The Line That Sent Me to Mars: How Edgar Rice Burroughs Lit a Beacon for my Young Imagination
Posted by Nicholas Ozment on Aug 1, 2011 in News | 12 commentsWhen I was in the third grade, I read a little bit of everything (still do). From Zorro to the Hardy Boys to Pippi Longstockings, I gave everything a try. But already I was being drawn more strongly to works of speculative fiction, especially heroic fantasy. The year before, I’d gotten hooked on C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.
I often did my best bouts of reading after I’d been tucked into bed and the lights were out. I’d sneak down by the door, sprawl out on the carpet, and read by the narrow band of light coming in from the bathroom down the hall (my mother would leave it on as a nightlight). On one particular night, I chose an old hardcover that I’d taken off my Granddad’s shelf. Whatever dust jacket had once adorned its fraying red cloth was long since lost, and the pages were becoming yellow and brittle. I gently opened to the first page and read these words:
“In the shadows of the forest that flanks the crimson plain by the side of the Lost Sea of Korus in the Valley Dor, beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, speeding their meteoric way close above the bosom of the dying planet, I crept stealthily along the trail of a shadowy form that hugged the darker places with a persistency that proclaimed the sinister nature of its errand.”
These are the first words of The Warlord of Mars (1919) by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
This happens to be the third book in the Barsoom series, so I had no idea what was going on. But “the shadows of the forest that flanks the crimson plain,” the “Lost Sea of Korus,” the “Valley Dor,” and the “dying planet” piqued a part of my brain that wanted to explore, as the voice at the beginning of Star Trek used to announce, “strange new worlds.” And then that sudden telescoping in on the “shadowy form” on a sinister errand…I was hooked. I was on my way to Mars—or Barsoom, as its inhabitants called it.
If I heard one of my parents come out of their room down the hall, I’d scramble back to bed and dive under the sheets. Then I’d creep stealthily back, needing to know what exploits John Carter would be up to next in his heroic quest to save his red Martian princess, Dejah Thoris.
I became an Edgar Rice Burroughs disciple. I checked out the first two books from the library, then the later ones until I’d read all eleven. Then I reread them. I was so immersed in the world of Barsoom that, until maybe the fourth grade, I sometimes really thought that if I stretched out my arms to the red planet and concentrated hard enough, I could be whisked there too, just like John Carter. But I didn’t know enough about astronomy to identify which light in the sky it was (my luck, I would’ve wound up on Venus).
I went on to read many of Burroughs’ other series and stand-alone titles, which brought me to the Earth’s core and to lost places where prehistoric beasts still roam (and even to Venus, eventually). I went with him into the past and into the future. He took me to the jungle where a man raised by apes was lord, and he whisked me beyond the farthest star. But my favorite was always the story of John Carter, the Warlord of Mars.
Granted, no one would argue for ERB as a master prose stylist. He was, however, a first rate storyteller—right up there with H. Rider Haggard, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and, more recently, J.K. Rowling. The words were merely the vehicle of delivery for the stories, for the adventures, for the wonderful new worlds, for the larger-than-life characters who clash swords to win love and renown on the stages of those colorful, otherworldly backdrops.
Sure, I was just a boy, but how could I have invested belief in Barsoom so thoroughly? Aaron Parrett, an English literature professor who wrote the introduction to the recent reissue of the first three Martian books in the Barnes & Noble Library of Essential Reading, offers a suggestion: “Perhaps what makes Burroughs’ novels eternally compelling is the way he stretches the bounds of verisimilitude by narrating purely fantastic events with such nonchalant matter-of-factness that what he describes becomes believably present.” Or as science fiction author Jack McDevitt describes it, “When it rains in a Burroughs novel, the reader gets wet.”
Though I stopped believing in a literal Barsoom, I kept visiting. And I’ve been exploring imaginative realms like it ever since. Writing about them too, spinning my own stories about strange wonders in faraway worlds. Burroughs was not alone in putting me on the path of a speculative writer—there had been Lewis, later there were Tolkien and many others—but the Mars of his imagination was a strong beacon that drew me on, just as the red planet had drawn that ageless Virginian John Carter to its fabled red valleys a hundred years ago.
Ah, Burroughs, the pioneer of fantastical worlds. He published JCM under a different name in 1915 because he was afraid that his neighbors would think he was crazy. I just re-read Tarzan a couple of days ago. Still a wonderful tale after all these decades.
