Tarzan of the Apes

The "true" story of the Lord of the Jungle--Tarzan. Read the story of a young boy, orphaned, then adopted and raised by the apes. Read of his struggles and how he finds his heritage and the woman who changed his life--Jane. The story of Tarzan has been told over and over; read the book for yourself

I was surprised at how much I liked this book. For its genre, the writing is excellent. It is fast-paced, evocative,and dramatic. I was drawn in immediately. I'm actually reading this book to my partner at bedtime each night. Not every book reads well out loud, but this one does. Clearly, the book was written in another era that was unconscious about issues like white supremacy and colonization. While understanding the historical context, it still leaves me uneasy with the realization that this book would be offensive to Black people, who are depicted as "savages", in contrast to Tarzan, who is at the same time the ape-man and also the noble Lord Greystoke. The book is a classic, not because it's high literature, but because it's a rolicking good adventure. It also has had a major cultural impact, particularly, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, on Hollywood. This book is inspiring me to return to some of the other classic adventure stories that I haven't read for decades.

Given all the tarzan films that span out of the books - it makes sense to read the original. Very entertaining

Who hasn't heard of Tarzan of the Apes? Ah, but who has actually read the book? At last, as I rapidly approach the half-century mark, I can say that I have. And let me tell you, the book is much better, and much more interesting, than any of the Tarzan films I've seen.For one thing, Burroughs' prose is like entering a time-warp. Though modern sensibilities might be offended at Burroughs' openly expressed belief that the white man was the pinnacle of human evolution, and the darker races still had a way to go on the climb upwards to civilization; his words take us back to a world where life was a clear-cut struggle between good and evil, with few shades of gray to blur the distinction between right and wrong. Yet, oddly enough, his treatment of women is not equally stereotyped -- for although Jane is a true flower of late Victorian femininity, frail and weak, her feelings for Tarzan are not weak at all.In fact, Jane experiences a vivid sexual awakening when she is clasped in Tarzan's muscular arms -- and Burroughs makes it quite clear just exactly what Jane is feeling when she gazes upon the half naked body of her ape-man. From the period reading I've done, I can't help but feel that this was a revolutionary departure from the norm. Women in those days may have aroused passionate feeling in the breasts of their men, but they didn't admit to having those feelings themselves. Particularly not when they are "nice" women -- refined, elegant, and well-bred.Burrough's racial attitudes are not the only dated element of his book. His scientific theories verge on the ludicrous, to 21st century readers. The white men who encounter Tarzan, and Tarzan himself, believe that the ape-man is just that -- a cross between a human and a gorilla, or a mutated ape. And Tarzan's remarkable skill in teaching himself to read and write, from a few primers he found amongst his dead parents' belongings, stretches the bounds of credulity.But to fully enjoy the book, which I did, one has to put aside the 21st century mind-set for a little while, and plunge delightedly into as exciting an adventure as Indiana Jones ever experienced. That's the fun of romps like these -- the real world recedes for a bit, while the reader plays in the jungle.Definitely worth reading -- if only for the fascinating glimpse into the social attitudes of the early 20th century.

This is a fast paced action adventure story set in the constant dangers of the jungles of Africa. An orphaned infant is raised as a wild animal by a gorilla and given the name Tarzan. As he grows up he finds the home of his parents and teaches himself to read from the books there. As he matures he becomes the King of the Jungle ruling the otherworldy fantasy world of Numa the Lion and Sabor the leopard.Then civilization comes to Tarzan's jungle. First there are native Africans. They were driven off by Europeans after revolting against their cruelty. Then they set up a village and engage in cannibalism. Tarzan extends his rule over them through guile and his rope which pulls tribe members up into the night sky.My favorite character is D'Arnton. He is a Frenchman who is first captured and tortured by the natives. He is rescued by Tarzan and nursed back to health. He then becomes a true friend to Tarzan. He is the only European who shows genuine respect and affection for Tarzan.Tarzan has more depth than I expected as a character. He is the descendant of English lords raised as a wild animal. His superhuman strength and acute senses create a larger than life persona than is one rung below Superman.Burroughs empasizes the conflict between the uncorrupted primitive a la Rousseau and the evils of civilization as personified in Robert Canler an evil man who tries to use money to obtain the hand of Jane Porter the love interest of three men in the story. The ending was not my favorite part of the story but it did not greatly detract from a book I enjoyed much more than I thought I would.

