Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) [Paperback]

Philip Jose Farmer (Author), Mike Resnick (Introduction), Win Scott Eckert (Foreword)

Book Description

Series: Bison Frontiers of Imagination | Publication Date: April 1, 2006

Through the tales of Edgar Rice Burroughs, generations of readers have thrilled to the adventures of Lord Greystoke (aka John Clayton, but better known as Tarzan of the Apes). In this biography Philip José Farmer pieces together the life of this fantastic man, correcting Burroughs’s errors and deliberate deceptions and tracing Tarzan's family tree back to other extraordinary figures, including Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, the Scarlet Pimpernel, Doc Savage, Nero Wolfe, and Bulldog Drummond.

 

Tarzan Alive offers the first chronological account of Tarzan's life, narrated in careful detail garnered from Burroughs’s stories and other sources. From the ill-fated voyage that led to Greystoke's birth on the isolated African coast to his final adventures as a group captain in the RAF during World War II, Farmer constructs a comprehensive and authoritative account. Farmer’s assertion that Tarzan was a real person has led him to craft a biography as well researched and compelling as that of any character from conventional history. This definitive Bison Books edition also includes Farmer’s “Exclusive Interview with Lord Greystoke” as well as “Extracts from the Memoirs of ‘Lord Greystoke’” first anthologized in Mother Was a Lovely Beast.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“The old vine swinger is one of a handful of fictional characters to rank a biography. Such books give the authors the opportunity to expound on the characters, providing background, side stories, and updates not offered by their creator. Farmer’s 1972 volume borrows from Edgar Rice Burroughs but also adds to the legend by tracing Tarzan’s lineage . . . and extends his exploits beyond the African jungle as an RAF pilot in World War II. Great fun.”—Library Journal, Classic Returns

(Library Journal, Classic Returns )

“Farmer goes one step further than mere literary fun. He takes engaging advantage of the reader’s inherent susceptibility to myth.”—Publishers Weekly

(Publishers Weekly )

“Tarzan is seen as a 20th-century heroic figure having much in common with the mythical demigods of an earlier day, and this book will not fail to please and enthrall his many followers.”—Library Journal

(Library Journal )

“The most innovative part of the book [is] Tarzan’s family tree linking him to every great hero in pulp literature. . . . Farmer is less well known today than he was forty years ago. Nevertheless, Alive ages well and gives the reader the sourcebook for so many writers today.”—American Book Review

(American Book Review )

"Farmer does a fine job of consolidating all the material. He leaves the reader with a three dimensional portrait of the main characters, their foibles, and motivations. . . . For an introduction to one of the most resilient heroes in literature, Tarzan Alive is a remarkable offering."—Green Man Review

(Green Man Review )

About the Author

Philip José Farmer has had a long and illustrious career in science fiction, winning three Hugo awards, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement award, and the Nebula Grand Master award. Mike Resnick is the winner of five Hugo Awards and a Nebula Award. His novels include Santiago, Kirinyaga, the Widowmaker series, and Ivory. Win Scott Eckert is the editor and author of Myths for the Modern Age: Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe and the editor of the Web site An Expansion of Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 316 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books; Revised edition (April 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803269218
• ISBN-13: 978-0803269217
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,266 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #94 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > History & Criticism

More About the Author

WIN SCOTT ECKERT is co-author (with Philip José Farmer) of the Wold Newton novel THE EVIL IN PEMBERLEY HOUSE, about Patricia Wildman, the daughter of a certain bronze-skinned pulp hero (Subterranean Press, 2009).

A founding member of the New Pulp movement, Win also edited and contributed to MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSE FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE (MonkeyBrain Books), a 2007 Locus Awards Finalist for Best Non-Fiction book. He has written tales featuring many adventurous & pulp hero characters, including Zorro, The Avenger, The Phantom, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hareton Ironcastle, Captain Midnight, and Doc Ardan. He has co-edited and written tales for Moonstone Books' THE GREEN HORNET CHRONICLES and THE GREEN HORNET CASEFILES, and has stories forthcoming in Moonstone's SHERLOCK HOLMES: THE CROSSOVERS CASEBOOK and HONEY WEST. Win also wrote the Foreword to the new edition of Farmer's TARZAN ALIVE: A DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF LORD GREYSTOKE (Bison Books, 2006) and the Afterword to the reissue of Farmer's Sherlockian crossover novel THE PEERLESS PEER (Titan Books, 2011). He is a regular contributor to Black Coat Press' annual pulp anthology TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN, and Meteor House's annual anthology THE WORLDS OF PHILIP JOSE FARMER. Win's latest release is the critically acclaimed encyclopedic CROSSOVERS: A SECRET CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD, Volumes 1 & 2 (Black Coat Press, 2010). Find Win on the web at www.winscotteckert.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A postmodern classic, March 23, 2006

By 

Christopher Paul Carey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) (Paperback)

Far too long out of print, TARZAN ALIVE: THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF LORD GREYSTOKE is a postmodern classic that will appeal to readers of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Philip José Farmer, as well as those interested in parascholarship, fictional biographies, and literature in general. This is the book that launched the concept of the Wold Newton family, the genetic lineage exposed to a radioactive meteorite in 1795, thus spawning a number of great detectives, scientists, explorers, and adventurers, some of whom border on the superhuman. Farmer's addendums, expanding this concept to include a multitude of literary characters (such as those from Jane Austen's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and Jack London's THE SEA WOLF, to name only a couple), alone make the cost of this book worth it.

