Burroughs, Edgar Rice (bûr`ōz), 1875–1950, American novelist, creator of the character Tarzan. He is the author of Tarzan of the Apes (1914) and numerous other jungle and science fiction thrillers.

Bibliography

See biography by J. Taliaferro (1999).

Burroughs, Edgar Rice

(born Sept. 1, 1875, Chicago, Ill., U.S.—died March 19, 1950, Encino, Calif.) U.S. novelist. Burroughs worked as an advertising copywriter before trying fiction. His jungle adventure novel Tarzan of the Apes (1914) became the first of 25 books featuring Tarzan, the son of an English nobleman abandoned in Africa and raised by apes. He wrote 43 other novels.

Burroughs, Edgar Rice (1875–1950) writer; born in Chicago, Ill. Son of a wealthy businessman, he attended the Michigan Military Academy, then served briefly in the U.S. cavalry until he was dropped for being underage. For the next 15 years (1896–1911) he worked at a variety of jobs including as a cowboy and miner, finally deciding to try his hand at writing. He published his first story, "Under the Moons of Mars" (using the pen name "Normal Bean") in the pulp magazine All-Story in 1912; it would become the beginning of a serialized novel (published in 1914 as Princess of Mars). In the years that followed he wrote several more science-fiction series but he would remain best known for a series of novels he began in 1914 with Tarzan of the Apes, a story about an English boy raised by apes in Africa; it was so successful that he went on to write another 27 titles in the Tarzan series. He moved to Hollywood in 1919 to supervise the filming of the first of what would eventually become an extremely popular series of Tarzan movies. The Tarzan story also inspired a comic strip, radio and television programs, and countless other spinoffs, all of which made Burroughs very rich. Although he lost money in early investments, he eventually made enough to buy a large ranch near Tarzana, a suburb of Los Angeles named after his creation. During World War II he served as a war correspondent. Churning out two or three novels a year, he wrote in a rather crude style, but the sheer narrative thrust of the Tarzan story engaged millions throughout the world.