This is a great story, but everyone knows how it goes. There are a few details not portrayed in the movies, more info on Tarzan's parents and how he came to be adopted by the apes, and his early life among the apes.

This Librivox recording is fabulous! Mark Smith reads a public domain version of Burroughs's man of the jungle and it all comes to life. It is apparent that Smith, a Librivox volunteer reader, likes his material and that he wants you to enjoy the story and characters. Free for download, and highly recommended.

this most excellant writer brings a concept to the world rather than quality writing. the concept is primitive man turned civilized. most men like to think they are powerful to protect their women, and most women want to feel they are protected. Maybe not so much now, but I think so.

So wonderful to finally read the book which spawned all of the cartoons and children's versions of the story. This version is much more mature in wording and in subject matter and the story is one which well deserves it's classification of a literary classic.The story begins with the tale of Tarzan's parents, who board a ship but never arrive at their intended destination. After their demise, only Tarzan lives and he is taken in by a female ape who has just suffered through the death of her own baby. Tarzan's story is a remarkable one, as he not only adapts to the life of the apes but also manages to find his own ties back to humanity, all on his own.I was thrilled that the "Me Tarzan, You Jane" bit was not a part of this, the real story.The ending, though, was sad. I wish that it had ended in a happier way....I won't give it away though.....Yet....in the final paragraphs of the book, Tarzan shows that he is more of a civilized, mature man than any other person in the entire tale.

People always laugh when I tell them that Tarzan is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. Unless you have actually read Burrough\'s book, you really have not experienced anything even close to what the Tarzan story is about. This has always been a favorite from the day I first read it as a child.

This is a boys' book and reminded me of the Rover Boys books I read as a child. It is said to be Burroughs' best book out ot the some 70 he wrote. It is mighty fantastic, but it is neat to see Tarzan triumphing over all the bad guys, without too much effort. It has also been named as the fifth best book of the 1910s, which is hard to believe. It is easy to read, but pretty fantastic.

Here's a case of a book being pretty much overwhelmed by its own success in popular culture. From Johnny Weissmuller to "Me Tarzan, you Jane" to being Disney-fied, everyone knows the story of Tarzan. Or at least, some version of it. The thing about reading the book is that you might find out the version you know didn't come from the book. I'll admit I'm not too familiar with the various adaptations of the story, but I didn't quite expect what I got.Lord Greystoke and his young, pregnant wife are marooned on the coast of Africa after a mutiny on board the ship on which they were traveling. They make a reasonably comfortable life for themselves on the isolated beach, just outside the beginning of a deep jungle. The baby is born, and when by the time he's just over a year old, both his parents are dead and he's been stolen by an ape who is grieving for her own lost baby. The rest of the book has to do with Tarzan's place as an outsider with the tribe of apes, and his experiences with native tribes and eventually, the first white people he sees. Burroughs' writing is serviceable, and the plot will keep you going even in the midst of completely unbelievable coincidences and other developments - that stretch of beach is apparently the happening place for maroonings, for example, and Tarzan is a super-genius who can teach himself to read without ever having been introduced to the concept of a written language. The racism, sexism, classism and support for imperialism that reflect his time are a little hard to swallow for the modern reader. Jane, as a woman, "was created to be protected." Tarzan isn't disturbed by the natives' cannibalism until their potential victim is a white man. Tarzan instinctively reacts to Jane's courtesies in kind as "the hall-mark of his aristocratic birth, the natural outcropping of many generations of fine breeding." Jane's black servant is a malaprop-spouting, eye-rolling, fainting-at-the-drop-of-a-hat stereotype. Even with those caveats, it's worth reading just to know where the story really began.Recommended for: fans of swashbucklers and adventure, anyone who can hear the Tarzan yell in their head (which must be everyone), people who don't mind occasionally shaking a fist at the attitudes in the book.Quote: "Jane Porter -- her lithe, young form flattened against the trunk of a great tree, her hands tight pressed against her rising and falling bosom, and her eyes wide with mingled horror, fascination, fear and admiration -- watched the primordial ape battle with the primeval man for possession of a woman -- for her."

