Edgar Rice Burroughs - (1875-1950)
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Advanced English III
Emmett High School, Emmett ID
Tarzan's God
If you were to mention the name of Edgar Rice Burroughs in a conversation, you might receive a response resembling, "Who? Oh yes, wasn't he a poet or something?" However, if you were to mention "Tarzan," instant recognition would greet you. Although Burroughs was the creator of the famous character, Tarzan, it seems he receives little recognition today unless it is in connection with Tarzan. Although Burroughs' Tarzan novels were his claim to fame, there is much more to him than is commonly known.
I. Personal and Professional Biography
Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, the fourth son of George Tyler and Mary Evelyn Burroughs. His father was the owner of a battery company, and the family was quite wealthy (Contemporary Authors 54). Little is known of Burroughs' early childhood because, for unexplained reasons, Burroughs refused to publicly recall much of anything before the age of 12 (Eaton 12).
Burroughs' well- documented history began in 1890 when he was shipped by his parents to his brother's Idaho cattle ranch. As his record shows, Burroughs' parents were paranoid regarding illnesses and arranged to have him moved there after an epidemic known as La Grippe began in Chicago. Edgar wasn't the first Burroughs to be sent there. Two of his older brothers, George Jr. and Harry, had been advised to move there several years previously due to battery fume poisoning, which was supposedly making them ill.
Once in Idaho, the brothers built the Bar Y ("Y" for Yale University) Ranch, where Edgar later joined them. The Bar Y was on the Raft River near the junction of the Snake River and the Oregon Trail (Taliaferro 30). When Burroughs arrived there, he was assigned to grub sage with a horse drawn plow and sometimes carry mail and supplies from American Falls to Yale Post Office, which was established by his brothers (Taliaferro 31).
In his later years, Burroughs credited his early Idaho experiences as the basis for many of his tales. While in Idaho, his love of horses was born. This was reflected in his many western novels and such fictional characters as John Carter and Tarzan. Many more ideas were generated when he was introduced to Texas Pete. Texas Pete was a farm hand who wove intricate stories, usually including himself as a murderer. He told these to Burroughs, who later reported using many of Pete's ideas in his own works of fiction (Taliaferro 31). Burroughs left in the summer of 1891 for Andover, Massachusetts, to attend Phillips Military Academy (Taliaferro 32).
After graduating from Phillips, Burroughs joined the military. However, he lasted only a few months and was then discharged. Immediately following his discharge, Burroughs moved back to Idaho and got a job as a cowpuncher for his brothers. He stayed only a brief time, before going back to Chicago to work for his father at the American Battery Company (Taliaferro 49).
In 1898, Burroughs left the battery company and returned to Idaho to join his brothers for the spring round-up. While there, he made his second attempt to join the Army, this time with the Rough Riders Calvary. He was turned down, due to too many applicants. When the round-up was over, he moved to Pocatello, Idaho, where he leased a stationary store/news-stand on Center Street. At the store, he sold cigars, sheet music, flags, magazines, and photography supplies. He developed film, rented cameras, and delivered newspapers on horseback. Over all, the store was not very successful and after less than a year, he gave it back to the original owner and re-joined his brothers for another spring round-up. Again, at this time, he tried to enlist in the Army. Again, he was rejected. In 1899, he moved back to Chicago and went back to work for his father (Taliaferro 46).
Strangely enough, in 1900, all the Burroughs brothers got married, except Harry who had married in 1991. George married Edna McCoy, Coleman married Grace Moss, and Edgar to Emma Hulbert (Taliaferro 47).
In 1903, Edgar moved again to Idaho, this time bringing Emma and their dog. They rode in a luggage car for they had to bribe the railway express man with liquor to let their dog on, and the luggage car was the only place he would let them stay. Their destination was a small town on the Salmon River known as Stanley Basin (Taliaferro 49).
Burroughs immediately fell in love with the scenic surroundings of the Stanley Basin area. Emma managed to put up with it, she not being used to the rough life. They lived in a tent the first few months of their stay until they could afford to build a cabin. Burroughs made a small income by helping his brothers who had switched from ranching to mining on the Snake River. However, most of his time was spent sketching for a correspondence course in Drawing. It is speculated he borrowed the money for this course from his brothers. Due to his lack of work ethic, both his brothers and their wives saw Burroughs as unreliable and a general slacker. However, as it turned out, it was probably a good thing that Burroughs did not take much interest in mining, as in 1904, the operation failed due to high overhead, low production and general bad luck. After the mining failure, Edgar and Emma moved to Parma, Idaho, where his brother Harry lived. They stayed there a short time and near the end of 1904, Edgar left Idaho for good to become a depot policeman for the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City, Utah (Taliaferro 51).
This period of Burroughs' life was unremarkable, with the exception of his writing of his first real story, entitled "Minidoka 937th Earl of One Mile." This story was haphazardly written for Studley and Evelyne, Harry's children (Taliaferro 52). Though the story itself is far from exceptional, it is important for several reasons. The first is that it showed Burroughs' initial sign of his future career. It also proved that Burroughs had a real interest in writing and did not simply start to make a quick buck, as he was often later criticized for doing. The "Minidoka" story went undiscovered until after his demise (Taliaferro 54).
