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jcravens42 's review for:

Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
4.0

I've been on a quest for several years now to read old fiction books, particularly (but not exclusively) American and British novels, that have been around for so long and are so famous that no one reads them anymore, because they've been made into movies or TV mini-series (often many times over), or because they've entered into our pop culture references so frequently that people *think* they know them without having to actually read them. They don't have to be great novels -- just really, really famous ones.

I found an unread paperback version of Tarzan of the Apes in a ramshackle, completely unorganized used book store in Washington, DC. The book turned out to be a treat. It's no Elmer Gantry , but it is quite a lot of fun. The foreword by Gore Vidal really put the book into perspective, helping me to enjoy it even more. I knew that one of its messages, delivered through the continual killing of animals, would be "Man is the true king of beasts." But what I wasn't expecting was some rather insightful social commentary -- like that one of the African tribes engaging in particular cruelties learned such from their Belgian "colonizers." And that, in hunting, you use all that you kill, and you respect what you kill. Tarzan is a fascinating character. I particularly liked his thoughts to a group of learned men, centering around "There is as much individuality among the lower orders, gentlemen, as there is among ourselves." And, no, none of the filmed versions have been even remotely faithful to the book -- I know 'cause I've seen them all. And that's a huge shame, because the exchanges between Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, Jane's father, and Samuel T. Philander, are hilarious.