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Edgar Rice Burroughs

Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he also wrote the Pellucidar series, the Amtor series, and the Caspak trilogy.

Edgar Rice Burroughs
Born(1875-09-01)September 1, 1875
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedMarch 19, 1950(1950-03-19) (aged 74)
Encino, California, U.S.
Resting placeTarzana, California, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
Period1911–1950
GenreAdventure, fantasy, lost world, sword and planet, planetary romance, soft science fiction, western
Notable works
Notable awardsInkpot Award (1975)[1]
SpouseEmma Centennia Hulbert (1900–1934) (divorced)
Florence Gilbert (1935–1941) (divorced)
ChildrenJoan Burroughs Pierce, Hulbert Burroughs, John Coleman Burroughs
RelativesJames Pierce (son-in-law)
Signature

Tarzan was immediately popular, and Burroughs capitalized on it in every way possible, including a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies, and merchandise. Tarzan remains one of the most successful fictional characters to this day and is a cultural icon. Burroughs's California ranch is now the center of the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles, named after the character. Burroughs was an explicit supporter of eugenics and scientific racism in both his fiction and nonfiction; Tarzan was meant to reflect these concepts.

Biography

Early life and family

Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago (he later lived for many years in the suburb of Oak Park), the fourth son of Major George Tyler Burroughs (1833–1913), a businessman and Civil War veteran, and his wife, Mary Evaline (Zieger) Burroughs (1840–1920). His middle name is from his paternal grandmother, Mary Coleman Rice Burroughs (1802–1889).[2][3][4] He was of almost entirely English ancestry, with a family line that had been in North America since the Colonial era.[5]

Through his Rice grandmother, Burroughs was descended from settler Edmund Rice, one of the English Puritans who moved to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century. He once remarked, "I can trace my ancestry back to Deacon Edmund Rice." The Burroughs side of the family was also of English origin and also emigrated to Massachusetts around the same time. Many of his ancestors fought in the American Revolution. Some of his ancestors settled in Virginia during the colonial period, and Burroughs often emphasized his connection with that side of his family, seeing it as romantic and warlike.[4][6] As close cousins he had seven signatories of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, including his third cousin, four times removed, 2nd President of the United States John Adams.[7]

Burroughs was educated at a number of local schools. He then attended Phillips Academy, in Andover, Massachusetts, and then the Michigan Military Academy. Graduating in 1895, and failing the entrance exam for the United States Military Academy at West Point, he became an enlisted soldier with the 7th U.S. Cavalry in Fort Grant, Arizona Territory. After being diagnosed with a heart problem and thus ineligible to serve, he was discharged in 1897.[8]

 
Burroughs's bookplate, showing Tarzan holding the planet Mars, surrounded by other characters from his stories and symbols relating to his personal interests and career
 
Typescript letter, with Tarzana Ranch letterhead, from Burroughs to Ruthven Deane, explaining the design and significance of his bookplate

After his discharge Burroughs worked at a number of different jobs. During the Chicago influenza epidemic of 1891, he spent half a year at his brother's ranch on the Raft River in Idaho, as a cowboy, drifted somewhat afterward, then worked at his father's Chicago battery factory in 1899, marrying his childhood sweetheart, Emma Hulbert (1876–1944), in January 1900.

In 1903, Burroughs joined his brothers, Yale graduates George and Harry, who were, by then, prominent Pocatello area ranchers in southern Idaho, and partners in the Sweetser-Burroughs Mining Company, where he took on managing their ill-fated Snake River gold dredge, a classic bucket-line dredge. The Burroughs brothers were also the sixth cousins, once removed, of famed miner Kate Rice, a brilliant and statuesque Maths professor who, in 1914, became the first female prospector in the Canadian North. Journalist and publisher C. Allen Thorndike Rice was also his third cousin.[9]

When the new mine proved unsuccessful, the brothers secured for Burroughs a position with the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City.[10] Burroughs resigned from the railroad in October 1904.[11]

Later life

By 1911, after seven years of low wages as a pencil-sharpener wholesaler, Burroughs began to write fiction. By this time, Emma and he had two children, Joan (1908–1972), and Hulbert (1909–1991).[12] During this period, he had copious spare time and began reading pulp-fiction magazines. In 1929, he recalled thinking that

... if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines, that I could write stories just as rotten. As a matter of fact, although I had never written a story, I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines.[13]

In 1913, Burroughs and Emma had their third and last child, John Coleman Burroughs (1913–1979), later known for his illustrations of his father's books.[14]

In the 1920s, Burroughs became a pilot, purchased a Security Airster S-1, and encouraged his family to learn to fly.[15][16]

Daughter Joan married Tarzan film actor, James Pierce, starring with her husband, as the voice of Jane, during 1932–1934 for the Tarzan radio series. The pair were wed for more than forty years, until her death in 1972.

Burroughs divorced Emma in 1934 and, in 1935, married the former actress Florence Gilbert Dearholt, who was the former wife of his friend (who was then himself remarrying), Ashton Dearholt, with whom he had co-founded Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises while filming The New Adventures of Tarzan. Burroughs adopted the Dearholts' two children. He and Florence divorced in 1942.[17]

Burroughs was in his late 60s and was in Honolulu at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.[18] Despite his age, he applied for and received permission to become a war correspondent, becoming one of the oldest U.S. war correspondents during World War II. This period of his life is mentioned in William Brinkley's bestselling novel Don't Go Near the Water.

