanov syn 1 copy
The Illustrated Tarzan Books: # 3, The Beasts of Tarzan (The Illustrated Tarzan Books, # 3) (1971) 1 copy
Jungle Girl 1 copy
Tarzan nr. 9 1 copy
Tarzan y el imperio perdido 1 copy
A Trilogy Of Stories: Conquest Of The Moon/Lost Inside The Earth/Carter Of The Red Planet (2008) 1 copy
Tarzan: The Return Of Tarzan 1 copy
The Complete Caspak Series: The Land That Time Forgot, The People That Time Forgot, and Out of Time?s Abyss (2017) 1 copy
Manuel Classique et Élémentaire de Botanique, D'anatomie Et de Physiologie Végétale ... (French Edition) (2018) 1 copy
Tarzan o indomável 1 copy
Tarzan - Tarzans Bestien 1 copy
Tarzan y el león de oro 1 copy
Tarzan entre pigmeos 1 copy
Tarzans son Nr 6 1983 1 copy
Tarzan Special Nr 3 1976 1 copy
TARZAN ET LES ELEPHANTS 1938 1 copy
Tarzan presents Weird Worlds 1 copy
Tarzan and a Daring Rescue 1 copy
Pellucidar II 1 copy
Tarzan el indómito 1 copy
Ταρζάν 1 copy
Tarzan In Easy-To-Read Type 1 copy
Tarzan and the Snake People 1 copy
Tarzan: El hombre león 1 copy
Tarzan, o Destemido - Vol. 2 1 copy
Tarzán, rey de la selva 1 copy
Tarzan, o Destemido - Vol. 1 1 copy
O Tesouro de Tarzan 1 copy
GLI DEI DI MARTE 1 copy
The Complete Barsoom Omnibus 1 copy
Tarzan a dzsungel fia 1 copy
Tarzan e os homens leopardos 1 copy
“The Avenger” 1 copy
Tarzan visszatérése 1 copy
Tarzan din neamul maimuţelor 1 copy
Tarzan e o homem-leão 1 copy
Tarzan o magnífico 1 copy
Tarzan e a cidade proibida 1 copy
Em busca de Tarzan 1 copy
Tarzan o rei da selva 1 copy
Beyond Thirty 1 copy
Tarzan Pellucidaris 1 copy
The Wizards of venus 1 copy
(4)Tarzan, een valstrik 1 copy
Tarzan: Issue #2 1 copy
Tarzan of the Apes, etc 1 copy
Tarzan s'évade 1 copy
Bill de Machtige Vechter 1 copy
Tarzan presentalbum 1 copy
Venus Omnibus 1 copy
Tarzan et les Chinois : Par Edgar Rice Burroughs. Adaptation française de P. F. Caillé (1939) 1 copy, 1 review
Tarzan And The Magic Men 1 copy
Tarzan And The Elephant Men 1 copy
Powrót Tarzana 1 copy
Tangor Returns 1 copy
Adventure on Poloda 1 copy
John Carter of Mars: The Sci-fi Adventure Series (Annotated) (The 3 novels told by John Carter) (2012) 1 copy
The Primeval Quartet 1 copy
The Third Tarzan Omnibus: Tarzan the Untamed; Tarzan the Terrible; Tarzan and the Golden Lion 1 copy
Escape On Mars 1 copy
Frontiers of Possibility-Science Fiction by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Monster Men, The Lost Continent, Beyond the Farthe (2008) 1 copy
Starka Billy på äventyr 1 copy
Tarzan Annual 1965 1 copy
The Ancient Dead 1 copy
Invisible Men Of Mars 1 copy
Tarzan - Sammlerausgabe - Sonntagsseiten Jahrgang 1950 [Zeichner:] Burne Hogarth, Lubbers (1990) 1 copy
Beasts of Tarzan 1 copy
Tarzan, Gladiatorenes kamp 1 copy
Tarzan Annual 1967 1 copy
The First Edgar Rice Burroughs Omnibus: Beyond 30, The Man-Eater, Jungle Girl, The Monster Men 1 copy
[The Chessmen of Mars, etc.] 1 copy
Tarzan / 2-3 1 copy
The Prince of Mars 1 copy
Tarzan o Invencìvel 1 copy
The Return of Tarzan: Authorized Edition Prepared Especially for Young Readers [ABRIDGED] (1913) 1 copy, 1 review
Lost Inside the Earth 1 copy
Tarzan jättikirja 2 1 copy
Tarzani poeg. 4. raamat 1 copy
Võidutsev Tarzan 1 copy
La princesse de la lune - Illustrations et couverture de Pierre Blanchard - Traduction de Martine Blond (1983) 1 copy
Tarzan og landið týnda 1 copy
Black Pirates Of Barsoom 1 copy
Tarzan és Opar kincse 1 copy
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar, Jungle Tales of Tarzan, Tarzan the Terrible (Annotated) (2018) 1 copy
Intoarcerea lui Tarzan 1 copy
The Son of Tarzan, etc 1 copy
Tarzan Presentalbum 1985 1 copy
