Ranks 90th on The Fictional
100
The following books will introduce you to Tarzan, who said
these words in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes.
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Burroughs'
Tarzan Series
- Tarzan
of the Apes (Twentieth Century Classics; John Seelye,
Ed.). Penguin USA, 1990.
- The first in Burroughs' best-selling series of 24
Tarzan books, this 1914 novel is still a good
read. Terrific introduction by Seelye places
Tarzan in the American literary context with
James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking and Owen
Wister's Virginian, among others.
- The
Return of Tarzan. Ballantine, 1990.
- The
Beasts of Tarzan; The Son of Tarzan. Del Rey, 1996.
- Tarzan
and the Jewels of Opar; Jungle Tales of Tarzan. Del
Rey, 1997.
- Tarzan
the Untamed; Tarzan the Terrible. Del Rey, 1997.
- Tarzan
and the Golden Lion; Tarzan and the Ant Men. Del Rey,
1997.
- Tarzan,
Lord of the Jungle; Tarzan and the Lost Empire. Del
Rey, 1997.
- Tarzan
at the Earth's Core; Tarzan the Invincible. Del Rey,
1997.
- Tarzan
Triumphant; Tarzan and the City of Gold. Del Rey,
1997.
- Tarzan
and the Leopard Men. Ballantine, 1988.
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The Oldest Living Tarzan
- Miller, Denny. Didn't You Used to Be What's His Name?
 To Health With You Publishers, 2004.
- Engaging autobiography by the "Oldest Living Tarzan." Denny Miller chronicles his long career in Hollywood and in television with self-deprecating humor and more than a little bemused wit aimed at the system that tapped him to play the Ape Man opposite Joanna Barnes' Jane Parker in the 1959 MGM film Tarzan: The Ape Man. Get an inside look at what it is like to come to the movie set and learn to play Tarzan--everything from what to wear while riding an elephant (and how to hold on!) to practicing that Tarzan yell, acting with chimps, and playing "love scenes" with Jane in the age of tight film censorship. Miller played basketball at UCLA under the legendary coach John Wooden, and this experience was a milestone on his road to lifelong fitness, which he still champions (in his book Toxic Waist? Get to Know Sweat!
 ). Now the well-known face of the "Gorton's Fisherman," Miller remains a part of Golden Age of the film Tarzan by sharing his own chapter in it. He's a charming man who appreciates his life. (*Note)
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The Tarzan
Phenomenon
- Holtsmark, Erling. Tarzan
and Tradition. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1981.
- Holtsmark places Tarzan in the tradition of
classical heroes, like Hercules and Achilles, and
trickster characters, like Odysseus, as well as
offering many other perceptive comments on the
character.
- Torgovnick, Marianna. Gone
Primitive. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1991.
- See chapter 2, "Taking Tarzan
Seriously," on what this fantasy character
reveals about the sexual and political attitudes
of its time.
- Farmer, Philip José. Tarzan
Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke.
Berkeley Pub., 1981.
- Farmer constructs a pseudobiography of the Ape
Man, documenting the events with reference to
Burroughs' full series of novels. A
tongue-in-cheek family tree discovers such
long-lost relatives as Sherlock Holmes and the
Scarlet Pimpernel.
- Griswold, Jerry. Audacious
Kids: Coming of Age in America's Classic Children's Books.
Oxford University Press, 1992.
- Tarzan is analyzed as a prime example of the
theme of the "Wild Child" in
literature, and compared to others including
Romulus and Remus, Pecos Bill, and Kipling's
Mowgli in The Jungle Book.
- Gruesser, John Cullen. White
on Black: Contemporary Literature About Africa.
Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
- Despite a lifelong interest, Burroughs never
visited Africa, but, like many other writers,
created an exotic Africa of the imagination as
his setting. Gruesser considers the results and
implications of working from this remote
perspective.
*Note: FTC DISCLOSURE:
I received a copy of this book from the author. Being so pertinent to the topic of Tarzan, and his cultural influence, it deserved inclusion on this page. All other annotated book recommendations on this website are the result of my own research into the topic of fictional characters and their influence.
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. New Foreword by Win Scott Eckert; Introduction by Mike Resnick. Revised edition. Bison Books, 2006.