David Arthur Adams Comments ERB-APA #69: A Reply

David Arthur Adams - It is a fact that Tarzan's personality changes through the various stages of his life. So do ours. I see Tarzan in the first stages of his life as a human discovering himself and rising above the beast. Then the jungle lord becomes the family man from The Beasts Of Tarzan through Tarzan And The Ant Men. This Tarzan is desperately trying to adapt to civilization, for Jane and Jack's sake no doubt, in its many forms. The ape-man does a lot of traveling and is exposed to many kinds of lifestyles. You bet he found it confusing.

ERB-AP #69

The Eternal Lover offers two very important contributions you did not touch upon.

1. Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author, provides us with an actual date, early spring 1913, which allows us to pinpoint the occurring events.
2. We are informed that Edgar Rice Burroughs, the narrator, who is John Carter's great-nephew, not the author from Chicago, is at the Tarzan ranch.
3. 
   

All-Story Weekly

The reason you have a hard time understanding The Eternal Lover is because of the perspective you are looking from. You see the events unfolding like this...

• Tarzan Of The Apes
• Jungle Tales Of Tarzan (In conjunction with Tarzan Of The Apes)
• The Return Of Tarzan
• The Eternal Lover
• The Beasts Of Tarzan
• The Son Of Tarzan
• Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar

This perspective is based on Tarzan's 1888 birth. I find it amazing that you yourself pointed out that Tarzan seems to be an old man although he is only twenty-five. 

      

All-Story Cavalier Weekly

The truth is David Tarzan was born in 1872 and the events actually go down sixteen years earlier like this.

• Tarzan Of The Apes
• Jungle Tales Of Tarzan (In conjunction with Tarzan Of The Apes)
• The Return Of Tarzan
• The Beasts Of Tarzan
• Tarzan And The Jewels Of Tarzan
• The Mad King (Part One)
• The Eternal Lover (Part One)
• The Eternal Lover (Part Two)
• The Man Eater
• The Mad King (Part two)

J. Allen St. John

The reason Tarzan acted so strangely in The Eternal Lover is from the rock blow to the head the jungle lord received in Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar. In an 1872 Tarzan chronology, the end of Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar occurs very shortly before the beginning of The Eternal Lover. Tarzan is age forty-one during the events of The Eternal Lover which fits that older Tarzan feel you yourself mentioned. The Eternal Lover is the first in the series where the dates are not altered to protect the Greystoke's identity. Tarzan Of The Apes/ Jungle Tales Of Tarzan, The Return Of Tarzan, The Beasts Of Tarzan, The Son Of Tarzan, and Tarzan And The Jewels Of Opar were moved forward sixteen years to protect Tarzan's identity.

The Eternal Lover

I don't see what is odd about Tarzan and company sleeping during the heat of the day. It has been a common practice of his since childhood. Also, of the beasts, and natives, that lived there.

The Eternal Lover

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James Michael Moody is a lifelong fan and collector of Edger Rice Burroughs. Moody has contributed over two hundred articles to various ERB-related fanzines over forty-five years. He also manages an unauthorized Tarzan blog titled, Greystoke Chronologist: James Michael Moody. There the researcher chronologies the Tarzan books starting in May 1872 (known as the pushback theory) instead of the more accepted date, May 1888.

James Michael Moody is also the author of the action-packed Sci-Fi fantasy adventure Unium series. Pioneers On Unium, published December 31, 2019, Exiled On Unium, published August 25, 2022, and Swordsman On Unium published on July 15, 2024.