Customer Reviews

Tarzan the Untamed

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Edgar Rice Burroughs was less than impressed with Jane as the mate for Tarzan thinking that La, the High Priestess of Opar was a better match. With the Germans making themselves international bad guys by starting the First World War, ERB took advantage of their moving against British possessions in Africa to kill off Jane in this seventh novel in the Tarzan series. "Tarzan the Untamed" was first published as a six-part serial in "The Red Book Magazine" in 1919 with the story continued as "Tarzan and the Valley of Luna" in a five-part serial in "All-Story Weekly" in 1920. The result is one of the most atypical Burroughs pulp fiction yarns, in which the standard romantic adventure has the hero (whether he is Tarzan, Korak, John Carter, David Innes, etc.) pursuing his beloved (Jane, Miriam, Dejah Thoris, etc.) across a dangerous environment (darkest Africa, Barsoom, Pellucidar, etc.). But in "Tarzan the Untamed," the hero is out for revenge. The result is arguably ERB's best Tarzan novel, past paced and with a prose style that rises above his average effort.

This is amply proven in the opening chapter. Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his men stumble upon the estate of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, in British East Africa in the fall of 1914. Tarzan and his son, Korak, are away, and Lady Jane does not know that war has broken out between German and the British Empire, so she welcomes them to her home. Meanwhile, Tarzan learns of the war in Nairobi and hurries home only to find the smoking ruins of his estate when he returns. Wasimbu, the son of Muviro, has been crucified on the wall, and the rest of the natives are all dead. Tarzan also finds the charred body of his wife, recognizable only the rings on her fingers. Cursing the Germans, Tarzan swears vengeance and leaves behind the trappings of civilization. During a tremendous thunderstorm, Tarzan kills a leopard, symbolizing the return of the Lord of the Jungle--and this is just the first chapter.

Tarzan heads south into German East Africa and almost immediately begins wrecking havoc on the Germans, displaying same sort of animal cunning and creative cruelty that he displayed as a youth in "Tarzan of the Apes" (and covered a bit as well in "The Jungle Tales of Tarzan"). Even encountering an entrenched German army does not stop Tarzan from getting his revenge on his enemy. Eventually he finds an English flier, Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, who is captured by cannibals and in need of rescue, and who becomes the character who argues, rather unconvincingly I might add, for Tarzan to be civilized in his one-man war against the Germans. But nothing is going to stop Tarzan from hunting down every last one of the invaders who destroyed his home and killed his wife. Of course, the circumstances of Jane's death lead us to suspect the surprise that awaits Tarzan at the end of this adventure and which sets up the next novel, "Tarzan the Terrible."

The Tarzan series does become extremely formulaic by the time you get halfway through the twenty-four volumes, but it is worthwhile to at least make you way through the first eight volumes (maybe a bit further, especially if you like lions). "Tarzan the Terrible" is perhaps the quintessential Tarzan novel and the original "Tarzan of the Apes" is the one essential ERB novel to read, but I would agree that "Tarzan the Untamed" is the best yarn in the bunch. Final Note: Not surprisingly, this Tarzan novel was not well received in post-war Germany and effectively ended the publication of Burroughs' work in that country.

Edgar Rice Burroughs was less than impressed with Jane as the mate for Tarzan thinking that La, the High Priestess of Opar was a better match. With the Germans making themselves international bad guys by starting the First World War, ERB took advantage of their moving against British possessions in Africa to kill off Jane in this seventh novel in the Tarzan series. "Tarzan the Untamed" was first published as a six-part serial in "The Red Book Magazine" in 1919 with the story continued as "Tarzan and the Valley of Luna" in a five-part serial in "All-Story Weekly" in 1920. The result is one of the most atypical Burroughs pulp fiction yarns, in which the standard romantic adventure has the hero (whether he is Tarzan, Korak, John Carter, David Innes, etc.) pursuing his beloved (Jane, Miriam, Dejah Thoris, etc.) across a dangerous environment (darkest Africa, Barsoom, Pellucidar, etc.). But in "Tarzan the Untamed," the hero is out for revenge. The result is arguably ERB's best Tarzan novel, past paced and with a prose style that rises above his average effort.

This is amply proven in the opening chapter. Hauptmann Fritz Schneider and his men stumble upon the estate of John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, in British East Africa in the fall of 1914. Tarzan and his son, Korak, are away, and Lady Jane does not know that war has broken out between German and the British Empire, so she welcomes them to her home. Meanwhile, Tarzan learns of the war in Nairobi and hurries home only to find the smoking ruins of his estate when he returns. Wasimbu, the son of Muviro, has been crucified on the wall, and the rest of the natives are all dead. Tarzan also finds the charred body of his wife, recognizable only the rings on her fingers. Cursing the Germans, Tarzan swears vengeance and leaves behind the trappings of civilization. During a tremendous thunderstorm, Tarzan kills a leopard, symbolizing the return of the Lord of the Jungle--and this is just the first chapter.

