"As the body rolled to the ground Tarzan of the Apes placed his foot upon the neck of his lifelong enemy, and raising his eyes to the full moon threw back his fierce young head and voiced the wild and terrible cry of his people."
(from Tarzan of the Apes, 1914 )

American novelist, creator of the world famous character of Tarzan. Although critics have considered Burroughs's fiction crudely written, his books are still widely read and usually superior to the films. They also contain several elements that have kept them 'politically correct': Waziri warriors from Tarzan novels are portrayed as members of an admirable tribe, and his cave girls Nadara and Dejah Thoris, the princess of Mars, are courageous and resourceful characters.

Burroughs was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a prosperous family. He attended several private schools, including the Michigan Military Academy, Orchar Lake (1892-95), where he was instructor and assistant commandant (1895-96). He served in the 7th Cavalry (1896-97) and the Illinois Reserve Militia (1918-19). After his military career Burroughs was owner of a stationery store in Pocatello, Idaho (1898), and associated with the American Battery Company, Chicago (1899-03). In 1900 he married Emma Centennia Hulbert (divorced in 1934); they had two sons and one daughter.

The next ten years the family lived in near poverty. Burroughs was associated with the Sweetser-Burroughs Mining Company in Idaho (1903-04), became a railroad policeman in Salt Lake, Utah (1904), a manager of stenographic department at Sears, Roebuck and Company in Chicago (1906-08), a partner of an advertising agency (1908-09), an office manager (1909),and a partner of a sales firm (1910-11). In 1910-11 Burroughs worked for the ChamplainYardley Company, and from 1912 to 1913 he was manager of the System Service Bureau.

Before Tarzan, Burroughs led a life full of failures. The turning point came when he started to write for pulps at the age of 35. His first professional sale was Under the Moons of Mars, serialized in 1912. The story introduced the popular invincible hero John Carter, who is transported to Mars apparently by astral projection, following a battle with Apaches in Arizona. The 'Martian' series eventually reached eleven books. Other popular series from Burroughs's pen were The Carson of Venus books, blending romance and comedy, the Pellucidar tales, located inside the Earth, and The Land That Time Forgot trilogy - totally some 68 titles.

Burroughs's first successful story was Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars which appeared in 1912 in All-Story Magazine. A few months later in 1912 appeared his breakthrough novel TARZAN OF THE APES, which was followed by 24 other Tarzan adventures. In 1913 Burroughs founded his own publishing house Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises and Burroughs-Tarzan Pictures were founded in 1934.

The world famous protagonist in Tarzan books is John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, whose aristocratic parents are abandoned on the west coast of Africa. He is orphaned as a child and raised by an ape, but grows into a leader of the simian tribe and a hero of honour, courage, and justice. In the jungle Tarzan learns to read when he discovers a book from the remnants of his parents hut. During the tale, Tarzan finds love,and his wife, in an American woman, Jane Porter. They have a son, and with the help of animals, Tarzan becomes king of the jungle and gains immortality through an African shaman's secret formula. In several of theTarzan books the invincible hero is involved with lost races, hidden cultures, or even with an entire lost continent.

In addition to his four major adventure series, Burroughs wrote between the years 1912 and 1933 several other adventure novels, among them THE CAVE GIRL (1925), in which a weak aristocrat develops into a warrior, two Western novels about a white Apache, THE WAR CHIEF (1927) and APACHE DEVIL (1933), and BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR (1964), in which the science-fiction canon is used to depict the brutality of war.

By the early 1920s. Burroughs purchased a ranch in Southern California, and wrote an average of three novels a year, to pay for his lavish lifestyle and to cover his poor judgements in financial investments. In 1933 Burroughs was elected mayor of California Beach. In 1935 he married Florence Dearholt (they divorced in 1942). At the age of 66 Burroughs served as a war correspondent in the South Pacific during world war II. He also wrote columns ('Laugh It Off) for the Honolulu Advertiser (1941-42, 1945). Burroughs died of a heart ailment on March 19, 1950.