The first thing that caught my eye about this book was the gorgeous Neil Adams cover. The next was the realization that I have never actually read the book! Another “it’s about timeâ€? moment! Although quite familiar with the legend and history of Tarzan, that knowledge had not come from the actual book. Instead, like many, it came from the movies, television serials, and comics.What really struck me about the novel was how well it read. Given that it was written almost 100 years ago (!) it was neither stale nor insipid. The characters were well defined and definitely of their time, but not so impossible to relate to. And, if you can accept how Tarzan was nourished from his 1st year onwards, there’s enough logical thought to explain how he not only survived, but thrived.All in all, I loved it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, I may always have been partial to jungle tales and jungle living, but there’s something quite appealing about primordial and instinctive living and the power love has to expand our personal boundaries. After closing the book my first thought was to get my hands on more (or at least the sequel). 5 stars for this book. I couldn’t get enough of it.

Definitely a dated classic, but wonderful for all that. I re-read it for The Pulp magazine group I'm in & am glad I did. You really want to read the next book, "The Return of Tarzan" immediately after since we're left with a cliff hanger.Burroughs hasn't aged as well as some authors, mostly because of his handling of PC subjects such as racism & sexism. It is too easy to see the outward signs of both in his books, but careful reading shows that while he may have catered to the views of the day, he didn't seem to really believe in the racism, in this book.For instance, the majority of blacks in this book are degenerate brutes. They're a tribe of barbaric cannibals who killed the 'mother' of our hero, though. They have the misfortune to have a society that Burroughs denigrates at every opportunity. Esmeralda, Jane's servant/confidant/nanny, is also an object of humor, but then so is her father & his secretary/companion. All are caricatures, as is Tarzan himself. When it comes right down to it, Burroughs makes a point that fingerprints from an ape might be simpler, but there was no difference between those of a black & a white. This admission of equality of physical evolution wasn't common in his day. He treats the white pirates the same way as the black tribesman - they're bad guys & so contemptible. The story hinges on coincidence & stupid, heroic restraint consistently & that doesn't do it any favors nor did the cliff hanger ending. Still, it was a fun read & I'd highly recommend it to anyone. Tarzan has been so warped by movies, TV & add-ons that it's nice to see the original.

Tarzan of the Apes, first published in serial form in 1912, brought its author instant fame. Edgar Rice Burroughs went on to write twenty-four sequels featuring the adventures of his iconic Ape-Man, and today the character is part of our cultural background as the subject of many adaptations in film and comic strips. Interestingly, the famous line "I Tarzan. You Jane" doesn't even appear in the book. And yet it's become one of the most recognizable features of the character. The plot is well known; after his parents die in the jungle of Africa, young Tarzan is raised by a clan of apes, far from the rest of humanity. Though he eventually realizes he is not an ape, Tarzan lives by the jungle code and slowly vanquishes all the dangers of the jungle through his superior human reasoning and intelligence. When a treasure-hunting expedition lands on his secluded shore, Tarzan is drawn to the people of his own race, especially the young woman Jane Porter. But how can a king of the apes ever hope to win the love of a cultured English girl?I admit, I was very drawn into the story and I can see why it has been perennially popular. Burroughs' attempts to make animal life realistic yet intelligible to his readers are generally successful, and we want to see how Tarzan will meet the challenges of his life. At the same time, we are intensely interested in how Tarzan will cope with other humans. A couple criticisms, though: Burroughs is extremely ethnocentric, constantly pointing out Tarzan's mental, moral, intellectual, and physical superiority derived from his having descended from a line of English nobility. The natives don't fare well in this tale, as one might expect given that Burroughs writes from an evolutionary perspective. It's a product of its time, sure, but racism is still wrong. I was able to enjoy the story despite these elements, but they certainly caused me to roll my eyes more than once. I was also disappointed with the story itself. Everything was going well until Tarzan comes to Europe, learns polished manners, comes into money, etc. (all of which is very artificially constructed). Jane Porter's threatened marriage with the moneylender Robert Canler seems tacked on, and it's a little too convenient that she would be caught in a forest fire from which only Tarzan the Muscular can save her. And then her decision at the end! And Tarzan's pathetic acquiescence to it! I shut the book and felt profoundly cheated, even while trying to understand why Burroughs would do this. And yet at the same time I wanted to find the next sequel, Return of Tarzan, and find out what happens next. No wonder Burroughs was able to sell twenty-four more of Tarzan's adventures. There really is something addicting about this character. I enjoyed this story—it certainly kept me reading at a fast pace—and if I ever see any of Burroughs' Tarzan sequels, you can be sure I'll snap them up. But I'm not sure I'll ever revisit this book. It has a great character and initial setting that are sadly compromised by later plot contortions and Tarzan's annoyingly, unnecessarily "heroic" choice at the end.Edit: Never mind. I just read the plot summary of Return of Tarzan on Wikipedia and I think I have had enough of his pulp fiction adventures to last a lifetime. Oy vey.