Tarzan heads south into German East Africa and almost immediately begins wrecking havoc on the Germans, displaying same sort of animal cunning and creative cruelty that he displayed as a youth in "Tarzan of the Apes" (and covered a bit as well in "The Jungle Tales of Tarzan"). Even encountering an entrenched German army does not stop Tarzan from getting his revenge on his enemy. Eventually he finds an English flier, Lieutenant Harold Percy Smith-Oldwick, who is captured by cannibals and in need of rescue, and who becomes the character who argues, rather unconvincingly I might add, for Tarzan to be civilized in his one-man war against the Germans. But nothing is going to stop Tarzan from hunting down every last one of the invaders who destroyed his home and killed his wife. Of course, the circumstances of Jane's death lead us to suspect the surprise that awaits Tarzan at the end of this adventure and which sets up the next novel, "Tarzan the Terrible."

The Tarzan series does become extremely formulaic by the time you get halfway through the twenty-four volumes, but it is worthwhile to at least make you way through the first eight volumes (maybe a bit further, especially if you like lions). "Tarzan the Terrible" is perhaps the quintessential Tarzan novel and the original "Tarzan of the Apes" is the one essential ERB novel to read, but I would agree that "Tarzan the Untamed" is the best yarn in the bunch. Final Note: Not surprisingly, this Tarzan novel was not well received in post-war Germany and effectively ended the publication of Burroughs' work in that country.

I thought that I had read all of the Tarzan books during my youth. I was exposed to the first book recently and came to realize that what I had read must have books written specifically for children. I therefore decided to read all of the books as originally written. I am part way through the series and I am enjoying them tremendously.

This book was originally published in magazine form as two separate stories; "Tarzan and the Huns" and "Tarzan and the Valley of Luna". The plot is somewhat disjointed, probably because it was originally two stories. It takes place in 1914. It starts with Jane being brutally murdered by Germans and Tarzan seeking revenge on her killers specifically and Germans in general. After Tarzan gets his revenge, suddenly the book changes direction and turns into a story where Tarzan and his companions find a "lost city". It is an entertaining book for fans of ERB's type of adventure yarn, although some may be offended by the racist portayals of Germans and Africans.

It took me a while to get into this book, but once Bertha Kircher really started making her presence known I was very interested.

In this novel we have the 'death' of Jane, and Tarzan's return to the jungle, but fate has other things in mind. World War I has made itself known in Africa, and Tarzan gets embroiled in things.

Bertha Kircher, is a german double agent that Tarzan is forced throughout the novel to rescue over and over again and respect as well--as she rescues him many times. He hates her though, because she is German.

I was excited with this premise because here was a man right in the middle of World War 1 setting up a very strong female and German character. However, the last page of the book ruined this for me. Because instead of being a new lesson on how there could be one good person, or something to admire in a people, it is instead about Burroughs usual schtick, on blue-blood running true.

There are a few new jungle people in this book as well, an odd tribe that is insane--Burroughs uses outdated science to describe how Tarzan and others can recognize these people's madness. Facial and scull structure, posture, etc.

This is very much a book of its time, as Burroughs was very much a man of his time. Its an interesting story and one that would be interesting to study from a social/historical stand point. But most importantly its a good adventure book.

There is no doubt that Edgar Rice Burroughs was a wonderful storyteller. However he was also a writer who reflected his times. There are many references in this book to the then popular belief that if you had African blood you were somehow inferior to the Anglo Saxon race. I read this book out loud to someone and as I was reading it I kept the good, adventurous parts as the author had written them, but because my audience was African American I had to edit out the profoundly ignorant instances in which Africans were referred to as practically as stupid and simple as lower forms of animals. Germans were also reviled, but in the context of the story which is about Germans invading certain parts of Africa I can see why. That Tarzan should hate certain Gomangani (as he refers to black people) I can also understand since it was a black warrior who slew his ape foster mother. But the frequent references to the intelligence and morality of ALL Africans is a bit much to take. Still, if you can overlook all of these and edit them out as you read, this is still a fantastic adventure and Tarzan himself is still one of the most iconic characters ever created.

It's very good and keeps you in the plot but try not to judge it by today's standards. The language shows what we would call today bigotry, prejudice and racism