Edgar Rice Burroughs

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Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Born (1875-09-01)September 1, 1875
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died March 19, 1950(1950-03-19) (aged 74)
Encino, California, U.S.
Resting place Tarzana, California, U.S.
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Period 1911–50
Genre Adventure novel, fantasy, lost world, sword and planet, planetary romance, soft science fiction, Western
Notable works
Signature

Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his creations of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois (he later lived for many years in the suburb of Oak Park), the fourth son of businessman and Civil War veteran Major George Tyler Burroughs (1833–1913) and his wife Mary Evaline (Zieger) Burroughs (1840–1920). His middle name is from his paternal grandmother, Mary Rice Burroughs (1802–ca. 70).[1][2][3]

Burroughs was educated at a number of local schools, and during the Chicago influenza epidemic in 1891, he spent a half year at his brother's ranch on the Raft River in Idaho. He then attended the 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 (West Point), he ended up as 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.[4]

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

Adulthood[edit]

After his discharge, Burroughs worked a number of different jobs. He drifted and worked on a ranch in Idaho. Then, Burroughs found work at his father's firm in 1899. He married his childhood sweetheart Emma Hulbert (1876-1944) in January 1900. In 1904, he left his job and worked less regularly, first in Idaho, then in Chicago.[5]

By 1911, after seven years of low wages, he was working as a pencil sharpener wholesaler and began to write fiction. By this time, Burroughs and Emma had two children, Joan (1908–72), who would later marry Tarzan film actor James Pierce, and Hulbert (1909–91).[6] During this period, he had copious spare time and he began reading many 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.[7]

Burroughs divorced Emma in 1934, and in 1935 he married former actress Florence Gilbert Dearholt, the former wife of his friend, Ashton Dearholt. Burroughs adopting the Dearholts' two children. He and Florence divorced in 1942.[8]

Burroughs was in his late 60s and a resident of Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. 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.

American film director Wes Anderson is Burroughs' great-grandson.[9]

American Actor Reid Markel is Burroughs' great-great- grandson

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame inducted Burroughs in 2003.[10][11]

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.[12]

Literary career[edit]

Aiming his work at the pulps, 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[13][14][15] —under the name "Norman Bean" to protect his reputation.[15][a] Under the Moons of Mars inaugurated the Barsoom series and earned Burroughs US$400 ($9,775 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.[13]

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. In 1913, Burroughs and Emma had their third and last child, John Coleman Burroughs (1913–79).[citation needed]

Burroughs also wrote popular science fiction and fantasy stories involving Earthly adventurers transported to various planets (notably Barsoom, Burroughs's fictional name for Mars, and Amtor, his fictional name for Venus), lost islands, and into the interior of the hollow earth in his Pellucidar stories, as well as westerns and historical romances. Along with 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.[16] Also, the unincorporated community of Tarzan, Texas, was formally named in 1927 when the US Postal Service accepted the name,[17] 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.

Literary criticism[edit]

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."[18] 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."

Selected works[edit]

Main article: Edgar Rice Burroughs bibliography

Barsoom series[edit]

Main article: Barsoom

Tarzan series[edit]

Main article: Tarzan

Pellucidar series[edit]

Main article: Pellucidar

Venus series[edit]

Main article: Venus series

Caspak series[edit]

Moon series[edit]

  • The Moon Maid (1926; The Moon Men)
    • Part I: The Moon Maid
    • Part II: The Moon Men
    • Part III: The Red Hawk

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.[19]

Mucker series[edit]

Other science fiction[edit]

Jungle adventure novels[edit]

Western novels[edit]

Historical novels[edit]

Other works[edit]

Books on Edgar Rice Burroughs[edit]

See also[edit]

Portal icon Biography portal
Portal icon Speculative fiction portal
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Notes[edit]

  1. ^ One poem by Burroughs had been published October 15, 1910, in The Chicago Tribune as "by Normal Bean" and the Tribune published two more in 1914 and 1915.[13] "Norman" was an All-Story typesetter's presumptive correction of "Normal".[15] He used his own name otherwise.[13]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Descendants of Edmund Rice: The First Nine Generations, Edmund Rice (1638) Association, 2010 .
  2. ^ "Edmund Rice Six-Generation Database Online". Edmund Rice (1638) Association. Retrieved January 27, 2011. 
  3. ^ Schneider, Jerry L (2004), The Ancestry of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Google Books), ERBville, ISBN 978-1-4357-4972-6 , 296 pp.
  4. ^ Slotkin, Richard (1998). Gunfighter Nation. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 196. ISBN 0-8061-3031-8. 
  5. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 3–4.
  6. ^ Holtsmark 1986, p. 5.
  7. ^ Burroughs, Edgar Rice (October 27, 1929). "How I Wrote the Tarzan Stories". The Washington Post, The New York World (Sunday supplement). ERBZine.com. 
  8. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 12–13.
  9. ^ Wells, Jeffrey (November 7, 1993). "Lost in Filmland? These Guys Sure Found The Way". The Los Angeles Times. 
  10. ^ "Burroughs, Edgar Rice". The Locus Index to SF Awards: Index of Literary Nominees. Locus Publications. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  11. ^ Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame (official website of the hall of fame to 2004), Mid American Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions, retrieved 2013-03-22 .
  12. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 13–15.
  13. ^ a b c d Edgar Rice Burroughs at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB). Retrieved April 8, 2013. Select a title to see its linked publication history and general information. Select a particular edition (title) for more data at that level, such as a front cover image or linked contents.
  14. ^ A Virtual Visit to The Nell Dismukes McWhorter Memorial Edgar Rice Burroughs Collection, ERBzine 4 (19) , with photographs.
  15. ^ a b c Robinson, Frank M, The Story Behind the Original All-Story, American Zoetrope 4 (1), retrieved April 8, 2013 .
  16. ^ Tarzana Community Profile (PDF), US: NOAA, retrieved July 4, 2012 .
  17. ^ Holtsmark 1986, pp. 9–10.
  18. ^ Paris Review
  19. ^ ERBzine .

Bibliography[edit]

  • Holtsmark, Erling B (1986), Edgar Rice Burroughs, Boston: Twain, ISBN 0-8057-7459-9 

External links[edit]

Wikisource has original works written by or about:
Edgar Rice Burroughs
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Bibliography[edit]

Other[edit]

Works by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Tarzan novels
Tarzan collections
Tarzan short stories
Other jungle adventure
Martian series
Pellucidar series
Venus series
Caspak series
Other speculative fiction
Westerns
Historical novels
Contemporary novels
Other works
Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan
Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom
Characters
Literature series
Films
Games
Culture
Other
Edgar Rice Burroughs's Caspak trilogy
Works
Other media
Authority control
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