The Return of Tarzan sees John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke, aka Tarzan, back in his beloved jungle after taking on an assignment to get him away from the heartbreaking reminder that his true love, Jane Porter, is set to marry another.
While one of the circumstances of his return to the home of his birth is coincidental to the point of being laughable, the whole of The Return of Tarzan is a novel filled with adventure and suspense, intrigue and romance, that makes it abundantly clear why the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs remains read and beloved today.
A tour of the basement bookshelves, where my vintage and current mass market paperbacks reside, revealed The Return of Tarzan and I decided it was high time I discovered what the ape man was up to since I had last visited him in print in early 2016, reading Tarzan for the first time in Tarzan of the Apes in anticipation of the Summer release of The Legend of Tarzan [fantastic film!].
In both sunny and cloudy weather I spent part of my Memorial Day weekend outdoors rapidly turning the pages of Burroughs’ second Tarzan novel, anxious to see what would happen next, and hoping to see the paths of Jane Porter and Tarzan cross once more.
There are moments in the novel that were like reading one of Robert Howard’s Conan stories, and later a scene with Lovecraftian vibes. Of course I had those comparisons the wrong way round because ERB used the words “Cimmerian” and “Stygian” and created the strong “savage” man and eerie subterranean locales before either Howard or Lovecraft published any stories of their own. I have to believe Burroughs was an influence on the writing of both men.
Outside of the alluded-to silly “oh how convenient” moment in the novel, the whole of the novel is a captivating read for those who like classic adventure stories, with the added novelty of the villains of the work holding their own.
I have the next three novels in the paperback stacks downstairs, and there are many more to track down besides, so I believe that Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, will be a visitor in my reading imagination for years to come.
I loved all the movies and tv Tarzans!.. I got to know Gordon Scott who played Tarzan in the movies in the 60’s when I was in CA doing autograph shows. Strangely I never read the books though.. even stranger I never read the Star Trek books.. except for 3 about McCoy and I knew the author..
You better have read some McCoy Star Trek books!!! LOL!
There isn’t necessarily anything strange about it. I hadn’t read Trek for years but back when I worked in a bookstore a novel came out, Prime Directive, that sounded so good I just had to read it. And since then I’ve read the occasional Star Trek book, usually in binges. I probably still wouldn’t have read any Tarzan at this point, despite liking other Burroughs that I have read, if it hadn’t been for the moving and me wanting to at least have some flavor of the character from the creators perspective before seeing the film.
Although I have read books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I haven’t read any of the Tarzan books. Someday I will try to remedy that. They may have some of those books at the annual book sale I go to, when and if such book sales are available again.
Isn’t that the case with everything? Our hope that it will one day happen again. Our used bookstores in the area have opened up, with limited customers and masks required. The local big box book store, Barnes and Noble, is still curbside only.
I think that cover says it all about this book. I read the first Tarzan novel a few years back, and I do recall it being full of action and adventure, but also so much racism, I just couldn’t continue reading them. And I know, it was of its time, but I would literally be cringing while reading and had to say nope! not for me.
The good news is we all have more than enough books to read (unless we somehow figure out that sci-fi tech to stop time or live forever) that not reading a book or series is no big deal. I’m not sure I could get through all the books in my HOUSE at this time without the unlikely sci-fi scenario happening.
I have that same edition, in fact I have the whole set of those Ballantine Tarzan books. I first read the initial three or four when I was a kid, maybe that’s why they don’t bother me the way they do (or would) Fence. The world has changed a lot, and us with it, but I can accept it the way it was in books written at the time. The problem I sometimes have with these now is I’m sometimes rooting for the animals to win, not the humans.
I don’t remember this one as being as much fun as the first one, nor some of the later ones, but they were all pretty good at the time I read them.
One of the things I found interesting about this one is that Tarzan’s first instinct in returning to the jungle was to kill the young tribesman he saw to take his weapons and instead his time in civilization had taught him that life was valuable in ways different than when he was first in the jungle. I liked how that decision ended up building a friendship with this young man and then the tribe as a whole. There is definitely a lot of nationalism and colonialism in these books, no doubt about it, and the inherent racism that comes with that. What I do appreciate though is that, in this book especially, there isn’t a vilifying of a race of people as Tarzan meets both “arabs” and “blacks”, ERB’s words, who he befriends, feels are noble and amazing people, that he would like to live with other than his ultimate desire which is to be reunited with Jane.
Like Rick, I read TARZAN as a kid. Loved the adventures! My favorite was the story when Tarzan went to the Earth’s Core: a cross-over between two of ERB’s series.
I have that one, I believe. If it is the one I’m thinking of it has a nice Frazetta cover, but I could be thinking of another ERB book.