TARZAN AND THE LION MAN

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

ACE BOOKS, INC.
1120 Avenue of the Americas
New York 36, N.Y.

This Ace edition follows the text of the first hard-cover
book edition, originally published in 1934.

Cover art and title-page illustration by Frank Frazetta.

Printed in U.S.A.

TWO TARZANS IN GORILLA COUNTRY

Tarzan moved stealthily in the trees high above a savage scene. Thetempo of the dance had increased. Painted warriors were leaping andstamping around a small group that surrounded the prisoner. As Tarzangazed at the prisoner he experienced a shock.

It was as though his disembodied spirit hovered above and looked downupon himself, so amazing was the likeness of this man to the Lord ofthe Jungle.

Who was this man who looked so much like Tarzan as to startle evenTarzan himself and what did he seek in the jungles of Africa?

FOREWORD

If ever Burroughs wrote a tongue-in-cheek Tarzan story, Tarzan and theLion Man came closest. Several critics have commented that Burroughsoften satirized such things as religion, social customs and the like,but it should also be noted that he was not above kidding himself andhis fellow men.

In Chapter 5, the suggestion is made that the motion picture hero goout in front of the safari, and clear the way of marauding natives.But the Lion Man is quick to reply that he'd "like to have the authorof that story" sent out instead. The Old Master must have smiled tohimself as he wrote that dialogue, for through his seventy-four years,he never once set foot in Africa.

Burroughs was also continually pointing out that man is the onlycreature that is cruel, vindictive, selfish, ambitious and treacherous,while wild animals are not. This is blandly pointed out in the novel,particularly in the latter portions of Chapter 25.

But the crowning satire of the whole novel, even overshadowing thefabulous episode of the gorillas, are the last couple of chaptersdealing with Tarzan's visit to Hollywood, California. They concern thecasting of a new Tarzan film, and one John Clayton, Lord Greystoke,Tarzan of the Apes himself. Upon being asked to try out for the partof Tarzan, he is considered by the casting director as "not the type."Truly, Burroughs must still be chuckling about that little scene.

—Camille Cazedessus, Jr.
Editor, ERB-dom, a magazine
devoted to Burroughs and his works.