Death

After the war ended, Burroughs moved back to Encino, California, where after many health problems, he died of a heart attack on March 19, 1950, having written almost 80 novels. He is buried in Tarzana, California, US.[19]

At the time of his death he was believed to have been the writer who had made the most from films, earning over $2 million in royalties from 27 Tarzan pictures.[20]

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Burroughs in 2003.[21][22]

Literary career

Aiming his work at the pulps—under the name "Norman Bean" to protect his reputation—Burroughs had his first story, Under the Moons of Mars, serialized by Frank Munsey in the February to July 1912 issues of The All-Story.[23][24][25][a] Under the Moons of Mars inaugurated the Barsoom series and earned Burroughs US$400 ($11,922 today). It was first published as a book by A. C. McClurg of Chicago in 1917, entitled A Princess of Mars, after three Barsoom sequels had appeared as serials and McClurg had published the first four serial Tarzan novels as books.[23]

Burroughs soon took up writing full-time, and by the time the run of Under the Moons of Mars had finished, he had completed two novels, including Tarzan of the Apes, published from October 1912 and one of his most successful series.

Burroughs also wrote popular science fiction and fantasy stories involving adventurers from Earth transported to various planets (notably Barsoom, Burroughs's fictional name for Mars, and Amtor, his fictional name for Venus), lost islands (Caspak), and into the interior of the Hollow Earth in his Pellucidar stories. He also wrote Westerns and historical romances. Besides those published in All-Story, many of his stories were published in The Argosy magazine.

Tarzan was a cultural sensation when introduced. Burroughs was determined to capitalize on Tarzan's popularity in every way possible. He planned to exploit Tarzan through several different media including a syndicated Tarzan comic strip, movies, and merchandise. Experts in the field advised against this course of action, stating that the different media would just end up competing against each other. Burroughs went ahead, however, and proved the experts wrong – the public wanted Tarzan in whatever fashion he was offered. Tarzan remains one of the most successful fictional characters to this day and is a cultural icon.

In either 1915 or 1919, Burroughs purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles, California, which he named "Tarzana". The citizens of the community that sprang up around the ranch voted to adopt that name when their community, Tarzana, California, was formed in 1927.[26] Also, the unincorporated community of Tarzan, Texas, was formally named in 1927 when the US Postal Service accepted the name,[27] reputedly coming from the popularity of the first (silent) Tarzan of the Apes film, starring Elmo Lincoln, and an early "Tarzan" comic strip.

In 1923, Burroughs set up his own company, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., and began printing his own books through the 1930s.

Reception and criticism

Because of the part Burroughs's science fiction played in inspiring real exploration of Mars, an impact crater on Mars was named in his honor after his death.[28] In a Paris Review interview, Ray Bradbury said of Burroughs that "Edgar Rice Burroughs never would have looked upon himself as a social mover and shaker with social obligations. But as it turns out – and I love to say it because it upsets everyone terribly – Burroughs is probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world."[29] Bradbury continued that "By giving romance and adventure to a whole generation of boys, Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special."

In Something of Myself (published posthumously in 1937) Rudyard Kipling wrote: "My Jungle Books begat Zoos of [imitators]. But the genius of all the genii was one who wrote a series called Tarzan of the Apes. I read it, but regret I never saw it on the films, where it rages most successfully. He had 'jazzed' the motif of the Jungle Books and, I imagine, had thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was reported to have said that he wanted to find out how bad a book he could write and 'get away with', which is a legitimate ambition."[30]

By 1963, Floyd C. Gale of Galaxy Science Fiction wrote when discussing reprints of several Burroughs novels by Ace Books, "an entire generation has grown up inexplicably Burroughs-less". He stated that most of the author's books had been out of print for years and that only the "occasional laughable Tarzan film" reminded public of his fiction.[31] Gale reported his surprise that after two decades his books were again available, with Canaveral Press, Dover Publications, and Ballantine Books also reprinting them.[32]

Few critical books have been written about Burroughs. From an academic standpoint, the most helpful are Erling Holtsmark's two books: Tarzan and Tradition[33] and Edgar Rice Burroughs;[34] Stan Galloway's The Teenage Tarzan: A Literary Analysis of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Jungle Tales of Tarzan;[35] and Richard Lupoff's two books: Master of Adventure: Edgar Rice Burroughs[36] and Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision.[37] Galloway was identified by James Edwin Gunn as "one of the half-dozen finest Burroughs scholars in the world";[38] Galloway called Holtsmark his "most important predecessor".[39]

Burroughs strongly supported eugenics and scientific racism. His views held that English nobles made up a particular heritable elite among Anglo-Saxons. Tarzan was meant to reflect this, with him being born to English nobles and then adopted by talking apes (the Mangani). They express eugenicist views themselves, but Tarzan is permitted to live despite being deemed "unfit" in comparison, and grows up to surpass not only them but black Africans, whom Burroughs clearly presents as inherently inferior, even not wholly human. In one Tarzan story, he finds an ancient civilization where eugenics has been practiced for over 2,000 years, with the result that it is free of all crime. Criminal behavior is held to be entirely hereditary, with the solution having been to kill not only criminals but also their families. Lost on Venus, a later novel, presents a similar utopia where forced sterilization is practiced and the "unfit" are killed. Burroughs explicitly supported such ideas in his unpublished nonfiction essay I See A New Race. Additionally, his Pirate Blood, which is not speculative fiction and remained unpublished after his death, portrayed the characters as victims of their hereditary criminal traits (one a descendant of the corsair Jean Lafitte, another from the Jukes family).[40] These views have been compared with Nazi eugenics (though noting that they were popular and common at the time), with his Lost on Venus being released the same year the Nazis took power (in 1933).[41]