He should also be a hero to writers because he wrote the novel ‘Outlaw of Torn’ in fifteen days. Wrote/ sent/ sold an novel in about 2 weeks – now that’s inspirational.
- For those who follow Barsoom: now that we’re close to a hundred years since the story came out, Disney has a 2012 release of ‘John Carter of Mars” on the way. The trailer shows that they’ve put a lot of work into making it a surreal experience.
http://youtu.be/6Rf55GTEZ_E
That’s right–if I remember correctly, he chose the pseudonym “Normal Bean,” which was a way of saying he was just a normal guy. A typo when the story went to print changed it to “Norman Bean.” Fortunately, the whole ruse was quickly dropped.
You and I sound very similar. I hid in the barn to read books. I too thrilled to the exotic and powerful description of ERB’s Barsoom books and they were definitely the first truly formative influence on my own writing. My Talera series is so much of an homage to Barsoom, especially the first one, Swords of Talera. And I’ve never had more fun in writing than writing sword and planet fiction.
I am jealous of all you who read ERB as teenagers – I could have used some of that. I discovered him late and have much reading to do. It’s a little harder to ignore some of his writing foibles as an adult, but his imagination makes up for a lot.
Next year, as Rob mentioned, will be a large ERB year. Near 100 years on ‘A Princess of Mars’, plus the new movie. There is already a ramp-up of merchandise. Dynamite Entertainment (comics) have been running a new ‘Warlord of Mars’ series, with offshoots, and Marvel are set to do their own line in conjunction with the movie. New editions of some of the novels are out. A new anthology of Barsoom tales is due out, too.
Annual ERB festivals will be even larger next year.
I myself am involved in a sword-n-planet (planetary romance) project that will hopefully see light of day soon.
It could be a great time to get the sword-n-planet genre rolling again!
A fitting tribute to the master story teller, Nick. My earliest reading experience was reading a hardback copy of The Return of Tarzan from a pile of books from my uncle’s attic. Then trips to the library for more (though back in the fifties they were hard to find). I just got a Kindle and was surprised to learn that most of Burroughs output is available free because of copyright expiration. Just downloaded first three Mars books to reread. They are as good as I remember them. Was shocked to realize that beyond the action and romance, The Gods of Mars is actually Burroughs’ attack on organized religion. How’d they get by with that?
And Dynamite might be hit or miss, but they sure go this cover right (if you haven’t already seen it)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/44823747@N02/5212823539/in/set-72157625893427974
WOW!!! I think I saw some of the interior artwork for this series somewhere. Looked great. Never saw this cover though. UGH!!! Off to the comic boo store I go…or buy them online. Wow! Other than the dog, that kid could be me…all slack-jawed in awe with what I was reading.
That is a perfect cover!
I found ERB JCM material for the first time in a musty dusty old bookstore years and years ago, and read his material on the city bus while heading out to job as a restaurant busboy (in the early 80′s). It was great stuff. I couldn’t get into his Tarzan material though, but everything else drew me like a moth to flame.
I ended up buying the hard cover books while I was a member of the Science Fiction Book Club. Classic material, great author/writer.
Great article, Nick.
My first Burroughs title was The Return of Tarzan, which I started because Joe Kubert had adapted Tarzan of the Apes for DC Comics, but hadn’t yet adapted Return, leaving me with a hell of a cliffhanger.
Like Mr. Ozment, I’d read Narnia and some other fantasy stuff, but ERB was my gateway drug. He got me hooked on on fantasy and SF, and I read everything he ever wrote (except the Tarzan Twins books that I’ve never laid eyes on). I was lucky that Ballantine was reissuing almost everything ERB wrote at the time I got addicted.
After a decades-long hiatus, I’m currently reading an e’book of Tarzan of the Apes. I’m discovering that my young teen/tween self was sadly oblivious to so much of the racism – but on the other hand, my younger self was right in judging this a great book.
I’m finding the prose a lot better than I expected, BTW. And TotA is only his second novel?
Thanks for the great article.
Cynthia Ward
I wish I could go back in time read all the Burroughs I read in my late teens and early 20s for the FIRST TIME again. What a great rush and a great “memoir” I can really relate to.
Same here, Joe.