Edgar Rice Burroughs was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 1, 1875. His father was a Civil War veteran and the family was quite prosperous. He was educated in his early years in local private schools, and during 1891, spent time on his brother’s ranch in Idaho to escape the Chicago influenza epidemic.
Burroughs returned to Chicago and attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He was expelled after a year and attended Michigan Military Academy in Orchard Lake from 1893 – 1895, then served for a year as instructor and assistant commandant. After failing his entrance exam for West Point, he joined the 7th Cavalry, serving in the Arizona Territory in 1896 and 1897, until a heart ailment was found which prevented him from becoming an officer.
Burroughs purchased a stationary store in Idaho in 1898, but this ended in failure. He drifted for a time and did ranch work in Idaho and finally found work in his fathers firm in 1899. He married Emma Halbert in 1900, with whom he eventually had two sons and a daughter. They divorced in 1934.
Burroughs left his job in Chicago in 1904 and worked sporadically, initially back in Idaho, although he soon returned to Chicago. By 1911, he was working as a pencil sharpener wholesaler, and began to write fiction.
Burroughs’ initial efforts were aimed at the so-called “Pulp” magazines. He sold his first story “Under the Moons of Mars” in 1912, and this was serialized in “All Story” magazine. He earned $400 and soon turned to writing full-time. This was the first book of the John Carter of Mars series, which ultimately reached eleven books.
By the time the first serial was completed Burroughs had written two more novels. One of them, published in 1912, was “Tarzan of the Apes”. It was wildly popular and led to twenty-four more books in the Tarzan series. In 1913, Burroughs founded his own publishing house “Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.” He also founded “Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises” and “Burroughs-Tarzan Pictures” in 1934.
Burroughs wrote a wide variety of adventure novels. He wrote two novels about a white Apache warrior, which portrayed sympathy for Native Americans. He also wrote many science fiction/fantasy novels including “The Land that Time Forgot” and the Pellucidar series, beginning with “At the Earth’s Core” in 1922.
Burroughs purchased a large tract of land in the San Fernando Valley of California and settled there. Eventually, he developed part of the tract into the suburb called Tarzana. He had an expensive lifestyle and some financial misadventures as well, which led him to write an average of three novels per year.
Burroughs saw the production of the first Tarzan movie in 1918. An actor named Elmo Lincoln played Tarzan. The film was met with moderate success. However, when Johnny Weismuller, the Olympic swimming champion, took the role of Tarzan in 1934, the movies became very popular. Tarzan eventually was seen fighting the Nazis in World War II.
Burroughs, as mentioned, divorced his first wife, Emma, in 1934. He then married Florence Dearholt in 1935. They too divorced in 1942, with no children.
Burroughs began another series of stories relatively late in his career. They concerned the exploits of the adventurer Carson Napier, on Venus. They were somewhat of a departure from his usual books, blending romance and comedy into the adventure. The first book of the series was “Pirates of Venus” in 1934, and the last “Wizard of Venus” was published in 1964.
Burroughs career had taken many turns. He had founded his own publishing company in 1923 and printed his own books. He was elected mayor of California Beach, CA in 1933. In 1942, when the United States entered World War II due to Pearl Harbor, Burroughs was living in Hawaii. He became a war correspondent despite being in his 60’s.
Burroughs writing has been depicted as crudely written and chauvinist by critics. While it is true that he often portrayed Africans, Arabs, or Asians as evil or comic, he was also strongly sympathetic to Native Americans. The so-called Waziri warriors in the Tarzan series were shown as very brave, and many of his female characters were courageous and resourceful on their own.
Burroughs, in many ways simply followed the path set by the writing of others. Authors like H. Ryder Haggard, Jules Verne, and HG Wells wrote books not too dissimilar to his in terms of colorful imagination and strongly drawn characters. Even Arthur C. Clarke, the noted science fiction writer, credits Burroughs with inspiring him to begin to write.
Burroughs died of a heart ailment on March 19, 1950, while in bed reading a comic book. Several of his works were published posthumously, one (unfinished) as late as 1997m entitled “Tarzan, the Lost Adventure”. The Tarzan series alone had more than 25 million copies sold.