In 2003, Burroughs was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.[42]


Selected works

Barsoom series

  1. A Princess of Mars (1912)
  2. The Gods of Mars (1913)
  3. The Warlord of Mars (1914)
  4. Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1916)
  5. The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
  6. The Master Mind of Mars (1927)
  7. A Fighting Man of Mars (1930)
  8. Swords of Mars (1934)
  9. Synthetic Men of Mars (1939)
  10. Llana of Gathol (1941)
  11. John Carter of Mars (1964, two stories from 1940 and 1943)

Tarzan series

  1. Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
  2. The Return of Tarzan (1913)
  3. The Beasts of Tarzan (1914)
  4. The Son of Tarzan (1915)
  5. Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916)
  6. Jungle Tales of Tarzan (stories 1916–1917)
  7. Tarzan the Untamed (1919)
  8. Tarzan the Terrible (1921)
  9. Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1922)
  10. Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924)
  11. Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1927)
  12. Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928)
  13. Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929)
  14. Tarzan the Invincible (1930)
  15. Tarzan Triumphant (1931)
  16. Tarzan and the City of Gold (1932)
  17. Tarzan and the Lion Man (1933)
  18. Tarzan and the Leopard Men (1932)
  19. Tarzan's Quest (1935)
  20. Tarzan the Magnificent (1936)
  21. Tarzan and the Forbidden City (1938)
  22. Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (1947, written in 1944)
  23. Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1963, collects 1927 and 1936 children's books)
  24. Tarzan and the Madman (1964, written in 1940)
  25. Tarzan and the Castaways (1965, stories from 1940 to 1941)
  26. Tarzan: The Lost Adventure (1995, rewritten version of 1946 fragment, completed by Joe R. Lansdale)

Pellucidar series

  1. At the Earth's Core (1914)
  2. Pellucidar (1915)
  3. Tanar of Pellucidar (1929)
  4. Back to the Stone Age (1937)
  5. Land of Terror (1944, written in 1939)
  6. Savage Pellucidar (1963, stories from 1942)

Venus series

  1. Pirates of Venus (1932)
  2. Lost on Venus (1933)
  3. Carson of Venus (1938)
  4. Escape on Venus (1946, stories from 1941 to 1942)
  5. The Wizard of Venus (1970, written in 1941)

Caspak series

  1. The Land That Time Forgot (1918)
  2. The People That Time Forgot (1918)
  3. Out of Time's Abyss (1918)

Moon series

  • Part I: The Moon Maid (1923, serialized in Argosy, May 5 – June 2, 1923)
  • Part II: The Moon Men (1925, serialized in Argosy, February 21 – March 14, 1925)
  • Part III: The Red Hawk (1925 serialized in Argosy, September 5–19, 1925)

These three texts have been published by various houses in one or two volumes. Adding to the confusion, some editions have the original (significantly longer) introduction to Part I from the first publication as a magazine serial, and others have the shorter version from the first book publication, which included all three parts under the title The Moon Maid.[43]

Mucker series

Other science fiction

Jungle adventure novels

Western novels

Historical novels

Other works

See also

Notes

  1. ^ A poem by Burroughs was published on October 15, 1910, in the Chicago Tribune as "by Normal Bean", and two more were published in the Tribune in 1914 and 1915.[23] "Norman" was an All-Story typesetter's presumptive correction of "Normal".[25] Burroughs used his own name for his other publications.[23]

