Best 1913 Adventures (1)
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February 16, 2018
One in a series of 10 posts identifying Josh Glenn’s favorite 1913 adventure novels. Happy 105th anniversary!
Edgar Rice Burroughs‘s Tarzan adventure The Return of Tarzan.
On a steamer from America to Paris, “Jean C. Tarzan” mulls over his still-recent decision to renounce his aristocratic title, so that Jane Porter can marry his cousin, Lord Greystoke. He befriends a Russian couple, who are being blackmailed by Russian agent Nikolas Rokoff; he thwarts Rokoff’s plot, and makes himself a deadly enemy. Tarzan is then recruited as a secret agent by the French ministry of war — suddenly, it’s a spy novel! After a few adventures among Arabs in the Algerian desert, Tarzan is dumped in the middle of the ocean. Luckily, he washes ashore in his native Africa, where he reverts to his old tree-swinging habits, makes himself king of the noble Waziri tribe, and discovers the lost treasure-city of Opar. At which point, Jane and Rokoff show up!
Fun facts: Serialized in New Story Magazine in 1913; the first book edition was published in 1915. I am a fan of Joe Kubert’s 1973 comic-book version.
JOSH GLENN’S *BEST ADVENTURES* LISTS: BEST 250 ADVENTURES OF THE 20TH CENTURY | 100 BEST OUGHTS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST RADIUM AGE (PROTO-)SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TEENS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TWENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST THIRTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST GOLDEN AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FORTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FIFTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SIXTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST NEW WAVE SCI FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SEVENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST EIGHTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST DIAMOND AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST NINETIES ADVENTURES (in progress) | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | NOTES ON 21st-CENTURY ADVENTURES.