Edgar Rice Burroughs and Tarzan

Like millions of other readers and moviegoers, as a youngster the late Robert W. Fenton loved swinging through the jungle with Tarzan. As an adult his interest was revived when he bought Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original office-estate in Tarzana, California, and began writing a biography of Burroughs. Originally titled The Big Swingers, it was the first full-scale, commercially published account of ERB’s life and work.
Here is Fenton’s 1967 biography, back in print, as a wonderful source for a new generation of readers. Burroughs’ early years were far from promising—he was dropped from school, was undistinguished as a cavalryman at Fort Grant, lost out in gold mining, and had little success as a salesman. He knew nothing about writing, but decided to try it anyway—and created Tarzan, one of the most famous characters of all time. A new foreword by George T. McWhorter and new photographs—there are 66 in all—are included.

Robert W. Fenton wrote articles for Time, published his own newspaper (The European Traveler) and founded Teen Features Syndicate. He died in 1968.

Robert W. Fenton
Foreword by George T. McWhorter
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 254
Bibliographic Info: 66 photos, appendices, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2010 [2003]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4908-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8504-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments     v

Foreword     1

Preface     5

Prologue     9

1 Formative Years (1875–1897)     15

2 Search for Adventure (1898–1904)     27

3 A Lord’s Trial (1905–1911)     35

4 Like Ulysses…     41

5 The Ape-man Cometh (1912)     43

6 Breakthrough (1913)     49

7 Tarzan and Friend     55

8 Those Crazy Moving Pictures (1913–1918)     63

9 On to the City of Gold (1918)     77

10 Tarzan bei den Affen (1919–1932)     81

11 King of the Serials (1919–19250     87

12 The Girl from Hollywood and Other Romances (1916–1922)     95


13 Tarzan Swings (1920–1929)     103

14 Tarzan of the World (1920–1929)     109

15 The Mid-Rancho Period (1922–1929)     113

16 The Comic Strip (1928–)     123

17 Two Women (1931–1933)     127

18 The One and Only (1932–1943)     135

19 On Location in Africa (1933–1934)     143

20 New Adventures (1934–1938)     147

21 Monkey Business (1935–1950)     153

22 Search for the Fountain of Youth (1935–1937)     161

23 Pre-Pearl Harbor (1938–1941)     167

24 The Great Adventure (1941–1945)     175

25 Last Years (1946–1950)     181

Epilogue     183

APPENDICES

A: Chapter Notes     187

B: 99 Days     191

C: War Correspondent     193

D: Proposal for a National Reserve Army     199

E: Novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs     201

F: Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Ape-English Dictionary     205

Index     209

“a veritable treasure trove of information”—Midwest Book Review; “an item which all ERB fans will want”—Interzone; “fascinating”—Critical Mass.