Author | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Series | The Tarzan series |
Genre | Adventure |
Publisher | A. C. McClurg |
Publication date | 1924 |
Media type | Print (hardback) |
Pages | 346 |
Preceded by | Tarzan and the Golden Lion |
Followed by | Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins |
Text | Tarzan and the Ant Men at Wikisource |
Tarzan and the Ant Men is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the tenth in his series of twenty-four books about the jungle hero Tarzan. It was first published as a seven-part serial in the magazine Argosy All-Story Weekly for February 2, 9, 16 and 23 and March 1, 8 and 15, 1924. The story was first published in book form in hardcover by A. C. McClurg in September 1924. It was also adapted for Gold Key Comics in Tarzan #174-175 (1968).
In the book Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs , Richard A. Lupoff places Tarzan and the Ant Men in his list of essential Burroughs novels and states that it represents Burroughs at the peak of his creative powers. [1]
The story begins 1 year after the end of the previous novel (#9, Tarzan and the Golden Lion ) which would place it around 1936 which would make Tarzan around 47 years old. His son Korak, now at about 23 has a verbal child, the grandchild of Tarzan.
Tarzan, the king of the jungle, enters an isolated country called Minuni, inhabited by a people four times smaller than himself, the Minunians, who live in magnificent city-states which frequently wage war against each other.
Tarzan befriends the king, Adendrohahkis, and the prince, Komodoflorensal, of one such city-state, called Trohanadalmakus, and joins them in war against the onslaught of the army of Veltopismakus, their warlike neighbours.
He is captured on the battle-ground and taken prisoner by the Veltopismakusians, whose scientist Zoanthrohago conducts an experiment reducing him to the size of a Minunian, and the ape-man is imprisoned and enslaved among other Trohanadalmakusian prisoners of war. He meets, though, Komodoflorensal in the dungeons of Veltopismakus, and together they are able to make a daring escape.
Spanish actor/Tarzan lookalike Esteban Miranda, who had been imprisoned in the village of Obebe, the cannibal, at the end of the previous novel, Tarzan and the Golden Lion , also appears in this adventure.
Burrough's view on what is a natural relationship between the sexes is neatly illustrated by a secondary narrative thread in the novel, that one about the Alali or Zertalacolols, an ape-like matriarchal people living in the thorny forests which isolate Minuni from the rest of the worlds. When the enslaved and persecuted Alali males see that Tarzan is a male too and yet stronger and more formidable than any Alali female, they go to war against the females, and by killing or maiming several of them, subjugate them. When Tarzan, towards the end of the novel, meets the Alali again, the females are submissive and obedient to their mates and actually prefer it that way.
The Minunian city states and their politics are strongly reminiscent of those of Barsoom. They also share the Barsoomian philosophy of perpetual war as a good and commendable state, as illustrated by the words of Gefasto, the Commander in Chief of the Veltopismakusian armed forces:
We must have war. As we have found that there is no enduring happiness in peace or virtue, let us have a little war and a little sin. A pudding that is all of one ingredient is nauseating—it must be seasoned, it must be spiced, and before we can enjoy the eating of it to the fullest we must be forced to strive for it. War and work, the two most distasteful things in the world, are, nevertheless, the most essential to the happiness and the existence of a people. Peace reduces the necessity for labor, and induces slothfulness. War compels labor, that her ravages may be effaced. Peace turns us into fat worms. War makes men of us. [2]
Tarzan and the Ant Men marks the end of a sequence that began with Tarzan the Untamed and continued through Tarzan the Terrible and Tarzan and the Golden Lion in which Burroughs' imagination and storytelling abilities presumably hit their peak, and which is generally considered a highlight of the series.
The novel is also the last in the series to focus primarily on Tarzan's own affairs and to routinely feature the customary locales and supporting cast of the early novels. In later novels Burroughs largely dropped the use of such characters as Jane and Korak, as well as the familiar base of Tarzan's African estate. Formerly pivotal characters would return only occasionally; Jane, La of Opar and Paul d'Arnot would each reappear once, while the Waziri or Jad-bal-ja the golden lion would only be brought in as needed to get Tarzan out of a tight spot. The Ape Man would become a seemingly rootless adventurer intervening in the affairs of an endlessly changing gallery of secondary characters whose goals and entanglements were henceforth to form the basis of the novels' plots. This shift in plot-type had first been presaged by the introduction of strong secondary characters as early as Tarzan the Untamed; after Tarzan and the Ant Men it would become dominant.
