The Dark Heart Of Time: A Review

First of all, I am extremely happy to see a new Tarzan novel make its way to the public. Second, I am very happy that Philip Jose Farmer was the lucky, and deserving guy, who got to write it. Most of us know that this has been a big dream of Phil's for many years.

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This being the case, I was very surprised to find Phil's dream come true to be just average. Phil's writing seemed to be as much about descriptions as there was a story. It may just be me, but I didn't feel the burning passion of the author like I have in some of his other works. When I read Edgar Rice Burroughs, my mind envisions the events just like they were being shown in a movie. Unfortunately, Phil's new Tarzan novel did not mentally or visually flow like that for me. Nor, did the storyline hold my interest like it should have.

The Dark Heart Of Time

In chapter two, page seventeen, Phil tells us, "When Tarzan was ten, humans moved into the jungle." PJF-The Dark Heart Of Time. When I read this, I could not help but think of my fellow ERB-APA member Joe Ferrier's "Tryst Theory." Joe theorizes that Tarzan and Jane got together sexually much sooner than Edgar Rice Burroughs reported. Around thirteen.

What does Edgar Rice Burroughs say? The author tells two contradictory stories.

1. "Thus, at eighteen, we find him, an English lordling, who could speak no English, and yet who could read and write his native language. Never had he seen a human being other than himself, for the little area traversed by his tribe was watered by no great river to bring down the savage natives of the interior." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes, chapter nine.
2. "Until I was fifteen, I had never seen a human being. I was twenty before I saw a white man." ERB-The Return Of Tarzan, chapter five.
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The Dark Heart Of Time

There was another thing that grabbed me in chapter two. On page eighteen Phil Farmer says that Tarzan never became friends with the tribe, nor did Tarzan learn their language. Come on Phil. Didn't you read Jungle Tales Of Tarzan? In chapter five Tarzan kidnaps Tibo from the tribe of Mbonga. The ten-year-old boy lives with the jungle lord for a month. Edgar Rice Burroughs does not say that Tarzan can speak the language of Mbonga, nor does the ape-man speak it in Tarzan Of The Apes or Jungle Tales Of Tarzan. This doesn't mean Tarzan doesn't know it, however.

Neal Adams

Many times, throughout the Tarzan series Edgar Rice Burroughs, implies that the jungle lord is a linguist genius. Tarzan masters Mangani, French, English, German, Bantu languages and dialects, Berber and Arabic tongues, and numerous others. There is no way possible, that the ape-man could have been in immediate contact with Tibo for a month and not learn his language. That is not to mention Tarzan eagerly studied the tribe of Mbonga for two years. The real reason Tarzan did not speak to Tibo in his native language, is that the ape-man was trying to teach Tito to speak Mangani.

The Dark Heart Of Time

Another debatable statement Phil makes is in chapter eight. "It was shortly after he had gone to Paris with his first human friend, Lieutenant Paul d' Arnot of the French navy." PJF-The Dark Heart Of Time. As shown above, Tibo of Jungle Tales Of Tarzan is Tarzan's first human friend. One can always point out, Tibo was a kidnap victim and not an actual friend. I don't buy into that myself. The two had a good relationship by story descriptions, and Tarzan cared enough to grant Tibo freedom once the native boy showed he wasn't going to adapt to being a Mangani. Not only that, Tarzan later rescues Tibo from the witch doctor. No pay, no reward. Just compassion for a special person.

Shaun Raymond Headly

In chapter eight, of The Dark Heart Of Time, Phil Farmer informs us that at age twenty-nine Tarzan sometimes drank wine, but he did so in moderation. We know through Edgar Rice Burroughs that in chapter one of The Return Of Tarzan, at age twenty-two, the jungle lord drank absinth and smoked.

Tarzan Alive

In chapter eleven, on page eighty, Phil Farmer states, "Until Tarzan was eighteen, he went naked. Kulonga kills Kala, Tarzan kills Kulonga and takes his loincloth." PJF-The Dark Heart Of Time. The events Phil described take place in chapter nine of Tarzan Of The Apes. We find Kuionga has slain Kala and Tarzan is upon his trail. As Kulounga slept that night Tarzan stills the native's bow and arrows.  After awakening and finding his weapons gone, Kulonga flees to the newly erected village. At the jungle's edge, Tarzan roped Kulonga and pulled him into the trees, and thrust his father's hunting knife into the chief's son's heart.

Zdenek Burian

Tarzan then took Kulonga's knife, sheath, and belt. He also took a copper anklet and put it on his own leg. He also appropriated Kulonga's feathered headdress. Edgar Rice Burroughs in no way implies Tarzan took Kulonga's loincloth. The events in Jungle Tales Of Tarzan occur immediately after Kala dies. All through these following events Edgar Rice Burroughs describes Tarzan as being naked. There were a couple references mentioned, about Tarzan's efforts and experimentation to cloth himself. In chapter six of Jungle Tales Of Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs mentions for the very first time about the ape-man wearing clothes. "The day being sultry, the leopard skin had been left behind." ERB-Jungle Tales Of Tarzan.

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A second example is found in Tarzan Of The Apes. Take note that while recovering from his kingship battle with his foster brother, Terkoz, Tarzan makes a second attempt to form a loincloth out of animal skin, but again fails. "During his convalescence, Tarzan tried to fashion a mantle from the skin of Sabor, which had lain all this time in the cabin. But he found the hide dried as stiff as a board, and as he knew naught of tanning, he was forced to abandon his cherished plan." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes.

Frank Chio

The first time Tarzan permanently clothes himself, according to Edgar Rice Burroughs, is the day the Porter Party is marooned. "When he felt quite strong again, after his bloody battle with Terkoz, Tarzan set off one morning towards Mbonga's village," ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. These events occur one day before the writing of Jane's letter, which is February 3. "Tarzan dispatched his prisoner quickly and silently; removed the weapons and ornaments, and - oh, the greatest joy of all - a handsome doeskin breechcloth, which he quickly transferred to his own person." ERB-Tarzan Of The Apes. Notice ERB describes the ape-man's first loin cloth as being doe skin, not leopard skin. Artist love drawing the ape-man wearing a leopard loin cloth, but eighty percent of the time ERB describes him wearing doeskin.

Tom Floyd

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.