A Bibliography 1 copy
Tarzan of the Apes in Two Volumes: Tarzan of the Apes and The Return of Tarzan Complete and Unabridged (2022) 1 copy
Tarzan: Book 1 1 copy
Tarzan e a Cidade Perdida 1 copy
Tarzan: Book 2 1 copy
Tarzan: Book 3 1 copy
টারজান সমগ্র 1 copy
Associated Works
Disney's Tarzan (Disney's Wonderful World of Reading) (1999) — Original story — 559 copies, 2 reviews
The Prentice Hall Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy (2000) — Contributor — 99 copies, 2 reviews
Under the Moons of Mars - A History and Anthology of The Scientific Romance in the Munsey Magazines 1912 - 1920 (1970) — Contributor — 70 copies, 1 review
The Steampunk Megapack: 26 Modern and Classic Steampunk Stories (2013) — Contributor — 42 copies, 1 review
20 Masterpieces of Fantasy Fiction Vol. 1: Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tarzan of the Apes...... (2021) — Contributor — 21 copies
MGM Midnite Movies: 4 Movies [The Land That Time Forgot / The People That Time Forgot / Panic In Year Zero / The Last Man On Earth] (2011) — Writer — 3 copies
Fantastic adventures. No. 002 (July 1939) — Contributor — 2 copies
Argosy, March 19, 1938 — Contributor — 1 copy
Argosy, January 7, 1939 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Burroughs, Edgar Rice
- Legal name
- Burroughs, Edgar Rice
- Birthdate
- 1875-09-01
- Date of death
- 1950-03-19
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Phillips Academy
Michigan Military Academy - Occupations
- writer
war correspondent
soldier
railroad police
salesman
stenographer - Organizations
- United States Army
- Awards and honors
- Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame (2003)
Inkpot Award (1975) - Short biography
- Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American speculative fiction writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction and fantasy genres. Among his most well-known creations include Tarzan of the Apes, John Carter of Mars (Barsoom series), and Carson Napier of Venus (Amtor series).
He is also known for the hollow Earth-themed Pellucidar series, beginning with At the Earth's Core (1914); and the lost world-themed Caspak trilogy, beginning with The Land that Time Forgot (1918).
Burroughs' California ranch is now the center of the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles - Cause of death
- heart attack
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Places of residence
- Oak Park, Illinois, USA
- Place of death
- Encino, California, USA
- Burial location
- Tarzana, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Discussions
Bulging thews in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (November 2025)
1914: Edgar Rice Burroughs - Tarzan of the Apes in Literary Centennials (September 2025)
E.R. Burroughs The Land the Time Forgot Trilogy ILLUSTRATED DLE (Item#3808; $470) in Easton Press Collectors (January 2025)
Focus! in Good Show Sir! — bad science fiction and fantasy covers (January 2025)
John Carter! in The Weird Tradition (July 2016)
1914 Edgar Rice Burroughs: At the Earth's Core in Literary Centennials (December 2014)
Reviews
I had planned to only read the first volume of The Land that Time Forgot but I got so caught up in the adventure that I ended up reading all three volumes. Edgar Rice Burroughs certainly knew how to stir the imagination and give us larger-than-life heroes. Tarzan stands today as popular as he was when introduced in magazine serialization in 1912. The Land that Time Forgot was also introduced in magazine serialization in 1918, as a novel in 1924 and as a popular film in 1974.