This was certainly not what I was expecting. I guess I didn't know what to expect but I had this weird idea that any book written before the 1990s would be very detail oriented. Silly me. This book is not detail oriented. It is very fast paced. I listened to it on audio book and I found that I had to make sure I wasn't disturbed at all because if I missed one sentence it could be the sentence that made a difference, that transitioned from one exciting scene to the next. It is also not very long: 3 hours on audio. At first I was worried that I wouldn't like the story because there didn't seem to be enough detail, enough meat on the bone, but it soon became clear that there just wasn't much time spent on Tarzan growing up. This could be because the book was written in the early 1990s and there wasn't much known about how Gorillas lived, but that is only my guess. I would have loved a more detailed account of this story but it has it's own simple charm. Now I want to go watch the Disney movie; and read the next book in this adventure series. There were a few parts that made me scoff a little, like Tarzan teaching himself to read with no prior knowledge of symbols or how letters connect to make words. That was very imaginative. And there were plenty of stereotypes to be found. But the book was written in 1912, so I can give it some leeway. Overall, I'm glad I read this book.

The book was recommended by the Murrays for Book Club. It is the first book of the Tarzan series in which Tarzan is born in the jungle to English aristocratic parents. The parents both die and Tarzan is adopted by the apes.Eventually, when Tarzan is a man, a shipwreck brings other white men to his shores and he meets Jane Porter.

When I was a child, long before video games and in fact, before we even had a TV, I was obsessed with comic books and one of my favourites were the Tarzan series of comics. Of course, I also was a big fan of Tarzan movies, especially the ones featuring Johnny Weismuller. How I never came to actually read Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes before now is a mystery to me.I was afraid I would find it dated and/or silly, but in fact I absolutely loved it. And yes, it was dated, especially in the author’s attitude toward black people. and yes, it is rather silly, but still a fantastic adventure melodrama that I really enjoyed. Certainly not great literature but a wonderfully creative story that has stood the test of time and is still capturing imaginations today. I’m sure Edgar Rice Burroughs would be very proud if he knew how influential Tarzan was to become upon popular culture!