This is truly the definitive edition of TARZAN ALIVE, and Bison Books has wisely added a number of extras that will make this edition worth owning even if one already has a Doubleday, Popular Library, or Playboy Paperbacks copy of the book. Collected here, but missing from the older versions of the book, are two gems: 1) "Extracts from the Memoirs of `Lord Greystoke' (previously only available in the hard to find anthology MOTHER WAS A LOVELY BEAST); and 2) "Tarzan Lives: An Exclusive Interview with the Eighth Duke of Greystoke" (in which Farmer himself interviews the Jungle Lord). Further, the Bison Books edition includes an insightful new foreword by Win Scott Eckert (editor of MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE), which places TARZAN ALIVE in the context of "Sherlockian biographical scholarship," showing how Farmer's book is truly exemplary (and also transcendent) in the field of fictional biography. This is followed by a new introduction by science fiction author Mike Resnick discussing Farmer's other Tarzan pastiches.

The book itself is a compelling read. Farmer treats the subject of his "biography" as a living person about whom Edgar Rice Burroughs chronicled in fictionalized form. This livens up what otherwise would be a dry summary of ERB's Tarzan series, as Farmer often interjects with persuasive comments, conjectures, and elaborations in the brilliant style that is unique to him. In TARZAN ALIVE, Farmer breaths new life into the legend of Tarzan, all out of a respectful love for the character which pours from every word on every page of this delightfully wonderful work.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Philip Jose Farmer was thinking leagues ahead of any writer in sci-fi, that's what., June 24, 2006

By 

Henry Covert (2046) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) (Paperback)

First off, this is a review I intend to edit later to give readers more of an an idea of the merits of this wonderful book. Second, my review title alludes to the thoughtless and grammatically mangled pocket review provided by "SarahsJay", who, based on his other reviews, could be perceived as someone who would enjoy a biography of Tarzan. But, as in all things, some folk "get it", or grok; others, like Jay, do not and apparently cannot.
I can confidently refute Jay's contention that Mr. Farmer seemed unaware that Tarzan was a character that was written about by Edgar Rice Burroughs. He states this countless times in the book, making Jay's commentary worthless. Was Tarzan a character created by ERB? Or a real and unusual man whose life ERB based his pulp fiction upon? Read this book and decide for yourself; that's the fun of the book, and its basic premise. And I find it ludicrous that someone would admonish Farmer to exit the Wold Newton Universe when it was Farmer's concept to begin with; and equally absurd is Jay's contention that Farmer find another character to, from Jay's POV, to "pick on" (my wordage). Well sir, you are in luck, because PJF wrote an equally delightful follow-up to Tarzan Alive called DOC SAVAGE: HIS APOCALYPTIC LIFE. Which "SJ" will no doubt excoriate upon its imminent reissue. Bottom line: TARZAN ALIVE is a unique, well-thought-out book by one of our most influential, controversial, and erudite writers of fantastic fiction. Self-appointed purists who decry Farmer's application of literary archaeology to PJF's own favourite literary character as some kind of sacrilege do themselves, and the unfortunates on forums such as this who must read their reactionary tripe, an enormous disservice. If you are of a fan of Farmer, pulps, ERB, literary criticism, and/ or Lord Greystoke himself, give this fascinating volume a read.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable, June 24, 2006

By 

Lucky Jackson (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) (Paperback)

I first read this book when I was ten or so, but I have returned to it time after time a an adult. Phil Farmer, a noted science fiction writer, wrote this book, which proports to be a biography of the man upon whom Edgar Rice Borroguhs based his Tarzan novles.

When you read this, you will find yourself wondering if Farmer is pulling one of the greatest literary practical jokes ever, or if Farmer actually does believe that Tarzan was a real person, and, inevitably, you will find yourself wondering if Tarzan actually was a real person.

The biography of Tarzan is useful if you are a fan of the Edgar Rice Burroguhs books. Farmer will show how some of the more outlandish elements of the books can be scientifically explained, and how they might ahve happened in the world you and I inhabit. The book is also useful if you have never read Burroughs and are looking for a quick introduction to his most popular series.

The endnotes, where Farmer sketches Tarzan's family tree and shows how e was related to Sherlock Holmes, Leopold Bloom, the Shadow, Nero Wolfe and a number of other lierary characters is also fascinating.