This fantasy show more story about a group of people who stumble upon the lost continent of Caspak is filled with dinosaurs, sabre-tooth tigers and fierce Neanderthals. Even the assorted crew of the submarine they arrive in are divided into two camps. It is set during WW I and the people are Germans, English and American. The author ensures our attention by giving us three distinct romances to follow, with Bowen Tyler and Lys, Tom and Ajor and finally Bradley and Co-tan. The first volume involves their coming to Caspak and finding themselves in a very strange land, cut off from the rest of the world, where they find flora and fauna of prehistoric times. The second volume follows a group of would-be rescuers, while the third is the story of explorer Bradley and his adventures with the flying Wieroos in the land of “Oo-oh”
While far from being socially conscious in anyway, Burroughs is generous with racial slurs and his overly protective treatment of women characters reflects his time. Yet the books are filled with enough excitement, courage, love and adventure to please all. Of course there is also violence, treachery and savagery to spare. This is an author who understood the meaning of “pulp” fiction and was able to inspire a generation of fantasy and science fiction writers. show less
This fantasy show more story about a group of people who stumble upon the lost continent of Caspak is filled with dinosaurs, sabre-tooth tigers and fierce Neanderthals. Even the assorted crew of the submarine they arrive in are divided into two camps. It is set during WW I and the people are Germans, English and American. The author ensures our attention by giving us three distinct romances to follow, with Bowen Tyler and Lys, Tom and Ajor and finally Bradley and Co-tan. The first volume involves their coming to Caspak and finding themselves in a very strange land, cut off from the rest of the world, where they find flora and fauna of prehistoric times. The second volume follows a group of would-be rescuers, while the third is the story of explorer Bradley and his adventures with the flying Wieroos in the land of “Oo-oh”
While far from being socially conscious in anyway, Burroughs is generous with racial slurs and his overly protective treatment of women characters reflects his time. Yet the books are filled with enough excitement, courage, love and adventure to please all. Of course there is also violence, treachery and savagery to spare. This is an author who understood the meaning of “pulp” fiction and was able to inspire a generation of fantasy and science fiction writers. show less
I devoured Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels as a teenager, but I never read any of his other books. Now, at a very late age, I thought I'd at least give one of them a try. Burroughs's writing in this tale of an earthling transported somehow to Mars is both as good and as bad as in his Tarzan novels. While he clearly was getting paid by the word, Burroughs is a master at compelling the reader along, no matter how far-fetched or even ridiculous the events depicted seem. He is simply a show more genius at this sort of writing. It's scarcely literature as academics would evaluate it. Yet it propels the willing reader past all the obstacles of coincidence, unexplained impossible events (like hero John Carter going to sleep in a cave on Earth and waking up on Mars), and purple romantic prose into a vivid world of excitement. I didn't remotely enjoy A PRINCESS OF MARS as much as I enjoyed (and still enjoy) Burroughs's Tarzan books, and I'm not convinced I'll read any of the sequels (even to find out, one hopes, just how Carter made that sleepy leap from planet to planet). But it was fun, and I can imagine a 13-year-old boy getting a great deal of fun out of it, and I'm sure a whole lot of former 13-year-olds still do. show less
Published seven years after the last Pellucidar adventure, TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE, this new tale takes up the story of von Horst, the lost member of the crew of the dirigible 0-220 whom the rescued Emperor, David Innes, promises to find at the conclusion of the prior novel.
While BACK TO THE STONE AGE yet again repeats the trite ERB adventure formula of outer crust modern day man lost and wandering in a strange, technologically primitive world, captured by various natives, escaping from show more them, and chasing after a native woman who he unintentionally insults and hates (actually loves) him while he is completely ignorant of his love for her until the story's climax, the work also contains a number of familiar pleasing elements: the further exploration and expansion of the known geography of his story series' setting, new peoples and cultures (although the human Stone Age societies who treat all non-tribe members as enemies to be killed is also repetitive), new villains, and, of particular delight in this tale, von Horst's friendship with the immense mammoth Old White, who has more personality than any Tantor depicted in the Tarzan novels.
There are two new villainous race/species introduced in BACK TO THE STONE AGE, the Gorbuses and "the bison men," the latter having the associated behaviors and physiognomies of bison with horns and also tails. Thus having two is a Burroughs bonus. : )
The Gorbuses, however, are unique to the point of being completely incompatible with Burroughs established established world-building. With them, Burroughs expands beyond the strange, if plausible, variants in natural evolution to the supernatural and metaphysical. The Gorbusses' origin, while purposefully vague and even beyond their own torturous recollection, are suggested to be the reincarnated dead of the outer world (i.e., our world), partly English speaking, murderers who now suffer a horrible, despairing afterlife akin to the damned souls in Dante's INFERNO.
A possible reason why ERB introduces, for the only time in his works, such supernatural and philosophical elements to his story, ones that almost approaches the theological, is conjectured by Irwin Porges in his EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS: THE MAN WHO CREATED TARZAN. Porges suggests this may be the result of Burroughs' personally tragic divorce, and his conflicted feelings in regard to his remarriage at the time he wrote the novel. As ERB wrote his son Jack:
"....Love makes many sacrifices; and it dies hard, but it can be killed." (Porges, page 560),
This parallels what ERB writes in BACK TO THE STONE AGE (from the viewpoint of Durg, a contrite Gorbus):
"We have each killed something. Do you see that old woman sitting over there with her face in her hands? She killed the happiness of two people. She remembers it quite clearly. A man and a woman. They loved each other very much. All that they asked was to be left alone and allowed to be happy. And that man standing just beyond her. He killed something more beautiful than life. Love. He killed his wife's love....Yes, each of us has killed something; but I am glad that it was men that I killed and not happiness or love."
