THE RETURN OF TARZAN REVIEW BY DOC HERMES
From 1913, where it appeared as a seven part serial beginning with the
June issue of NEW STORY MAGAZINE, this is great stuff. So much happens
in this book, yet it never feels dense and the pages practically turn themselves.
After starting off with a few of the stale, tired entries from the second
half of the series, reading one of the first dozen Tarzan books is a refreshing
reminder of why Edgar Rice Burroughs was such a major writer of adventure
fiction.
THE RETURN OF TARZAN contains some of the most important moments of
the canon. Tarzan marries Jane after much agita and suffering (their love
seems genuine and poignant here, strange considering how they seem to drift
apart later). He meets the noble Waziri, becomes one of them and eventually
their chief. He discovers Opar, first of the many lost cities he will find
scattered around Africa, and here he tangles with that other woman in his
life, La (I had forgotten that La and Jane had met and that in fact La
was about to carve Jane`s giblets when Tarzan interfered; another good
reason not to let your girlfriends cross paths). Where TARZAN OF THE APES
ended on a wonderfully melodramatic note of romance and self sacrifice,
THE RETURN OF TARZAN sets up the framework for the rest of the series.
What I enjoyed most about this book was how complex and introspective
Tarzan himself is. After TARZAN AT THE EARTH`S CORE, all those amnesia
inducing concussions seemed to have left the Apeman rather dim, a sullen
brute moping around with not much on his mind. Here, though, he`s a creature
unique in the world. Even though he seems to be able to get along perfectly
well wherever he finds himself, Tarzan is also never entirely at home anywhere,
always an outsider and a strange one. (His physical abilities help him
dominate civilized society through action and charisma, while his intelligence
and inventiveness helps him
take over when back in the jungles; it`s a neat twist.)
The book gives the Apeman some lengthy episodes in Paris and Algeria;
I really would have liked to have seen Burroughs do more of this, rather
than dragging out the warring pair of hiden cities one more time. Tarzan
in Paris, smoking cigarettes and sipping absinthe* as he enjoys the nightclubs
and museums, is a great reminder our hero has spent considerable time cultivating
that thin veneer of sophistication he likes to shed when provoked. He`s
not simply enduring civilization grudgingly, either. ("In the daytime he
haunted the libraries and picture galleries. He had become an oniverous
reader...." determined to learn as much history and culture as he could.)
This is after all a man who as a boy taught himself to read just out of
sheer curiousity and determination. We find out in a later book he has
learned Latin so he can enjoy the classics.
Tarzan gets caught up in a mildly sordid domestic scandal, thrashes
ten tough Apaches in a terrific scene, fights a pistol duel he doesn`t
expect to survive, and in general has a lively time. Then, of all things,
he becomes an investigator for the French Foreign Legion (posing as an
American big game hunter!) and finds himself running around Algeria after
possible traitors. Here, our hero befriends a sheik and fits in so happily
with a crew of tough desert Arabs that he is tempted to stay with them
permanently. It`s one of the most interesting and yet least remembered
episoes in the Apeman`s exploits. (It would have been great if Burroughs
had later written Tarzan joining up with a bunch of real Apaches, wandering
the Yukon or heading up the Amazon to tangle with the Jivaros. Throwing
different challenges at the Apeman, even for only half a book, might have
kept the series fresh.)
Two thirds of the way through the book, the Apeman is given the heave
ho over the rails of a ship off the African coast and just happens to swim
ashore within spitting distance of the cabin where he was born. Imagine
that. Burroughs uses up a writer`s career allotment of coincidence right
here, as virtually everyone important to the saga somehow ends up on that
spot: Jane and her unfortunate fiancee William Clayton, her addled father,
her friend Hazel Strong, even Paul D`Arnot (Even Tarzan is confounded by
all this. "Paul! In the name of sanity what are you doing here?").
A little hard to believe, but if you`re going to read more Edgar Rice
Burroughs (or pulp fiction in general), get used to having one-in-a-million
chances lying thick on the ground. Probably, with more planning time and
care, Burroughs could have come up plausible ways to drag all these characters
together at just the right time. But what the heck, that wasn`t the kind
of story he was telling. It`s meant to be a rollercoaster of thrills and
chills, where you just hang on and enjoy the ride.
It`s interesting, too, that as much as he loves being back in the jungle,
the animals don`t particularly care that Tarzan has returned. When he finds
his tribe of great apes, they don`t really remember him at first; although
the apes accept him back and get to admire the way he finds food, they`re
not wild about Tarzan and certainly didn`t miss him. ("But who or what
of all the myriad jungle would there be to welcome his return? Not one.
Only Tantor, the elephant, could he call friend. The others would hunt
him or flee from him as had been their way in the past.")
The weakest part of the book in my view is the Russian spy, Nikolas
Rokoff. Like Dan Backslide, he`s a coward, bully, cad and thief. Rokoff
is so completely vile and unpleasant that he stops seeming to be a human
being and ends up being almost amusing as he doesn`t miss a single chance
to harass and annoy everyone. And Tarzan keeps letting him go with stern
warnings! (Well, in the next book, though, Rokoff pays off his bad karma.)
The ill fated William Clayton, who mean well and does his best but who
just isn`t up the trials he must face, comes across as believable and very
human in contrast. He, Tarzan and Jane all make their decisions (in the
tangled mess of who is going to get married and who inherit the Greystoke
title) with such thoughtfulness and concern with right and wrong that they
all deserve to be rewarded.