Burroughs' professional writing career began in 1911. While working for System Magazine, he began writing a short science-fiction story entitled, "Princess of Mars." He sent it into a low-brow sci-fi/adventure magazine called All-Star. The editor, Metcalf, quickly responded, saying he enjoyed the short story and would like a sequel. "Princess of Mars" became Burroughs' first published work in 1912, paying him $400.00. Only a few months later, Burroughs sent in another story to All-Star. This one was a medieval, Ivanhoe-style tale, which he entitled "The Outlaw of Torn." Despite Burroughs' re-writing of it several times, Metcalf repeatedly rejected it, (though it was later published by McClurg Publishing, post-Tarzan, of course.) (Taliaferro 70).
June 11, 1912, Edgar Burroughs submitted the work that would make him famous. On this date, he sent "Tarzan of the Apes" to All-Star. Metcalf grudgingly paid him $700 and gave little praise, but the magazine audience immediately rejoiced in Tarzan (Taliaferro 75). With the audience instantly demanding a sequel, Burroughs wrote "Return of Tarzan." Shortly after, there were disputes between Metcalf and Burroughs concerning payment, so he submitted this piece to All-Star's rival, New Story, for $1000 (Taliaferro, 98). Again, audiences begged for more and his popularity grew; so, too, did his income.
By March, 1913, Burroughs quit his job at Systems , and began writing full-time. Burroughs found his calling just in time to show his father that he could make something of his life, for in March of 1913, his father died (Taliaferro, 100).
These humble beginnings were the foundation of what was to come. By 1914, Burroughs' former magazine stories were being published in novel form by McClurg Publishers, who eventually printed twenty-four Tarzan novels collectively, with a total of one hundred million copies sold (Watson 3).
During his unprecedented success with novels, Burroughs, his wife and several friends and associates moved to a suburb of Los Angeles, California, San Fernando, where they purchased a five hundred and fifty acre ranch which Burroughs named Tarzana (Taliaferro 150). The first year was rough, for Burroughs had no idea how to run a ranch of this size which came complete with herds of goats and several orchards. He was reported to have been a harsh task-master, and many of his original staff were either fired or left (Taliaferro 158). However, in 1920, the life became better at Tarzana and things became more manageable (Taliaferro 163). Yet even with Burroughs earning over one hundred thousand dollars per year, he could barely keep up with his payments and, in 1923, he sold his ranch and moved to star-studded Hollywood (Watson 14).
The popularity of the Tarzan character spread at an amazing rate, and he was soon to be found in theaters and nickelodeons across the nation. The first Tarzan movie was completed in 1921, featuring barrel-chested Elmo Lincoln, whom Burroughs despised (Watson 113). Yet in spite of Burroughs' criticism, it was one of the first films to top one million dollars in earnings. Since then, over fourteen actors have played at being Tarzan. In 1966, Ron Eli played in the first Tarzan television program (Watson 117). Even with movies and mass merchandising, Burroughs could still hardly keep himself out of debt (Watson 15).
Burroughs was far less popular with literary critics than he was with the general public, often facing scathing criticism in review and essay form. One of the most oft- stated criticisms was that his novels were repetitive and cliched, from John Carter of Mars to Tarzan of the Apes, each book contained essentially the same basic plot structure, the same beautiful girl and the same inevitable triumph of good over evil. It was often said that he simply patched separate stories together to form a new one. Another criticism was that there were many useless characters, whose only real purpose was to divert the attention away from the main characters. And as for the main characters, they were all invariably one-dimensional super-man types (Holstmark 100). Even worse, Burroughs was criticized for his Tarzan stories on the rumor that they were racist and even fascist. The most wide- spread criticism was that Burroughs was not a true writer, but that he simply began writing to pay the bills in an effort to take an advantage of America's pulp fiction pop culture (Contemporary Authors 55). Burroughs' few high- brow attempts failed miserably and were even more criticized than his low-brow fiction.
Burroughs' wish to join the army was finally realized in December, 1941, while he was playing tennis with his son, at Pearl Harbor. Coincidentally, this happened to be the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed. After the raid had ended, the military was looking for volunteers to help in any way they could, and of course, Burroughs was quick to enlist. This led him to become a war correspondent for the next nine years, traveling over fifteen thousand miles during the course of World War II, reporting on military matters around the world. In this fashion, Burroughs wrote until his death, which occurred on March 19, 1950 (Watson 15).
Burroughs' unpredictable life meandered back and forth, from this job to that, until, unlike so many others, he found his true calling. His writing has survived nearly eighty years, with Tarzan films, comics and re-makes. Obviously, he has created something for the ages. Perhaps America needs one-dimensional superman type heroes and the knowledge that good will always triumph over evil.
II. Selected Works
Tarzan series
John Carter series
The Outlaw of Torn
The Monster Men
Apache Devil
III. Works Cited
"Burroughs, Edgar Rice." Contemporary Authors. New York: 1991.
Fenton, Robert W. The Big Swingers.Buffalo: Prentice Hall, 1967.
Holtsmark, Erling B. Edgar Rice Burroughs. TUSAS 499. Boston: Twayne, 1986.
Taliaferro, John. Tarzan Forever: The Life of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Creator of Tarzan. New York: Scribner, 1999.
Watson, Bruce. "Tarzan the Eternal." Smithsonian. March, 2001, 62.
This essay was submitted by a student of Joanne Davis, an English teacher at Emmett High School in Idaho.