References

  1. ^ "Inkpot Award". December 6, 2012.
  2. ^ Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations, Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2010.
  3. ^ . Edmund Rice (1638) Association. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011. Retrieved January 27, 2011.
  4. ^ a b Schneider, Jerry L (2004), The Ancestry of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Google Books), Erbville Press, p. 296, ISBN 978-1-4357-4972-6
  5. ^ . August 16, 2017. Archived from the original on March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2018.
  6. ^ Taliaferro, John. Tarzan Forever: The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan. pp. 15, 27.
  7. ^ "Famous Kin of Edgar Rice Burroughs". FamousKin.com. Retrieved October 19, 2017.[permanent dead link]
  8. ^ Slotkin, Richard (1998). Gunfighter Nation. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 196. ISBN 0-8061-3031-8.
  9. ^ Rice, Michael A. Edmund Rice (1638) Association, Inc.: "Meet Some of Edmund Rice's Descendants: Notable Writers & Entertainers", page 11, Accessed October 11, 2017.
  10. ^ John, Finn J.D. Offbeat Oregon: "Ill-starred gold-mining venture worked out well for Tarzan fans", March 8, 2015, Accessed October 11, 2017.
  11. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 3–4.
  12. ^ Holtsmark 1986, p. 5.
  13. ^ Burroughs, Edgar Rice (October 27, 1929). "How I Wrote the Tarzan Stories". Washington Post, New York World (Sunday supplement). ERBZine.com.
  14. ^ Nelson, V. J. (May 15, 2008). "Obituaries / Danton Burroughs, 1944 – 2008; Tarzan Creator's Heir Protected the Legacy". Los Angeles Times – via ProQuest.
  15. ^ "A Plane-Crazy America". AOPA Pilot. May 2014.
  16. ^ "Joan Burroughs". Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  17. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 12–13.
  18. ^ Toland, John (1970). The Rising Sun (2003 Modern Library Paperback ed.). Random House. p. 220. ISBN 0-8129-6858-1.
  19. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 13–15.
  20. ^ "'Tarzan' Paid Off Big to Burroughs". Variety. March 22, 1950. p. 7. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
  21. ^ "Burroughs, Edgar Rice" October 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine. The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees. Locus Publications. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  22. ^ (official website of the hall of fame to 2004), Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, archived from the original on May 21, 2013, retrieved March 22, 2013.
  23. ^ a b c d Edgar Rice Burroughs at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  24. ^ "The Hillmans' Virtual Visit to The Nell Dismukes McWhorter Memorial Edgar Rice Burroughs Collection" (with photographs). ERBzine 4(19).
  25. ^ a b Robinson, Frank M. 2000. "." American Zoetrope 4(1). Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  26. ^ (PDF), US: NOAA, archived from the original (PDF) on February 4, 2012, retrieved July 4, 2012.
  27. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 9–10.
  28. ^ Sagan, Carl (May 28, 1978). "Growing up with Science Fiction". The New York Times. p. SM7. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 12, 2018.
  29. ^ Weller, Interviewed by Sam (February 4, 2019). "Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203". Vol. Spring 2010, no. 192 – via www.theparisreview.org. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  30. ^ Kipling, Rudyard (1937). "8: Working Tools". Something of Myself. London: Macmillan & Co.
  31. ^ Gale, Floyd C. (June 1963). "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 135–138.
  32. ^ Gale, Floyd C. (October 1963). "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 119–123.
  33. ^ Holtsmark, Erling B. Tarzan and Tradition: Classical Myth in Popular Literature. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1981.
  34. ^ Holtsmark, Erling B. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Twayne's United States Author Series. Boston: Twayne, 1986.
  35. ^ Galloway, Stan. The Teenage Tarzan: A Literary Analysis of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Jungle Tales of Tarzan. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.
  36. ^ Lupoff, Richard. Master of Adventure: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.
  37. ^ Lupoff, Richard. Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision. Baltimore: Mirage Press, 1976.
  38. ^ Gunn, James. Foreword. The Teenage Tarzan by Stan Galloway. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. p. 3.
  39. ^ Preface. p. 5.
  40. ^ Disney's Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Eugenics, and Visions of Utopian Perfection, J. David Smith; Alison L. Mitchell Ment Retard (2001) 39 (3): 221–225.
  41. ^ Edgar Rice Burroughs's Venus, Part 2: Lost on Venus September 12, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, by Ryan Harvey, August 30, 2011, Black Gate Magazine.
  42. ^ "Science Fiction Hall of Fame - Winners by Year". SFADB.
  43. ^ ERBzine.

Bibliography

  • Holtsmark, Erling B. (1986), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Boston: Twain, ISBN 0-8057-7459-9
  • Spence, Clark C. (2015), History of Gold Dredging in Idaho, Boulder: University Press of Colorado, ISBN 978-1-60732-474-4
  • Porges, Irwin (1975), Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Man Who Created Tarzan, Salt Lake City: Brigham Young University Press

Further reading

  • Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs by Richard A. Lupoff
  • Tarzan Forever: The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan by John Taliaferro
  • Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs by the Rev. Henry Hardy Heins
  • Tarzan Alive by Philip Jose Farmer
  • Burroughs's Science Fiction by Robert R. Kudlay and Joan Leiby
  • Tarzan and Tradition and Edgar Rice Burroughs by Erling B. Holtsmark
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs by Irwin Porges
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs by Robert B. Zeuschner
  • The Burroughs Cyclopædia ed. by Clark A. Brady
  • A Guide to Barsoom by John Flint Roy
  • Tarzan: the Centennial Celebration by Scott Tracy Griffin
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Descriptive Bibliography of the Grosset & Dunlap Reprints by B. J. Lukes

External links

  • Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
  • Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Project Gutenberg
    • Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Project Gutenberg Australia
  • Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Faded Page (Canada)
  • Works by or about Edgar Rice Burroughs at Internet Archive
  • Edgar Rice Burroughs at Library of Congress Authorities, with 347 catalog records
  • Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)  
  • [1] Complete Edgar Rice Burroughs Illustrated Bibliography by Bill Hillman's ERBzine.com