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)The CCLaP 100: In which I read for the first time a hundred so-called "classic" books, then write essays on whether or not they still deserve the labelBook #25: Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1914)The story in a nutshell:Set in the last great days of the British Empire (i.e. the first decades of the 20th Century), Tarzan of the Apes is the story of one John Clayton, Viscount of Greystoke, actually born in the jungle on the western coast of Africa after his parents were marooned there by a mutinous ship crew, while they were passengers and bystanders on a long sea voyage. Ah, but it turns out that his parents both die while he's still a newborn, prompting a hasty "adoption" by a local ape named Kala and a childhood raised not as a human, but rather as the palest, weakest, least hairy ape of the entire region. The first half of this book, then, is an examination of tribal life itself, as "Tarzan" (his ape name) navigates the tricky politics and graphic violence of the animal society he finds himself in, even while slowly coming to realize during his puberty just how different he actually is. (See, he ends up stumbling across his parents' old jungle homestead while a teen, a surprisingly domestic setup because of the mutineers letting the Claytons unload all their worldly possessions before being abandoned; and thus does Tarzan end up just naturally learning how to read and write on his own, how to use a weapon and more, eventually using these things to bloodily conquer all his foes and become the famed "King of the Apes" we know today.)The plot's pace picks up again in the second half, though, after yet another wreck by a ship full of lily-white Europeans; and who should this party include but none other than the evil William Clayton, Tarzan's cousin, who's been using the usurped Greystoke fortune to bully into marriage our adventurous heroine Jane Porter, a Victorian with a wild streak who ends up enjoying their impromptu African adventure much more than the nerdy French scientists also along for the ride. Needless to say, Tarzan ends up saving their lives numerous times; has a chick-lit-esque wordless romantic night of vine-swinging with the clearly "Jungle Fever" infected Jane; and of course somehow manages to be the catalyst behind not only William's fall from grace but a surprise financial windfall for the Porter family, thus erasing the debt that was forcing Jane into a marriage of convenience with William to begin with. And thus does our "origin tale" end in the rural farmlands of Wisconsin (the rural farmlands of Wisconsin?), with the baddies punished and the goodies rewarded and with a now-civilized Tarzan ready for the two dozen official sequels that would soon follow.The argument for it being a classic:Even this book's fans admit that it's not the quality of the prose itself that makes this a classic, but rather its place in artistic history; for as most people know by now, Tarzan turned out to be an insanely loved character by the public at large, prompting one of the first-ever "character franchises" in the history of the entertainment industry. (In fact, Burroughs himself started one of the first artist-owned production companies in history as well, the still-existing "Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.," which has overseen each and every one of the thousands of Tarzan books, movies, TV episodes, comics and more that has ever been made.) And besides, its fans say, even the writing itself isn't as bad as some make it out to be; sure, some of the later sequels get awfully cheesy and formulaic, but this first novel is surprisingly sophisticated for its time, deliberately avoiding many of the lazy racial stereotypes that defined this age and even offering up a refreshingly independent female lead too. Add up all of these things, its fans argue, along with the fantastic snapshot of its times that it provides (a look at an overextended British Empire first seriously questioning the ethics of colonization), and you have yourself a book that still easily deserves to be revisited by a whole new generation of readers.The argument against:Oh, and did I mention the CRAPPY, CRAPPY WRITING on display in Tarzan? Because that's certainly the first thing this book's critics will bring up, many of whom openly laugh at the entire concept of this being considered a "literary classic." That's like giving a Best Picture Oscar to a Will Smith movie, they argue, merely for it being the biggest moneymaker that year; just because Tarzan himself has become entwined into our entire popular culture, they say, doesn't make any of the actual projects better in quality than they were when they first came out, i.e. not very good at all. In fact, it could be argued that today's title perfectly illustrates the challenges inherent in defining what exactly the word "classic" even means, the issue that inspired this "CCLaP 100" essay series to begin with; that although this title is certainly historically important, it might be better at this point to actually study the "Tarzan Phenomenon" and its impact on culture than to read the literal books themselves. It's something that can be said these days of more and more popular old genre novels from the Victorian and Edwardian ages, and Tarzan they'd say is no exception.My verdict:So first, let's quickly admit that this book's critics are right about its quality, and that Burroughs' own attitude about his ouevre while alive profoundly supports this: turns out that the Chicago-born author