Editing Edgar Rice Burroughs (section)

==Reception==
Because of the part Burroughs's science fiction played in inspiring real exploration of Mars, [[Burroughs (crater)|an impact crater]] on Mars was named in his honor after his death.<ref name="sagan19780528">{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/28/archives/growing-up-with.html |title=Growing up with Science Fiction |last=Sagan |first=Carl |date=May 28, 1978 |work=The New York Times |access-date=December 12, 2018 |page=SM7 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211180058/https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/28/archives/growing-up-with.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In a ''[[Paris Review]]'' interview, [[Ray Bradbury]] said of Burroughs: {{quote|"Edgar Rice Burroughs never would have looked upon himself as a social mover and shaker with social obligations. But as it turns out – and I love to say it because it upsets everyone terribly – Burroughs is probably the most influential writer in the entire history of the world. By giving romance and adventure to a whole generation of boys, Burroughs caused them to go out and decide to become special."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/ray-bradbury-the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury|title=Ray Bradbury, The Art of Fiction No. 203|first=Interviewed by Sam|last=Weller|date=2019-02-04|volume=Spring 2010|issue=192|magazine=theparisreview.org|access-date=February 4, 2019|archive-date=February 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217231105/https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6012/ray-bradbury-the-art-of-fiction-no-203-ray-bradbury|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

In ''[[Something of Myself]]'' (published posthumously in 1937) [[Rudyard Kipling]] wrote: "My ''Jungle Books'' begat Zoos of <nowiki>[imitators]</nowiki>. But the genius of all the genii was one who wrote a series called ''Tarzan of the Apes''. I read it, but regret I never saw it on the films, where it rages most successfully. He had 'jazzed' the motif of the ''Jungle Books'' and, I imagine, had thoroughly enjoyed himself. He was reported to have said that he wanted to find out how bad a book he could write and 'get away with', which is a legitimate ambition."<ref>{{cite book|first=Rudyard|last=Kipling|title=Something of Myself|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.525263|year=1937|publisher=Macmillan & Co.|location=London|chapter=8: Working Tools}}</ref>

By 1963, [[Floyd C. Gale]] of ''[[Galaxy Science Fiction]]'' wrote when discussing reprints of several Burroughs novels by [[Ace Books]], "an entire generation has grown up inexplicably Burroughs-less". He stated that most of the author's books had been out of print for years and that only the "occasional laughable Tarzan film" reminded the public of his fiction.<ref name="gale196306">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Gale
 |first=Floyd C.
 |date=June 1963
 |title=Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v21n05_1963-06#page/n67/mode/1up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=135–138
}}</ref> Gale reported his surprise that after two decades his books were again available, with [[Canaveral Press]], [[Dover Publications]], and [[Ballantine Books]] also reprinting them.<ref name="gale196310">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Gale
 |first=Floyd C.
 |date=October 1963
 |title=Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v22n01_1963-10#page/n59/mode/1up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=119–123
}}</ref>