"Perhaps you are right," said Von Horst. "There are too many men in the world but not half enough happiness or love." (CH. X, p. 113)
[SEE: https://erblist.com/erbmania/edgardemain/bridge-gorbus.html]
In possible relationship to this, the frustrated would-be-(if they could get out of each others' way -- in regard to hurt feelings)-lovers' banter between Von Horst and La-Ja is particularly harsh and hurtful for a Burroughs story, even if they then immediately regret their words. And there is also more than a hint of misogyny in the story, imho, that goes beyond ERB's conjecture of the harshness towards women in a Stone Age patriarchal "might is right" society. For example, when Von is sent to a primitive arena to be killed by wild beasts, Horg, his guard who Von defeated in a fight that then straddled Horg with an ugly (in feature as well as harsh disposition) shrew of a wife, Horg says to Von:
"'Your troubles will soon be over. I would almost like to trade places with you.'
Von Horst grinned. 'No thanks,' he said. 'I know when I am well off.'"
--(CH. XVII, p. 183). show less
While BACK TO THE STONE AGE yet again repeats the trite ERB adventure formula of outer crust modern day man lost and wandering in a strange, technologically primitive world, captured by various natives, escaping from show more them, and chasing after a native woman who he unintentionally insults and hates (actually loves) him while he is completely ignorant of his love for her until the story's climax, the work also contains a number of familiar pleasing elements: the further exploration and expansion of the known geography of his story series' setting, new peoples and cultures (although the human Stone Age societies who treat all non-tribe members as enemies to be killed is also repetitive), new villains, and, of particular delight in this tale, von Horst's friendship with the immense mammoth Old White, who has more personality than any Tantor depicted in the Tarzan novels.
There are two new villainous race/species introduced in BACK TO THE STONE AGE, the Gorbuses and "the bison men," the latter having the associated behaviors and physiognomies of bison with horns and also tails. Thus having two is a Burroughs bonus. : )
The Gorbuses, however, are unique to the point of being completely incompatible with Burroughs established established world-building. With them, Burroughs expands beyond the strange, if plausible, variants in natural evolution to the supernatural and metaphysical. The Gorbusses' origin, while purposefully vague and even beyond their own torturous recollection, are suggested to be the reincarnated dead of the outer world (i.e., our world), partly English speaking, murderers who now suffer a horrible, despairing afterlife akin to the damned souls in Dante's INFERNO.
A possible reason why ERB introduces, for the only time in his works, such supernatural and philosophical elements to his story, ones that almost approaches the theological, is conjectured by Irwin Porges in his EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS: THE MAN WHO CREATED TARZAN. Porges suggests this may be the result of Burroughs' personally tragic divorce, and his conflicted feelings in regard to his remarriage at the time he wrote the novel. As ERB wrote his son Jack:
"....Love makes many sacrifices; and it dies hard, but it can be killed." (Porges, page 560),
This parallels what ERB writes in BACK TO THE STONE AGE (from the viewpoint of Durg, a contrite Gorbus):
"We have each killed something. Do you see that old woman sitting over there with her face in her hands? She killed the happiness of two people. She remembers it quite clearly. A man and a woman. They loved each other very much. All that they asked was to be left alone and allowed to be happy. And that man standing just beyond her. He killed something more beautiful than life. Love. He killed his wife's love....Yes, each of us has killed something; but I am glad that it was men that I killed and not happiness or love."
"Perhaps you are right," said Von Horst. "There are too many men in the world but not half enough happiness or love." (CH. X, p. 113)
[SEE: https://erblist.com/erbmania/edgardemain/bridge-gorbus.html]
In possible relationship to this, the frustrated would-be-(if they could get out of each others' way -- in regard to hurt feelings)-lovers' banter between Von Horst and La-Ja is particularly harsh and hurtful for a Burroughs story, even if they then immediately regret their words. And there is also more than a hint of misogyny in the story, imho, that goes beyond ERB's conjecture of the harshness towards women in a Stone Age patriarchal "might is right" society. For example, when Von is sent to a primitive arena to be killed by wild beasts, Horg, his guard who Von defeated in a fight that then straddled Horg with an ugly (in feature as well as harsh disposition) shrew of a wife, Horg says to Von:
"'Your troubles will soon be over. I would almost like to trade places with you.'
Von Horst grinned. 'No thanks,' he said. 'I know when I am well off.'"
--(CH. XVII, p. 183). show less
I'm laughing over the book cover that was out there. There was no girl anywhere in the book and those boys were definitely not in that kind of shape EVER during the book. Good grief! The boys were actually pretty dumb and lucked out in not getting eaten by lions or cannibals. The only smarts they showed was in befriending their fellow captives. If they weren't related to Tarzan, they would have been dead ducks anyway. Not particularly likeable characters, not one of his better plots. I think show more he was phoning it in with this one. show less
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