An Introduction to Edgar Rice Burroughs
A prolific American writer of adventure, science fiction and fantasy, and the creator of Tarzan and John Carter.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer known for a large output across the adventure, science fiction and fantasy genres. If you have never read him, the shape of his career is easy to grasp: he built worlds and returned to them again and again, following the same characters and their families through book after book.
He is best known for creating two characters. The first is Tarzan, the ape-man raised in Africa. The second is John Carter, an Earthman whose adventures unfold on Mars, which Burroughs calls Barsoom. Beyond these, he wrote the Pellucidar series, set in a world at the Earth's core, along with the Amtor series and the Caspak trilogy.
What his work is like
Burroughs writes in the tradition of early pulp adventure. His stories move quickly through capture and escape, pursuit and rescue, and pit his heroes against strange peoples and creatures. On Barsoom the action is sword-and-planet fantasy, with warring factions and princesses to pursue. In Africa the Tarzan books stay closer to the natural world and to conflict between men. The Pellucidar books send ordinary people into a prehistoric world of dinosaurs. Across all of them the appeal is the same: momentum, invented geography, and a hero who keeps surviving against long odds.
Several of the books held in this library belong to the Barsoom sequence. This site has The Chessmen of Mars, described as the fifth novel in the series and following Tara, daughter of John Carter; The gods of Mars, which continues John Carter's adventures after his return to the planet; The warlord of Mars, the third novel, in which Carter pursues his captive love Dejah Thoris; and Thuvia, maid of Mars, which follows Carthoris of Helium. Outside Barsoom there is Tarzan the Untamed, set in Africa during the First World War, and At the Earth's Core, the Pellucidar story of the miners David Innes and Abner Perry.
Where a newcomer should start
For a first-time reader, At the Earth's Core is a good entry point. It does not require you to have followed an earlier book, because it opens with two men tunnelling by accident into a world unknown to them, which means you discover Pellucidar at the same pace they do. The premise is simple and self-contained: David Innes and Abner Perry break through into a prehistoric world at the Earth's core, inhabited by dinosaurs and warring races, and struggle to survive. That gives a clean sample of what Burroughs does best without asking you to keep track of an ongoing saga.
If you find you enjoy his manner, the Barsoom books are the natural next step, though several of the ones here fall in the middle of that series rather than at its start. Reading At the Earth's Core first lets you decide whether the pulp adventure style suits you before you commit to a longer sequence.
The books, free to read
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