Few critical books have been written about Burroughs. From an academic standpoint, the most helpful are Erling Holtsmark's two books: ''Tarzan and Tradition''<ref>Holtsmark, Erling B. ''Tarzan and Tradition: Classical Myth in Popular Literature''. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1981.</ref> and ''Edgar Rice Burroughs'';<ref>Holtsmark, Erling B. ''Edgar Rice Burroughs''. Twayne's United States Author Series. Boston: Twayne, 1986.</ref> Stan Galloway's ''The Teenage Tarzan: A Literary Analysis of Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Jungle Tales of Tarzan;<ref>Galloway, Stan. ''The Teenage Tarzan: A Literary Analysis of Edgar Rice Burroughs' ''Jungle Tales of Tarzan. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010.</ref> and Richard Lupoff's two books: ''Master of Adventure: Edgar Rice Burroughs''<ref name="auto">Lupoff, Richard. Master of Adventure: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005.</ref> and ''Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision''.<ref>Lupoff, Richard. ''Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision.'' Baltimore: Mirage Press, 1976.</ref> Galloway was identified by [[James E. Gunn (writer)|James Edwin Gunn]] as "one of the half-dozen finest Burroughs scholars in the world";<ref>Gunn, James. Foreword. The Teenage Tarzan by Stan Galloway. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2010. p. 3.</ref> Galloway called Holtsmark his "most important predecessor".<ref>Preface. p. 5.</ref>
{{Eugenics sidebar}}
Burroughs strongly supported [[eugenics]] and [[scientific racism]]. His views held that English nobles made up a particular heritable elite among [[Anglo-Saxons]]. [[Tarzan]] was meant to reflect this, with him being born to English nobles and then adopted by talking apes (the [[Mangani]]). They express eugenicist views themselves, but Tarzan is permitted to live despite being deemed "unfit" in comparison and grows up to surpass not only them but [[black Africans]], whom Burroughs clearly presents as inherently inferior. In one Tarzan story, he finds an ancient civilization where eugenics has been practiced for over 2,000 years, with the result that it is free of all crime. Criminal behavior is held to be entirely hereditary, with the solution having been to kill not only criminals but also their families. ''[[Lost on Venus]]'', a later novel, presents a similar [[utopia]] where forced sterilization is practiced and the "unfit" are killed. Burroughs explicitly supported such ideas in his unpublished nonfiction essay ''I See A New Race''. Additionally, his ''Pirate Blood'', which is not [[speculative fiction]] and remained unpublished after his death, portrayed the characters as victims of their hereditary criminal traits (one a descendant of the corsair [[Jean Lafitte]], another from the [[Jukes family]]).<ref>[https://meridian.allenpress.com/idd/article/39/3/221/8262/Disney-s-Tarzan-Edgar-Rice-Burroughs-Eugenics-and ''Disney's Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Eugenics, and Visions of Utopian Perfection''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200912214315/https://meridian.allenpress.com/idd/article/39/3/221/8262/Disney-s-Tarzan-Edgar-Rice-Burroughs-Eugenics-and |date=September 12, 2020 }}, J. David Smith; Alison L. Mitchell
''Ment Retard (2001) 39 (3): 221–225''.</ref> These views have been compared with [[Nazi eugenics]] – though noting that they were popular and common at the time and that Burroughs expressed great contempt for Nazism and fascism<ref name="auto"/><ref>Harvey, Ryan. [http://www.blackgate.com/2011/09/13/edgar-rice-burroughs%e2%80%99s-venus-part-3-carson-of-venus/ "Edgar Rice Burroughs's Venus, Part 3: ''Carson of Venus''".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920064657/https://www.blackgate.com/2011/09/13/edgar-rice-burroughs%E2%80%99s-venus-part-3-carson-of-venus/ |date=September 20, 2020 }} ''Black Gate''</ref> – with his ''[[Lost on Venus]]'' being released the same year the Nazis took power (in 1933).<ref>[https://www.blackgate.com/2011/08/30/edgar-rice-burroughs%E2%80%99s-venus-part-2-lost-on-venus/ ''Edgar Rice Burroughs's Venus, Part 2: Lost on Venus''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200912222156/https://www.blackgate.com/2011/08/30/edgar-rice-burroughs%E2%80%99s-venus-part-2-lost-on-venus/ |date=September 12, 2020 }}, by Ryan Harvey, August 30, 2011, ''Black Gate Magazine''.</ref>

In 2003, Burroughs was inducted into the [[Museum of Pop Culture#Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame|Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfadb.com/Science_Fiction_Hall_of_Fame|title=Science Fiction Hall of Fame – Winners by Year|website=SFADB|access-date=December 6, 2022|archive-date=August 3, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803153518/http://www.sfadb.com/Science_Fiction_Hall_of_Fame|url-status=live}}</ref>

As of 2025, there exists a significant special collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs' various works at the [[Oak Park Public Library]]. Consisting of many rare books of his Tarzan, Mucker, Barsoom, Pellucidar, Venus, Caspak, and Moon series, the collection was developed due to Burroughs' own connection to the city, being where he wrote several of his first works, those being the Tarzan and Marian stories. Beyond the rare editions, the collection also holds a number of newspaper clippings, ephemera, correspondence between Burroughs and others, as well as various old Tarzan films. Much of the initial collection was gathered during a block party held in 1975 by a group called CHEETAH (Citizens Holding Exercises Extolling Tarzan's Anniversary Here) and compiled by Florence Moyer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Special Collections |url=https://www.oppl.org/read-listen-watch/special-collections/ |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=Oak Park Public Library |language=en-US |archive-date=November 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241113092320/https://www.oppl.org/read-listen-watch/special-collections/ |url-status=live }}</ref>