edgar, rice, burroughs, september, 1875, march, 1950, american, author, best, known, prolific, output, adventure, science, fiction, fantasy, genres, best, known, creating, characters, tarzan, john, carter, also, wrote, pellucidar, series, amtor, series, caspak. Edgar Rice Burroughs September 1 1875 March 19 1950 was an American author best known for his prolific output in the adventure science fiction and fantasy genres Best known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter he also wrote the Pellucidar series the Amtor series and the Caspak trilogy Edgar Rice BurroughsBorn 1875 09 01 September 1 1875Chicago Illinois U S DiedMarch 19 1950 1950 03 19 aged 74 Encino California U S Resting placeTarzana California U S OccupationNovelistPeriod1911 1950GenreAdventure fantasy lost world sword and planet planetary romance soft science fiction westernNotable worksTarzan series Barsoom seriesNotable awardsInkpot Award 1975 1 SpouseEmma Centennia Hulbert 1900 1934 divorced Florence Gilbert 1935 1941 divorced ChildrenJoan Burroughs Pierce Hulbert Burroughs John Coleman BurroughsRelativesJames Pierce son in law SignatureTarzan was immediately popular and Burroughs capitalized on it in every way possible including a syndicated Tarzan comic strip movies and merchandise Tarzan remains one of the most successful fictional characters to this day and is a cultural icon Burroughs s California ranch is now the center of the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles named after the character Burroughs was an explicit supporter of eugenics and scientific racism in both his fiction and nonfiction Tarzan was meant to reflect these concepts Contents 1 Biography 1 1 Early life and family 1 2 Later life 1 3 Death 2 Literary career 3 Reception and criticism 4 Selected works 4 1 Barsoom series 4 2 Tarzan series 4 3 Pellucidar series 4 4 Venus series 4 5 Caspak series 4 6 Moon series 4 7 Mucker series 4 8 Other science fiction 4 9 Jungle adventure novels 4 10 Western novels 4 11 Historical novels 4 12 Other works 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References 7 1 Bibliography 8 Further reading 9 External linksBiography EditEarly life and family Edit Burroughs was born on September 1 1875 in Chicago he later lived for many years in the suburb of Oak Park the fourth son of Major George Tyler Burroughs 1833 1913 a businessman and Civil War veteran and his wife Mary Evaline Zieger Burroughs 1840 1920 His middle name is from his paternal grandmother Mary Coleman Rice Burroughs 1802 1889 2 3 4 He was of almost entirely English ancestry with a family line that had been in North America since the Colonial era 5 Through his Rice grandmother Burroughs was descended from settler Edmund Rice one of the English Puritans who moved to Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th century He once remarked I can trace my ancestry back to Deacon Edmund Rice The Burroughs side of the family was also of English origin and also emigrated to Massachusetts around the same time Many of his ancestors fought in the American Revolution Some of his ancestors settled in Virginia during the colonial period and Burroughs often emphasized his connection with that side of his family seeing it as romantic and warlike 4 6 As close cousins he had seven signatories of the U S Declaration of Independence including his third cousin four times removed 2nd President of the United States John Adams 7 Burroughs was educated at a number of local schools He then attended Phillips Academy in Andover Massachusetts and then the Michigan Military Academy Graduating in 1895 and failing the entrance exam for the United States Military Academy at West Point he became an enlisted soldier with the 7th U S Cavalry in Fort Grant Arizona Territory After being diagnosed with a heart problem and thus ineligible to serve he was discharged in 1897 8 Burroughs s bookplate showing Tarzan holding the planet Mars surrounded by other characters from his stories and symbols relating to his personal interests and career Typescript letter with Tarzana Ranch letterhead from Burroughs to Ruthven Deane explaining the design and significance of his bookplate After his discharge Burroughs worked at a number of different jobs During the Chicago influenza epidemic of 1891 he spent half a year at his brother s ranch on the Raft River in Idaho as a cowboy drifted somewhat afterward then worked at his father s Chicago battery factory in 1899 marrying his childhood sweetheart Emma Hulbert 1876 1944 in January 1900 In 1903 Burroughs joined his brothers Yale graduates George and Harry who were by then prominent Pocatello area ranchers in southern Idaho and partners in the Sweetser Burroughs Mining Company where he took on managing their ill fated Snake River gold dredge a classic bucket line dredge The Burroughs brothers were also the sixth cousins once removed of famed miner Kate Rice a brilliant and statuesque Maths professor who in 1914 became the first female prospector in the Canadian North Journalist and publisher C Allen Thorndike Rice was also his third cousin 9 When the new mine proved unsuccessful the brothers secured for Burroughs a position with the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City 10 Burroughs resigned from the railroad in October 1904 11 Later life Edit By 1911 after seven years of low wages as a pencil sharpener wholesaler Burroughs began to write fiction By this time Emma and he had two children Joan 1908 1972 and Hulbert 1909 1991 12 During this period he had copious spare time and began reading pulp fiction magazines In 1929 he recalled thinking that if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines that I could write stories just as rotten As a matter of fact although I had never written a story I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines 13 In 1913 Burroughs and Emma had their third and last child John Coleman Burroughs 1913 1979 later known for his illustrations of his father s books 14 In the 1920s Burroughs became a pilot purchased a Security Airster S 1 and encouraged his family to learn to fly 15 16 Daughter Joan married Tarzan film actor James Pierce starring