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Edgar Rice Burroughs

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Edgar Rice Burroughs was a highly prolific American author.

Bookplate of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Bookplate of Edgar Rice Burroughs

He is best known for his contributions to the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. His most famous creation is Tarzan, a character who appeared in twenty-four books. Burroughs also created John Carter, a character featured in eleven books. He wrote several other notable series, including Pellucidar, Amtor, and the Caspak trilogy. His work helped shape modern popular fiction through its grand scale and imaginative settings.

Burroughs used various storytelling mechanisms to build his worlds. He often wrote about adventurers being transported to distant planets or lost locations. For example, he created Barsoom, which is the fictional name for Mars. He also created Amtor, a fictional name for Venus. Some stories took place on lost islands like Caspak. Other adventures occurred within the Hollow Earth in his Pellucidar series. These settings allowed him to explore themes of survival and discovery.

His literary career featured several distinct types of stories. He wrote science fiction involving interplanetary travel and fantasy involving lost worlds. He also composed Westerns and historical romances. In 1912, he published "Under the Moons of Mars" in The All-Story magazine. This story introduced the Barsoom series and the character John Carter. This specific work earned him US$400, which is worth about US$11,922 today. By 1911, after years of working as a pencil-sharpener wholesaler, he began writing fiction full-time.

Burroughs's life involved many different roles and locations. He was born on September 1, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois. His father, George Tyler Burroughs, was a businessman and a Civil War veteran. Before becoming a writer, Edgar worked as a cowboy in Idaho. He also managed a bucket-line gold dredge for a mining company. He later worked for the Oregon Short Line Railroad in Salt Lake City. He even served as a war correspondent during World War II. This made him one of the oldest correspondents in the conflict.

His success brought significant cultural and financial impact.

Letter from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Ruthven Deane 1922
Letter from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Ruthven Deane 1922

Tarzan became a massive cultural icon. Burroughs expanded the character into many different media. He created a syndicated Tarzan comic strip and many films. He also sold various types of merchandise. Experts once warned that these different media would compete with each other. However, Burroughs proved them wrong as the public embraced every version. He was believed to be the writer who earned the most from films. He received over US$2 million in royalties from 27 Tarzan pictures.

His influence even changed real-world geography and science. In 1919, he purchased a large ranch north of Los Angeles. He named this property "Tarzana" after his famous character. In 1927, the community that grew around the ranch officially adopted the name Tarzana, California. Additionally, the community of Tarzan, Texas, was named in 1927. This name likely came from the popularity of the first silent Tarzan film. Because of his impact on science fiction, an impact crater on Mars was named in his honor after his death.

It is important to note that Burroughs held controversial views. He was an explicit supporter of eugenics and scientific racism. These ideas appeared in both his fiction and his nonfiction writing. He believed that certain groups, such as English nobles, were a heritable elite. He used the character of Tarzan to reflect these concepts. In his stories, Tarzan is born to English nobles and adopted by talking apes called the Mangani. Burroughs used his writing to present certain people as inherently superior to others based on these beliefs.

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