Recently, Meteor House did a trio of works involving Philip José Farmer, including this collection of his essays over the years on Tarzan: The Man Who Met Tarzan.
While a few of these essays I have read elsewhere, and many are easily found in recent works, some are new to me, and perhaps others. So this is a great collection. This volume was done in both hardback and paperback, but the hardbacks are now probably gone.
So what do we get?
Let’s first talk about the cover artwork, which came from a Tarzan poster created in the ’70s by John Solie. So it may be that few have seen it. I also like that they used the same “Tarzan” logo that is being used by the various new books (reprints and originals) coming from ERB Inc.
The first section is “Introductions.” Here we get a handful of works. The piece by Henry G. Franke III gives a great overview of Farmer’s works on Tarzan, and explains what we have in this collection and their importance. This is followed by Christopher Paul Carey, who gives his take. And then from Farmer himself, we have “The Golden Age and The Brass,” where he informs us of how he discovered Tarzan and its affect on him.
The next section is “The Official Biographer,” with a trio of works. We get “An Appreciation of Edgar Rice Burroughs,” a short piece on Edgar Rice Burroughs that focuses mainly on Tarzan. Then, “From ERB to Ygg” is a genealogical look at EBR, tracing him back to Woten (Ygg), similar to what Farmer did for himself. And then, a somewhat strange piece, “The Princess of Terra” is a meta-fictional piece, being a work that reviews a Martian sf author who, similiar to ERB, has his Martian hero travel to Earth and have adventures a la John Carter.
Then, we have “The Feral Man” section, which focuses on the concept of, well, the “feral man,” the man raised in the wilderness. Farmer actually edited a collection of such works, titled Mother Was a Lovely Beast. From that we get his introduction, a little edited, then “The Feral Human in Mythology and Fiction,” which was an afterward. We don’t get “The God of Tarzan,” which tells how Tarzan taught himself language, but later his intro to this piece.
The “Investigation” section follows, which present articles where Farmer digs into various areas of Tarzan’s life. First off is “Some Problems in Writing the Tarzan Biography,” where he gives some issues he had to deal with, such as the “Korak time issue.” This topic was more detailed in “The Great Korak Time Discrepancy.” And then, “A Reply to the Red Herring” was, as it indicates, a letter in response to someone else’s article on this same topic.
However, “The Lord Mountford Mystery” provides info that would link a Tarzan story with a work by H. Rider Haggard. And finally, “A Kernel of Truth” is a letter in response to U.K. artist and critic James Cawthorn, who doesn’t like the idea of treating Tarzan as real.
Then we have “The Legend” section, where Farmer expands on Tarzan. “The Arms of Tarzan” is what it says, showing what Farmer has worked out as Tarzan’s coat of arms. And we have it given in full color on the back cover. I remember seeing this article in a prior work and being frustrated that all we got was a poor black-&-white photo.
Getting into languate, we have is intro to “The God of Tarzan,” “Tarzan the Reasoner,” delving into that subject. Then “A Language for Opar” looking into that topic. “I Still Live!” is a keynote address Farmer did that again delves into Tarzan. And then, “From Forne to Farmer” is another genealogical work that links Farmer to Tarzan.
The next two pieces were included in the most recent edition of Tarzan Alive from Bison Books. These consist of “Extracts From the Memoirs of Lord Greystoke,” which is, as it says, material “written” by Tarzan. And Farmer’s “An Exclusive Interview With Lord Greystoke.” However, both pieces have been added to, found in Farmer’s files. With the “Extract,” we get an additional short extract, about a page. And with “An Interview,” we get his preparatory notes, including additional questions and answers. In fact, it is just these sorts of additions that make this collection worth obtaining.
This book came out from Meteor House along with a couple additions to the “Secret of the Nines” series. Again, if you are interested in Tarzan and Farmer’s work, this is a volume to get. I don’t know if we’ll ever get additional pieces from Farmer on this topic from his files. So this is a nice addition, regardless.