with her husband as the voice of Jane during 1932 1934 for the Tarzan radio series The pair were wed for more than forty years until her death in 1972 Burroughs divorced Emma in 1934 and in 1935 married the former actress Florence Gilbert Dearholt who was the former wife of his friend who was then himself remarrying Ashton Dearholt with whom he had co founded Burroughs Tarzan Enterprises while filming The New Adventures of Tarzan Burroughs adopted the Dearholts two children He and Florence divorced in 1942 17 Burroughs was in his late 60s and was in Honolulu at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 18 Despite his age he applied for and received permission to become a war correspondent becoming one of the oldest U S war correspondents during World War II This period of his life is mentioned in William Brinkley s bestselling novel Don t Go Near the Water Death Edit After the war ended Burroughs moved back to Encino California where after many health problems he died of a heart attack on March 19 1950 having written almost 80 novels He is buried in Tarzana California US 19 At the time of his death he was believed to have been the writer who had made the most from films earning over 2 million in royalties from 27 Tarzan pictures 20 The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Burroughs in 2003 21 22 Literary career EditAiming his work at the pulps under the name Norman Bean to protect his reputation Burroughs had his first story Under the Moons of Mars serialized by Frank Munsey in the February to July 1912 issues of The All Story 23 24 25 a Under the Moons of Mars inaugurated the Barsoom series and earned Burroughs US 400 11 922 today It was first published as a book by A C McClurg of Chicago in 1917 entitled A Princess of Mars after three Barsoom sequels had appeared as serials and McClurg had published the first four serial Tarzan novels as books 23 Burroughs soon took up writing full time and by the time the run of Under the Moons of Mars had finished he had completed two novels including Tarzan of the Apes published from October 1912 and one of his most successful series Burroughs also wrote popular science fiction and fantasy stories involving adventurers from Earth transported to various planets notably Barsoom Burroughs s fictional name for Mars and Amtor his fictional name for Venus lost islands Caspak and into the interior of the Hollow Earth in his Pellucidar stories He also wrote Westerns and historical romances Besides those published in All Story many of his stories were published in The Argosy magazine Tarzan was a cultural sensation when introduced Burroughs was determined to capitalize on Tarzan s popularity in every way possible He planned to exploit Tarzan through several different media including a syndicated Tarzan comic strip movies and merchandise Experts in the field advised against this course of action stating that the different media would just end up competing against each other Burroughs went ahead however and proved the experts wrong the public wanted Tarzan in whatever fashion he was offered Tarzan remains one of the most successful fictional characters to this day and is a cultural icon In either 1915 or 1919 Burroughs purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles California which he named Tarzana The citizens of the community that sprang up around the ranch voted to adopt that name when their community Tarzana California was formed in 1927 26 Also the unincorporated community of Tarzan Texas was formally named in 1927 when the US Postal Service accepted the name 27 reputedly coming from the popularity of the first silent Tarzan of the Apes film starring Elmo Lincoln and an early Tarzan comic strip In 1923 Burroughs set up his own company Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc and began printing his own books through the 1930s Reception and criticism EditBecause of the part Burroughs s science fiction played in inspiring real exploration of Mars an impact crater on Mars was named in his honor after his death 28 In a Paris Review interview Ray Bradbury said of Burroughs that Edgar Rice Burroughs never would have looked upon himself as a social mover and shaker with social obligations But as it turns out and I love to say it because it upsets everyone terribly Burroughs is probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world 29 Bradbury continued that By giving romance and adventure to a whole generation of boys Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special In Something of Myself published posthumously in 1937 Rudyard Kipling wrote My Jungle Books begat Zoos of imitators But the genius of all the genii was one who wrote a series called Tarzan of the Apes I read it but regret I never saw it on the films where it rages most successfully He had jazzed the motif of the Jungle Books and I imagine had thoroughly enjoyed himself He was reported to have said that he wanted to find out how bad a book he could write and get away with which is a legitimate ambition 30 By 1963 Floyd C Gale of Galaxy Science Fiction wrote when discussing reprints of several Burroughs novels by Ace Books an entire generation has grown up inexplicably Burroughs less He stated that most of the author s books had been out of print for years and that only the occasional laughable Tarzan film reminded public of his fiction 31 Gale reported his surprise that after two decades his books were again available with Canaveral Press Dover Publications and Ballantine Books also reprinting them 32 Few critical books have been written about Burroughs From an academic standpoint the most helpful are Erling Holtsmark s two books Tarzan and Tradition 33 and Edgar Rice Burroughs 34 Stan Galloway s The Teenage Tarzan A Literary Analysis of Edgar Rice Burroughs Jungle Tales of Tarzan 35 and Richard Lupoff s two books Master of Adventure Edgar Rice Burroughs 36 and Barsoom Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision 37 Galloway was identified by James Edwin Gunn as one of the half dozen finest Burroughs scholars in the world 38 Galloway called Holtsmark his most important predecessor 39 Burroughs strongly