In the decade and a half following Burroughs's death, enthusiasm for his books waned. In the 1960s Edgar Rice Burroughs Corporation began to coordinate the commercial publication of previously issued and newly released works, and gained success - the author's books are still profitably in print. While criticized as repetitious and clumsy, Burroughs's stories share the colourful imagination and superb pacing of the works of H.G. Wells and H. Rider Haggard. Burroughs's novels have also became the target of academic research.

For further reading: Golden Anniversary Bibliography of Edgar Rice Burroughs by H.H. Heins (1964); Edgar Rice Burroughs: Master of Adventure by Richard A. Lupoff (1965); Tarzan Alive by Philip José Farmer (1972); Burrough's Science Fiction by Robert R. Kudlay and Joan Leiby (1973); Tarzan and Tradition by Erling B. Holtsmark (1981); Edgar Rice Burroughs by Irwin Porges (1975); Edgar Rice Burroughs by Erling B. Holtsmark (1986); Burroughs Dictionary by George T. McWhorter (1987); King of the Jungle by David Fury (1994); The Burroughs Cyclopaedia, ed. by Clark A. Brady (1996); Edgar Rice Burroughs by Robert B. Zeuschner (1996); Tarzan Forever: The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Creator of Tarzan by John Taliaferro (1999).

• TARZAN OF THE APES, 1917, starring Elmo Lincoln
• THE ROMANCE OF TARZAN, 1918
• THE REVENGE OF TARZAN, 1920, starring Gene Pollar
• THE SON OF TARZAN, 1920, starring P. Dempsey Tabler
• THE ADVENTURES OF TARZAN, 1921
• TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION, 1927
• TARZAN THE MIGHTY, 1928, starring Frank Merrill
• TARZAN THE TIGER, 1929
• TARZAN THE APE MAN, 1932, starring Johnny Weissmuller
• TARZAN THE FEARLESS, 1933, starring Buster Crabble
• TARZAN AND HIS MATE, 1934
• THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN, 1935
• TARZAN ESCAPES, 1936
• TARZAN'S REVENGE, 1937, starring Glenn Morris
• TARZAN AND THE GREEN GODDESS, 1938, starring Herman Brix
• TARZAN FINDS A SON, 1939
• TARZAN'S SECRET TREASURE. 1941
• TARZAN'S NEW YORK ADVENTURE, 1942
• TARZAN TRIUMPHS, 1943
• TARZAN'S DESERT MYSTERY, 1943
• TARZAN AND THE AMAZONS, 1945
• TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD WOMAN, 1946
• TARZAN AND THE HUNTERS, 1947
• TARZAN AND THE MERMAID, 1948
• TARZAN'S MAGIC FOUNTAIN, 1949, starring Lex Barker
• TARZAN AND THE SLAVE GIRL, 1950
• TARZAN'S PERIL, 1951
• TARZAN'S SAVAGE FURY, 1952
• TARZAN AND SHE-DEVIL, 1953
• TARZAN'S HIDDEN JUNGLE, 1955, starring Gordon Scott
• TARZAN AND THE LOST SAFARI, 1957
• TARZAN'S FIGHT FOR LIFE, 1958
• TARZAN AND THE TRAPPERS, 1958
• TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE, 1959
• TARZAN THE APE MAN, starring Dennis Miller
• TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, 1960
• TARZAN GOES INDIA, 1962, starring Jock Mahoney
• TARZAN'S THREE CHALLENGES, 1963
• TARZAN AND THE VALLEY OF GOLD, 1966, starring Mike Henry
• TARZAN'S DEADLY SILENCE, 1966, starring Ron Ely
• TARZAN AND THE GREAT RIVER, 1967, starring Mike Henry
• THE PERILS OF CHARITY JONES, 1967
• TARZAN'S JUNGLE REBELLION, 1967
• FOUR O'CLOCK ARMY, 1968
• TARZAN ANDTHE JUNGLE BOY, starring Mike Henry
• TARZAN AND THE RAINBOW TREASURE, 1968, starring Steve Hawkes
• THE KING OF THE JUNGLE, 1969
• TRZAN AND THE BROWN PRINCE, 1970
• TARZAN'S DEADLY SILENCE, 1970, starring Lawrence Dobkin
• TARZAN - MASTER OF THE JUNGLE, starring Johnny Weissmuller, Jr.
• TARZAN, THE APE MAN, 1981, starring Miles O'Keefe
• TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES, 1984, starring Christopher Lambert
• TARZAN IN MANHATTAN, starring Joe Lara
• TARZAN, 1999 (Disney animation)

