First published in 1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs's romance has lost little of its force over the years--as film revivals and TV series well attest. Tarzan of the Apes is very much a product of its age: replete with bloodthirsty natives and a bulky, swooning American Negress, and haunted by what zoo specialists now call charismatic megafauna (great beasts snarling, roaring, and stalking, most of whom would be out of place in a real African jungle). Burroughs countervails such incorrectness, however, with some rather unattractive representations of white civilization--mutinous, murderous sailors, effete aristos, self-involved academics, and hard-hearted cowards. At Tarzan's heart rightly lies the resourceful and hunky title character, a man increasingly torn between the civil and the savage, for whom cutlery will never be less than a nightmare.

The passages in which the nut-brown boy teaches himself to read and write are masterly and among the book's improbable, imaginative best. How tempting it is to adopt the ten-year-old's term for letters--"little bugs"! And the older Tarzan's realization that civilized "men were indeed more foolish and more cruel than the beasts of the jungle," while not exactly a new notion, is nonetheless potent. The first in Burroughs's serial is most enjoyable in its resounding oddities of word and thought, including the unforgettable "When Tarzan killed he more often smiled than scowled; and smiles are the foundation of beauty."


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From AudioFile
Tarzan fans can have their fill of jungle adventures. With impeccable diction and pacing, Ben Kingsley takes the material fairly seriously. In relating ludicrous episodes, such as Tarzan's rescue of the English gentlemen, Professor Porter and Mr. Philander, there is no hint of humor or amusement. Kingsley maintains detachment, which some may appeciate. R.F.W. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
?[Burroughs has] a gift very few writers of any kind possess: he can describe action vividly.? ?Gore Vidal

FROM OUR EDITORS

Edgar Rice Burroughs's epic story of love and adventure is well-adapted here for the young reader, leaving intact much of the author's original prose and the book's narrative structure. With the strength of a beast and the grace of an athlete, Tarzan of the Apes has risen to become the king of the animals. His life changes, when he spies a young woman, Jane Porter, among a crew of stranded treasure hunters. Tarzan falls deeply in love with Jane, and his quest for her brings him into contact with unfamiliar human civilization.

ANNOTATION

Known around the world, the story of Tarzan, a man raised by apes, led to 25 such books beginning with Tarzan of the Apes (1914).

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Edgar Rice Burroughs' legendary Tarzan stories continue with two of his greatest! In Tarzan the Untamed, Tarzan defends his jungle home from invaders during World War I and then must protect an Englishman and a German spy from a lost civilization of lion-men! And in Tarzan the Terrible, the lord of the apes embarks on a desperate search for his wife Jane, captured by Germans—and discovers a hidden land where strange dinosaurs and beast-men roam the earth! These classic stories are packaged in a handy, compact size and are completely re-colored using state-of-the-art digital techniques.

SYNOPSIS

The seventh book of the adventures of Tarzan.
Tarzan faced his worst attack -- an attack against his wife and child. With the speed of the great apes, Tarzan rushed through the jungle toward his home and family -- only to find that the marauders had been there before him. His farm was in shambles and no one was left alive. Of his beloved wife there was only a charred, blackened corpse, still wearing the rings he had given her. Silently, he buried the body and swore his terrible vengeance against those who had done this terrible deed. Then he set out grimly to track them...through warring armies...across a vast desert that no man had ever crossed...and to a strange valley where only madmen lived.

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Times Book Review

Crowded with impossibilities as the tale is, Mr. Burroughs has told it so well, and has so succeeded in carrying his readers with him, that there are few who will not look forward eagerly to the promised sequel. --New York Times review, May 1915; Books of the Century

AudioFile

Written in the early 1900s, these classic jungle stories prove that they can still entertain young readers. Shelly Frasier speaks with sharp consonants and a pleasant maternal tone as she narrates this episode from the famous Tarzan series. This story picks up in the middle of Tarzan's life. Old foe Nicholas Rockov forces him to leave his comfortable life as Lord Graystoke and return to the jungle. Children will adore Frasier's ability to mesmerize them with the adventures of the venerable hero they have loved for generations. Unfortunately, the audiobook contains extraneous sounds and editing problems, which could disturb the concentration of adult listeners. J.A.H. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

AudioFile - Robin F. Whitten