Tarzan and the Ant Men is referred to in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) as a book read by the young protagonist, Jean Louise ("Scout") Finch.
Tarzan and the Ant Men is also mentioned, along with other unspecified Tarzan titles, in Herman Wouk's A City Boy (1948), being read at Camp Manitou by Herbie Bookbinder, the tubby bookworm hero.
The book has been adapted into comic form by Gold Key Comics in Tarzan nos. 174-175, dated June–July 1969, with a script by Gaylord DuBois and art by Russ Manning.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he also wrote the Pellucidar series, the Amtor series, and the Caspak trilogy.
Pellucidar is a fictional Hollow Earth invented by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs for a series of action adventure stories. In a crossover event, Tarzan, who was also created by Burroughs, visits Pellucidar.
Russell George Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2006.
Tarzan of the Apes is a 1912 novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the first in the Tarzan series. The story was first printed in the pulp magazine The All-Story in October 1912 before being released as a novel in June 1914.
Korak, a fictional character, is the ape name of John "Jack" Clayton III, the son of Tarzan and Jane Porter.
Jane Porter is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly film. Jane, an American from Baltimore, Maryland, is the daughter of professor Archimedes Q. Porter. She becomes the love interest, later the wife of Tarzan and subsequently the mother of their son, Korak. She develops over the course of the series from a conventional damsel in distress, who must be rescued from various perils, to an educated, competent and capable adventuress in her own right, fully capable of defending herself and surviving on her own in the jungles of Africa.
Tarzan the Untamed is a book by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the seventh in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was originally published as two separate stories serialized in different pulp magazines; "Tarzan the Untamed" in Redbook from March to August, 1919, and "Tarzan and the Valley of Luna" in All-Story Weekly from March to April 1920. The two stories were combined under the title of the first in the first book edition, published in 1920 by A. C. McClurg. In order of writing, the book follows Jungle Tales of Tarzan, a collection of short stories about the ape-man's youth. Chronologically, it follows Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar.
The Son of Tarzan is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the fourth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was written between January 21 and May 11, 1915, and first published in the magazine All-Story Weekly as a six-part serial from December 4, 1915, to January 8, 1916. The story was first published in book form by A. C. McClurg & Co. in March 1917 and has been reprinted numerous times since by various publishers.
Tarzan and the Golden Lion is an adventure novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ninth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. The story was first published as a seven part serial in Argosy All-Story Weekly beginning in December 1922; and then as a complete novel by A.C. McClurg & Co. on March 24, 1923.
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, generally considered the eleventh in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. The story was first published as a serial in Blue Book Magazine from December 1927 through May 1928; it first appeared in book form in a hardcover edition from A. C. McClurg in September 1928.
Tarzan and the City of Gold is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the sixteenth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. The novel was originally serialized in the magazine Argosy from March through April 1932.
Tarzan's Quest is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the nineteenth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. Originally serialized in six parts, as Tarzan and the Immortal Men, in The Blue Book Magazine, from October 1935 to March 1936; the first collected edition was published as the 1936 novel Tarzan’s Quest by Burroughs’ own publishing company.
Tarzan: The Lost Adventure is a novel credited to Edgar Rice Burroughs and American writer Joe R. Lansdale, based on an incomplete fragment of a Tarzan novel, written by Burroughs, which had been left unfinished at his death. The book was serialized in four parts by Dark Horse Comics, before being published as a single volume in 1995.
Canaveral Press was a New York–based publisher of fantasy, science fiction and related material, active from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s. Richard A. Lupoff was the editor for publishers Jack Biblo and Jack Tannen.
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.
Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs is a book by Richard A. Lupoff that explores the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan and author of numerous science-fiction, fantasy, and adventure novels. The book is one of the few major works of criticism covering the work of Burroughs, and it helped create renewed interest in his work during the 1960s.
Nkima is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics. His name comes from either the word N'kima, or, after the Meru language nickname for Ugali, a dish popular in Kenya and Tanzania made from maize flour.
Tarzan is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer.
Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics.
Tarzan is a series of 24 adventure novels written by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) and published between 1912 and 1966, followed by several novels either co-written by Burroughs, or officially authorized by his estate. There are also two works written by Burroughs especially for children that are not considered part of the main series.