never cared much about being a "good" writer at all, and only stumbled into the profession in the first place after a failed career in the US Cavalry (weak heart) and a decade of demeaning odd jobs in the Manifest-Destiny-era western territories. It was while mired in such circumstances that he was first introduced through a friend to the adventure serials of the pulp industry, at which point the non-writing Burroughs famously declared that if this was the kind of crap that sold pulps, he could do such stuff in his sleep and never have to be a day-laborer again; and that's exactly what he did, forging a 75-book "literary career" that for him was much more about simply paying the bills than about any artistic considerations. So is its overwhelming commercial success enough, then, to declare the book a "classic?" Certainly, for example, it almost single-handedly set the tone for the way Hollywood still works even to this day, not just from a "franchise-building" aspect but even in the way this genre-actioner's plotline is set up: there is the main "A" story of the title (Tarzan's struggles both in the wild and among "civilized society"); then a "B" romantic story featuring two good-looking airheads (in this case, Jane and the suave French sailor Paul D'Arnot -- note that the infamous "Me Tarzan, you Jane" love affair isn't explored in the original books until much later in the series); and then a humorous "C" story featuring a pair of bumbling nerds, existing for almost no other reason than to provide comic relief. This has been the basic framework of nearly every Hollywood action movie since, so much so that most of us take these tropes for granted by now; and we have the original Tarzan to thank for this, because of it just happening to be a runaway bestseller at the same exact moment in history that the nascent Hollywood was first starting to write the formulas and rules of its industry, the story conventions that thousands of lazy hacks have leaned on ever since.So what I'm arguing today, then (and it's rare that I argue this, so enjoy it), is that maybe this is enough to label Tarzan of the Apes a classic, and to encourage people to keep reading it to this day; not for the quality of the writing itself, but rather the overwhelmingly important role it played in the history of both the film industry and popular culture in general. The "summer blockbuster" wouldn't be nearly the thing it currently is if not for Tarzan; and given how important in our modern times the summer blockbuster is to the overall history of the American arts, this alone I feel makes the original slim novel still worth reading. And besides, what its fans say about the book's quality is true too, that ultimately it's not much worse than most of the other serialized genre-actioners that were churned out at the end of the Victorian Era (yes, Jules Verne, I'm looking at you), and in some ways is actually much better than typical; just to cite one excellent example, as mentioned Burroughs goes out of his way to avoid metaphorical comparisons between black people and the ape society on display here (a major point of many of the other eugenics-obsessed genre-actioners of the period), instead deliberately showing through the characters' actions that the shipwrecked white people and local black villagers possess exactly the same amount of intelligence, in both cases way above what even the smartest ape is capable of.Certainly no one is going to mistake this book for the Early Modernist masterpieces that were coming out at the same time; but maybe a book doesn't always have to be such a thing to be considered a classic, or to argue that people should still continue to read it to this day. Maybe sometimes it's simple competence combined with extraordinary historical significance that justifies such a label; like I said, it's not an argument I make often, but in the case of Tarzan of the Apes is one where I will. Although caution is advised, it's ultimately a title I recommend everyone checking out.Is it a classic? Yes

Enjoyed the story and the character of Tarzan but found the narrative voices’ racism a bit hard to stomach. A product of its time no doubt.

read many years ago; i should re read

I bought this awhile back with the intention of listening to it for my Classic Boys Adventures book salon. It is narrated by B.J. Harrison who puts out the fabulous The Classic Tales podcast. I continue to be amazed at the lengthy set ups that are in these classic adventure stories and find myself wondering if kids today have the patience for them. Anyway, this wasn't quite what I expected, more of a Treasure Island shipwreck tale than Tarzan living in jungle, but enjoyable once you get over the extremely imperialist viewpoint. My only real complaint was that the ending felt rushed and left the reader completely hanging!

Enjoyed the details left out of the movies. Very entertaining

Tarzan is a classic for a reason. Fun, romantic, exciting, adventurous--But its sequels leave much to be desired, in my opinion. It's a great read, and it's good to read the original version of Tarzan before watching the millions of movies that have come out over the years.

OK, so it's racist, and terribly old fashioned... but it's also terribly interesting, with its celebration of physicality and fascinating account of how Tarzan learns about language. I read it as a kid and loved it. Now much of the interest is intellectual and historical. Tarzan is such an iconic character... it's great to return to the source to see what was there before all the movies and t.v. shows.