Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Master of Pulp Storytelling - Paperback

by Charles A. Madison (Author)

Few, if any, authors of science fiction writing since the publication of A PRINCESS OF MARS can say that they were not influenced, to a greater or lesser degree, by the pulp adventure and science-fiction storyteller, Edgar Rice Burroughs. A seminal work, that 1912 novel started the ever popular Planetary Romance genre and the first ever science-fiction series, running for ten books between 1912 and 1948. Burroughs also created Tarzan of the Apes, perhaps the first action hero in mainstream literature and certainly the first in the movies. His popularity with the general public was assured with the 1914 hard cover publication of his first Tarzan novel. However, only since the 1980s have critics in journalism and academia began to recognize the impact of his work on fantastic literature in general. Today his literary future and reputation are secure. The contributors to this anthology include critics, scholars and fans of this most popular of all pulp storytellers: Patrick H. Adkins, David Critchfield, J. G. Huckenpöhler, Charles A. Madison, John Flint Roy, Suzannah Rowntree, Abraham Sherman, Den Valdron, John C. Wright, and Robert B. Zeuschner. Together their essays and articles survey the impact and influence of American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs on science fiction writing and film, and in the process affirm both his reputation and his continued popularity with collectors and the general reading public.

Author Biography

A retired professional soldier, who became a high-school teacher (English, Film, Philosophy, Economics and History), Charles A. Madison is an omnivorous reader of all types of fiction and non-fiction. However, as a scholar and researcher he is interested in the collecting of, and the scholarship associated with, the books written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the acknowledged king of the pulps and the writer who kick-started modern science fiction. This anthology is his first book dedicated to that author. He began reading and studying the scholarship associated with Burroughs as a teenager and remains to this day an unrepentant enthusiast for these great novels of adventure and romance. He and his wife Pam live in Killeen, Texas, enjoying the temperate climate and friendly, hospitable people of this great state.