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Tarzan the Terrible

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The original novel "Tarzan of the Apes" is clearly the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs novel and the one you have to read if you read only one ERB pulp fiction adventure, but all things considered "Tarzan the Terrible" is a better example of what would be the typical Burroughs yarn. The eighth book in the Tarzan series, "Tarzan the Terrible" continues the adventure begun in "Tarzan the Untamed" when the Lord of the Jungle discovered the burnt corpse of his wife, Jane after German soldiers visit his African home. ERB never really did like Jane all that much (he though La of Opar would have been a better mate) and killed her off. However, he had no more success in keeping her dead than Arthur Conan Doyle did with killing off Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan learns that Jane was not murdered by the Germans but kidnapped and sets off in pursuit. Originally published as a seven-part serial in "Argosy All-Story Weekly" in February-March, 1921, "Tarzan the Terrible" continues his private war against the German invaders.

Tarzan has spent two months tracking his mate to Pal-ul-don ("Land of Men"), a hidden valley in Zaire, when he finds a land of strange animals (dinosaurs) and a pair of strange humanoids with tails that he befriends. Ta-den, is a hairless, white skinned, Ho-don warrior, while O-mat is a hairy, black skinned, Waz-don, chief of the tribe of Kor-ul-ja. Of course, in this new world Tarzan becomes a captive but impresses his captors so well that they name him Tarzan-Jad-Guru ("Tarzan the Terrible") because of his skills and accomplishments. Meanwhile, a second visitor comes to Pal-ul-don, wearing only a loin cloth and carrying an Enfield rifle along with a long knife, bow and arrows (think about it). However, it is indeed in Pal-ul-don where Jane is now being held captive, a pawn in a religious power struggle that consumes the rest of the novel as Tarzan tries to rescue her and set things to right in the strange kingdom he has discovered.

"Tarzan the Terrible" has all of the elements you expect from your standard Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. The hero pursues his beloved and has to go through an extended series of fights and escapes to rescue her. Jane does exhibit a bit more spunk this time around (she captures, cleans, and eats a rabbit), so there is an effort to make her more worthy of her jungle mate than before. The religious and social customs of Pal-ul-don are worked out a bit more than we have seen previously in the Tarzan series, which would become more dependent on Tarzan discover more "lost cities" in the interior of darkest Africa with the descendants of Roman legionnaires, crusaders, or whatever. "Tarzan the Terrible" is almost as good as "Tarzan the Untamed," and in many ways represents the end of the glory days of Tarzan. You are only one-third of the way through the series at this point, but after this one the stories get a bit redundant and repetitive as ERB milks his romantic adventure formula for all its worth.

This book is clearly more experimental for Burroughs in that there are traps the Ape-man can't escape from. Also, the depth of the Ho-don and Waz-don civilizations in Pal-ul-don is well fleshed out and because of this is somewhat reminiscent of the way Burroughs constructed his Martian countries. Too, Korak's last appearance as a major character in a Tarzan novel is well placed if too short. The ultimate failing of the book lies in something Burroughs did all too frequently with his characters be they Tarzan, John Carter, or David Innes: Tarzan doesn't get to exact personal revenge on the men who kidnaped and tried to rape his wife. Had Burroughs not chickened out at the end and given the just reprisal to another character, this would have been the quintessential Tarzan novel. Still, though, it is worth the read.

The original novel "Tarzan of the Apes" is clearly the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs novel and the one you have to read if you read only one ERB pulp fiction adventure, but all things considered "Tarzan the Terrible" is a better example of what would be the typical Burroughs yarn. The eighth book in the Tarzan series, "Tarzan the Terrible" continues the adventure begun in "Tarzan the Untamed" when the Lord of the Jungle discovered the burnt corpse of his wife, Jane after German soldiers visit his African home. ERB never really did like Jane all that much (he though La of Opar would have been a better mate) and killed her off. However, he had no more success in keeping her dead than Arthur Conan Doyle did with killing off Sherlock Holmes, and Tarzan learns that Jane was not murdered by the Germans but kidnapped and sets off in pursuit. Originally published as a seven-part serial in "Argosy All-Story Weekly" in February-March, 1921, "Tarzan the Terrible" continues his private war against the German invaders.