supported eugenics and scientific racism His views held that English nobles made up a particular heritable elite among Anglo Saxons Tarzan was meant to reflect this with him being born to English nobles and then adopted by talking apes the Mangani They express eugenicist views themselves but Tarzan is permitted to live despite being deemed unfit in comparison and grows up to surpass not only them but black Africans whom Burroughs clearly presents as inherently inferior even not wholly human In one Tarzan story he finds an ancient civilization where eugenics has been practiced for over 2 000 years with the result that it is free of all crime Criminal behavior is held to be entirely hereditary with the solution having been to kill not only criminals but also their families Lost on Venus a later novel presents a similar utopia where forced sterilization is practiced and the unfit are killed Burroughs explicitly supported such ideas in his unpublished nonfiction essay I See A New Race Additionally his Pirate Blood which is not speculative fiction and remained unpublished after his death portrayed the characters as victims of their hereditary criminal traits one a descendant of the corsair Jean Lafitte another from the Jukes family 40 These views have been compared with Nazi eugenics though noting that they were popular and common at the time with his Lost on Venus being released the same year the Nazis took power in 1933 41 In 2003 Burroughs was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame 42 Selected works EditMain article Edgar Rice Burroughs bibliography Barsoom series Edit Main article Barsoom A Princess of Mars 1912 The Gods of Mars 1913 The Warlord of Mars 1914 Thuvia Maid of Mars 1916 The Chessmen of Mars 1922 The Master Mind of Mars 1927 A Fighting Man of Mars 1930 Swords of Mars 1934 Synthetic Men of Mars 1939 Llana of Gathol 1941 John Carter of Mars 1964 two stories from 1940 and 1943 Tarzan series Edit Main article Tarzan Tarzan of the Apes 1912 The Return of Tarzan 1913 The Beasts of Tarzan 1914 The Son of Tarzan 1915 Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar 1916 Jungle Tales of Tarzan stories 1916 1917 Tarzan the Untamed 1919 Tarzan the Terrible 1921 Tarzan and the Golden Lion 1922 Tarzan and the Ant Men 1924 Tarzan Lord of the Jungle 1927 Tarzan and the Lost Empire 1928 Tarzan at the Earth s Core 1929 Tarzan the Invincible 1930 Tarzan Triumphant 1931 Tarzan and the City of Gold 1932 Tarzan and the Lion Man 1933 Tarzan and the Leopard Men 1932 Tarzan s Quest 1935 Tarzan the Magnificent 1936 Tarzan and the Forbidden City 1938 Tarzan and the Foreign Legion 1947 written in 1944 Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins 1963 collects 1927 and 1936 children s books Tarzan and the Madman 1964 written in 1940 Tarzan and the Castaways 1965 stories from 1940 to 1941 Tarzan The Lost Adventure 1995 rewritten version of 1946 fragment completed by Joe R Lansdale Pellucidar series Edit Main article Pellucidar At the Earth s Core 1914 Pellucidar 1915 Tanar of Pellucidar 1929 Back to the Stone Age 1937 Land of Terror 1944 written in 1939 Savage Pellucidar 1963 stories from 1942 Tarzan at the Earth s Core 1929 Venus series Edit Main article Venus series Pirates of Venus 1932 Lost on Venus 1933 Carson of Venus 1938 Escape on Venus 1946 stories from 1941 to 1942 The Wizard of Venus 1970 written in 1941 Caspak series Edit The Land That Time Forgot 1918 The People That Time Forgot 1918 Out of Time s Abyss 1918 Moon series Edit Part I The Moon Maid 1923 serialized in Argosy May 5 June 2 1923 Part II The Moon Men 1925 serialized in Argosy February 21 March 14 1925 Part III The Red Hawk 1925 serialized in Argosy September 5 19 1925 These three texts have been published by various houses in one or two volumes Adding to the confusion some editions have the original significantly longer introduction to Part I from the first publication as a magazine serial and others have the shorter version from the first book publication which included all three parts under the title The Moon Maid 43 Mucker series Edit The Mucker 1914 The Return of the Mucker 1916 The Oakdale Affair 1918 Other science fiction Edit The Monster Men 1913 The Lost Continent 1916 a k a Beyond Thirty The Resurrection of Jimber Jaw 1937 Beyond the Farthest Star 1942 Jungle adventure novels Edit The Cave Girl 1913 revised 1917 The Eternal Lover 1914 rev 1915 A K A The Eternal Savage The Man Eater 1915 The Lad and the Lion 1917 Jungle Girl 1931 A K A The Land of Hidden Men Western novels Edit The Bandit of Hell s Bend 1924 The War Chief 1927 Apache Devil 1933 The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County 1940 Historical novels Edit The Outlaw of Torn 1914 I am a Barbarian 1967 written in 1941 Other works Edit Minidoka 937th Earl of One Mile Series M 1998 written in 1903 The Mad King 1914 rev 1915 The Girl from Farris s 1916 The Rider 1918 The Efficiency Expert 1921 The Girl from Hollywood 1922 Marcia of the Doorstep 1924 You Lucky Girl 1927 Pirate Blood 1970 written in 1932 Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder 2001 stories from 1910 to 1944 Brother Men 2005 nonfiction See also Edit Biography portal Speculative fiction portalEdgar Rice Burroughs Inc Mars in fiction Otis Adelbert Kline Sword and planetNotes Edit A poem by Burroughs was published on October 15 1910 in the Chicago Tribune as by Normal Bean and two more were published in the Tribune in 1914 and 1915 23 Norman was an All Story typesetter s presumptive correction of Normal 25 Burroughs used his own name for his other publications 23 References Edit Inkpot Award December 6 2012 Descendants of Edmund Rice The First Nine Generations Edmund Rice 1638 Association 2010 Edmund Rice Six Generation Database Online Edmund Rice 1638 Association Archived from the original on July 25 2011 Retrieved January 27 2011 a b Schneider Jerry L 2004 The Ancestry of Edgar Rice Burroughs Google Books Erbville Press p 296 ISBN 978 1 4357 4972 6 Edgar Rice Burroughs August 16 2017 Archived from the original on March 12 2018 Retrieved March 12 2018 Taliaferro John Tarzan Forever The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs Creator of Tarzan pp 15 27 Famous Kin of Edgar Rice Burroughs FamousKin com Retrieved October 19 2017 permanent dead link Slotkin Richard 1998 Gunfighter Nation University of Oklahoma Press p 196 ISBN 0 8061 3031 8 Rice Michael A Edmund Rice 1638 Association Inc Meet Some of Edmund Rice s Descendants Notable Writers amp Entertainers page 11 Accessed October 11 2017 John Finn J D Offbeat Oregon Ill starred gold mining venture worked out well for Tarzan fans March 8 2015 Accessed October 11 2017 Holtsmark 1986 pp 3 4 Holtsmark 1986 p 5 Burroughs Edgar Rice October 27 1929 How I Wrote the Tarzan Stories Washington Post New York World Sunday supplement ERBZine com Nelson V J May 15 2008 Obituaries Danton Burroughs 1944 2008 Tarzan Creator s Heir Protected the Legacy Los Angeles Times via ProQuest A Plane Crazy America AOPA Pilot May 2014 Joan Burroughs Retrieved February 14 2015 Holtsmark 1986 pp 12 13 Toland John 1970 The Rising Sun 2003 Modern Library Paperback ed Random House p 220 ISBN 0 8129 6858 1 Holtsmark 1986 pp 13 15 Tarzan Paid Off Big to Burroughs Variety March 22 1950 p 7 Retrieved April 2 2018 Burroughs Edgar Rice Archived October 16 2012 at the Wayback Machine The Locus Index to SF Awards Index of Literary Nominees Locus Publications Retrieved April 8 2013 Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame official website of the hall of fame to 2004 Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions archived from the original on May 21 2013 retrieved March 22 2013 a b c d Edgar Rice Burroughs at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database ISFDB Retrieved April 8 2013 The Hillmans Virtual Visit to The Nell Dismukes McWhorter Memorial Edgar Rice Burroughs Collection with photographs ERBzine 4 19 a b Robinson Frank M 2000 The Story Behind the Original All Story American Zoetrope 4 1 Archived from the original on March 16 2013 Retrieved April 8 2013 Tarzana Community Profile PDF US NOAA archived from the original PDF on February 4 2012 retrieved July 4 2012 Holtsmark 1986 pp 9 10 Sagan Carl May 28 1978 Growing up with Science Fiction The New York Times p SM7 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved December 12 2018 Weller Interviewed by Sam February 4 2019 Ray Bradbury The Art of Fiction No 203 Vol Spring 2010 no 192 via www theparisreview org a href Template Cite magazine html title Template Cite magazine cite magazine a Cite magazine requires magazine help Kipling Rudyard 1937 8 Working Tools Something of Myself London Macmillan amp Co Gale Floyd C June 1963 Galaxy s 5 Star Shelf Galaxy Science Fiction pp 135 138 Gale Floyd C October 1963 Galaxy s 5 Star Shelf Galaxy Science Fiction pp 119 123 Holtsmark Erling B Tarzan and Tradition Classical Myth in Popular Literature Westport CT Greenwood 1981 Holtsmark Erling B Edgar Rice Burroughs Twayne s United States Author Series Boston Twayne 1986 Galloway Stan The Teenage Tarzan A Literary Analysis of Edgar Rice Burroughs Jungle Tales of Tarzan Jefferson NC McFarland 2010 Lupoff Richard Master of Adventure Edgar Rice Burroughs Lincoln University of Nebraska Press 2005 Lupoff Richard Barsoom Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision Baltimore Mirage Press 1976 Gunn James Foreword The Teenage Tarzan by Stan Galloway Jefferson NC McFarland 2010 p 3 Preface p 5 Disney s Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs Eugenics and Visions of Utopian Perfection J David Smith Alison L Mitchell Ment Retard 2001 39 3 221 225 Edgar Rice Burroughs s Venus Part 2 Lost on Venus Archived September 12 2020 at the Wayback Machine by Ryan Harvey August 30 2011 Black Gate Magazine Science Fiction Hall of Fame Winners by Year SFADB ERBzine Bibliography Edit Holtsmark Erling B 1986 Edgar Rice Burroughs Boston Twain ISBN 0 8057 7459 9 Spence Clark C 2015 History of Gold Dredging in Idaho Boulder University Press of Colorado ISBN 978 1 60732 474 4 Porges Irwin 1975 Edgar Rice Burroughs The Man Who Created Tarzan Salt Lake City Brigham Young University PressFurther reading EditMaster of Adventure The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs by Richard A Lupoff Tarzan Forever The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs Creator of Tarzan by John Taliaferro Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs by the Rev Henry Hardy Heins Tarzan Alive by Philip Jose Farmer Burroughs s Science Fiction by Robert R Kudlay and Joan Leiby Tarzan and Tradition and Edgar Rice Burroughs by Erling B Holtsmark Edgar Rice Burroughs by Irwin Porges Edgar Rice Burroughs by Robert B Zeuschner The Burroughs Cyclopaedia ed by Clark A Brady A Guide to Barsoom by John Flint Roy Tarzan the Centennial Celebration by Scott Tracy Griffin Edgar Rice Burroughs The Descriptive Bibliography of the Grosset amp Dunlap Reprints by B J LukesExternal links EditWorks by Edgar Rice Burroughs in eBook form at Standard Ebooks Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Project Gutenberg Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Project Gutenberg Australia Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at Faded Page Canada Works by or about Edgar Rice Burroughs at Internet Archive Edgar Rice Burroughs at Library of Congress Authorities with 347 catalog records Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs at LibriVox public domain audiobooks 1 Complete Edgar Rice Burroughs Illustrated Bibliography by Bill Hillman s ERBzine comEdgar Rice Burroughs at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Data from Wikidata Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc official website Bibliography on SciFan Edgar Rice Burroughs at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs 1st UK editions list with pictures of the books Edgar Rice Burroughs biography Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame The Fantastic Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs podcasts ERBzine com 2 list of UK 1st edition paperbacks Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Edgar Rice Burroughs amp oldid 1135202477, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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