Selected Tarzan novels:

• TARZAN OF THE APES, 1912
• THE RETURN OF TARZAN, 1913
• THE BEAST OF TARZAN, 1914
• THE SON OF TARZAN, 1915
• TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR, 1916
• JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN, 1919
• TARZAN THE UNTAMED, 1920
• TARZAN THE TERRIBLE, 1921
• TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION, 1923
• TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN, 1924
• THE MOON MAID, 1926
• THE TARZAN TWINS, 1927
• TARZAN, THE LORD OF JUNGLE, 1928
• TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE, 1929
• TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE, 1930
• TARZAN THE INVINCIBLE, 1931
• TARZAN TRIUMPHANT, 1932
• TARZAN AND THE CITY OF GOLD, 1933
• TARZAN AND THE LION MAN, 1934
• TARZAN AND THE LEOPARD MEN, 1935
• TARZAN'S QUEST, 1936
• TARZAN AND THE TARZAN TWINS WITH JAD-BAL-JA, THE GOLDEN LION, 1936
• TARZAN AND THE FORBIDDEN CITY, 1938
• TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, 1939
• TARZAN AND THE FOREIGN LEGION, 1947
• TARZAN AND THE TARZAN TWINS, 1963
• TARZAN AND THE MADMAN, 1964
• TARZAN AND THE CASTAWAYS, 1965
• TARZAN: THE LOST ADVENTURE, 1996 - by E.R.B. and Joe R. Lansdale

Pellucidar series:

• AT THE EARTH'S CORE, 1914
• PELLUCIDAR, 1923
• TANAR OF PELLUCIDAR, 1930
• TARZAN AT THE EARTH'S CORE, 1937
• BACK TO THE STONE AGE, 1937
• LAND OF TERROR, 1944
• SAVAGE PELLUCIDAR, 1963

Venus series:

• PIRATES OF VENUS, 1934
• LOST ON VENUS, 1935
• CARSON OF VENUS, 1939
• ESCAPE ON VENUS, 1946
• THE WIZARD OF VENUS, 1970
• THE WIZARD OF VENUS AND PIRATE BLOOD, 1984

Mars series:

• A PRINCESS OF MARS, 1917
• THE GODS OF MARS, 1918
• THE WARLORD OF MARS, 1919
• THUVIA, MAID OF MARS, 1920
• THE CHESSMEN OF MARS, 1922
• THE MASTER MIND OF MARS, 1928
• A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS, 1931
• SWORDS OF MARS, 1936
• SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS, 1940
• LLANA OF GATHOL, 1948
• JOHN CARTER OF MARS, 1964

Other works:

• THE MUCKER, 1921
• THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, 1924
• THE ETERNAL LOVER, 1925
• THE CAVE GIRL, 1925
• THE MOON MAID, 1926
• THE MAD KING, 1926
• THE MONSTER MEN, 1929
• JUNGLE GIRL, 1932
• OFFICIAL GUIDE OF THE TARZAN CLANS OF AMERICA, 1939 (privately printed)
• THE MAN-EATER, 1955
• TALES OF THREE PLANETS, 1964
• BEYOND THE FARTHEST STAR, 1964
• THE GIRL FROM FARRIS'S, 1965
• THE EFFICIENCY EXPERT, 1966
• I AM A BARBARIAN, 1967
• PIRATE BLOOD, 1970 (as John Tyler McCulloch)