Tarzan has spent two months tracking his mate to Pal-ul-don ("Land of Men"), a hidden valley in Zaire, when he finds a land of strange animals (dinosaurs) and a pair of strange humanoids with tails that he befriends. Ta-den, is a hairless, white skinned, Ho-don warrior, while O-mat is a hairy, black skinned, Waz-don, chief of the tribe of Kor-ul-ja. Of course, in this new world Tarzan becomes a captive but impresses his captors so well that they name him Tarzan-Jad-Guru ("Tarzan the Terrible") because of his skills and accomplishments. Meanwhile, a second visitor comes to Pal-ul-don, wearing only a loin cloth and carrying an Enfield rifle along with a long knife, bow and arrows (think about it). However, it is indeed in Pal-ul-don where Jane is now being held captive, a pawn in a religious power struggle that consumes the rest of the novel as Tarzan tries to rescue her and set things to right in the strange kingdom he has discovered.

"Tarzan the Terrible" has all of the elements you expect from your standard Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. The hero pursues his beloved and has to go through an extended series of fights and escapes to rescue her. Jane does exhibit a bit more spunk this time around (she captures, cleans, and eats a rabbit), so there is an effort to make her more worthy of her jungle mate than before. The religious and social customs of Pal-ul-don are worked out a bit more than we have seen previously in the Tarzan series, which would become more dependent on Tarzan discover more "lost cities" in the interior of darkest Africa with the descendants of Roman legionnaires, crusaders, or whatever. "Tarzan the Terrible" is almost as good as "Tarzan the Untamed," and in many ways represents the end of the glory days of Tarzan. You are only one-third of the way through the series at this point, but after this one the stories get a bit redundant and repetitive as ERB milks his romantic adventure formula for all its worth.

In 1929 Edgar Rice Burroughs recalled thinking:

"...if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those [pulp] magazines, that I could write stories just as rotten. As a matter of fact, although I had never written a story, I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines."

But Burroughs' first Tarzan novel, TARZAN OF THE APES was more than pulp. Burroughs dealt in that novel with themes based on Darwin's theory of evolution. His premise was that breeds of human beings have hereditary characteristics. A noble English lord is a lord. And if he is born and orphaned in a jungle, with no resources, his noble nature will make him a lord even there.

In the novels which followed, (and in the short story collection JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN) Burroughs developed the character of Tarzan (Lord Greystoke) and showed us his inner conflicts and strengths.

In TARZAN THE TERRIBLE, the eighth of the Tarzan novels, we see no character development. Instead, we follow the fully developed Tarzan through one of Burroughs' most brilliantly imagined and tightly plotted novels. Tarzan seeks his mate, Jane, who has been captured by German forces in a surprise attack on Lord Greystoke's African farm at the beginning of World War I. In this novel, Tarzan has no inner conflict. He is totally clear and focused on his quest to rescue Jane.

In this novel, Burroughs returns to Darwinian themes. Tarzan tracks Jane and her last living captor (Tarzan killed all the others in the preceding novel TARZAN THE UNTAMED), Lieutenant Obergatz, into the heart of the unexplored Congo, where he penetrates a land which has been isolated by natural barriers from the course of outside natural evolution. There he discovers the land of Pal-ul-Don where strange breeds of men with prehensile tails and opposing thumbs on their feet battle with an array of unknown creatures and surviving evolutionary variations. There are saber-toothed lions, sloth-like creatures called Tor-o-dons which seem to be half man and half ape, and meat eating Triceratops'.

Here Tarzan displays great cunning and resourcefulness as he allies with worthy friends and battles evil power-seeking foes in this strange civilization. But even the wily Tarzan falls prey to those enemies who find ways to use against him his single minded desire to save Jane.

In my opinion this is one of the best Tarzan novels, right up there with TARZAN OF THE APES, TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR, JUNGLE TALES OF TARZAN, the surprisingly believable TARZAN AND THE ANT MEN, and TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE. No Tarzan fan should miss this one.

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