Tarzan and the Ant Men

1924 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan and the Ant Men

First edition cover

Author| Edgar Rice Burroughs
Country| United States
Language| English
Series| The Tarzan series
Genre| Adventure
Publisher| A. C. McClurg

Publication date

| 1924
Media type| Print (hardback)
Pages| 346
Preceded by| Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Followed by| Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins
Text| Tarzan and the Ant Men at Wikisource

Tarzan and the Ant Men is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the tenth in his series of twenty-four books about the jungle hero Tarzan. It was first published as a seven-part serial in the magazine Argosy All-Story Weekly for February 2, 9, 16 and 23 and March 1, 8 and 15, 1924. The story was first published in book form in hardcover by A. C. McClurg in September 1924. It was also adapted for Gold Key Comics in Tarzan #174-175 (1968).

In the book Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Richard A. Lupoff places Tarzan and the Ant Men in his list of essential Burroughs novels and states that it represents Burroughs at the peak of his creative powers.[1]

## Plot summary[edit]

Argosy All-Story Weekly of February 2, 1924, with the serial installment Tarzan and the Ant Men as the cover story

The story begins 1 year after the end of the previous novel (#9, Tarzan and the Golden Lion) which would place it around 1936 which would make Tarzan around 47 years old. His son Korak, now at about 23 has a verbal child, the grandchild of Tarzan.

Tarzan, the king of the jungle, enters an isolated country called Minuni, inhabited by a people four times smaller than himself, the Minunians, who live in magnificent city-states which frequently wage war against each other.

Tarzan befriends the king, Adendrohahkis, and the prince, Komodoflorensal, of one such city-state, called Trohanadalmakus, and joins them in war against the onslaught of the army of Veltopismakus, their warlike neighbours.

He is captured on the battle-ground and taken prisoner by the Veltopismakusians, whose scientist Zoanthrohago conducts an experiment reducing him to the size of a Minunian, and the ape-man is imprisoned and enslaved among other Trohanadalmakusian prisoners of war. He meets, though, Komodoflorensal in the dungeons of Veltopismakus, and together they are able to make a daring escape.

Spanish actor/Tarzan lookalike Esteban Miranda, who had been imprisoned in the village of Obebe, the cannibal, at the end of the previous novel, Tarzan and the Golden Lion, also appears in this adventure.

## Major themes[edit]

Burrough's view on what is a natural relationship between the sexes is neatly illustrated by a secondary narrative thread in the novel, that one about the Alali or Zertalacolols, an ape-like matriarchal people living in the thorny forests which isolate Minuni from the rest of the worlds. When the enslaved and persecuted Alali males see that Tarzan is a male too and yet stronger and more formidable than any Alali female, they go to war against the females, and by killing or maiming several of them, subjugate them. When Tarzan, towards the end of the novel, meets the Alali again, the females are submissive and obedient to their mates and actually prefer it that way.

The Minunian city states and their politics are strongly reminiscent of those of Barsoom. They also share the Barsoomian philosophy of perpetual war as a good and commendable state, as illustrated by the words of Gefasto, the Commander in Chief of the Veltopismakusian armed forces:

> We must have war. As we have found that there is no enduring happiness in peace or virtue, let us have a little war and a little sin. A pudding that is all of one ingredient is nauseating—it must be seasoned, it must be spiced, and before we can enjoy the eating of it to the fullest we must be forced to strive for it. War and work, the two most distasteful things in the world, are, nevertheless, the most essential to the happiness and the existence of a people. Peace reduces the necessity for labor, and induces slothfulness. War compels labor, that her ravages may be effaced. Peace turns us into fat worms. War makes men of us.[2]

## Importance[edit]

Tarzan and the Ant Men marks the end of a sequence that began with Tarzan the Untamed and continued through Tarzan the Terrible and Tarzan and the Golden Lion in which Burroughs' imagination and storytelling abilities presumably hit their peak, and which is generally considered a highlight of the series.

The novel is also the last in the series to focus primarily on Tarzan's own affairs and to routinely feature the customary locales and supporting cast of the early novels. In later novels Burroughs largely dropped the use of such characters as Jane and Korak, as well as the familiar base of Tarzan's African estate. Formerly pivotal characters would return only occasionally; Jane, La of Opar and Paul d'Arnot would each reappear once, while the Waziri or Jad-bal-ja the golden lion would only be brought in as needed to get Tarzan out of a tight spot. The Ape Man would become a seemingly rootless adventurer intervening in the affairs of an endlessly changing gallery of secondary characters whose goals and entanglements were henceforth to form the basis of the novels' plots. This shift in plot-type had first been presaged by the introduction of strong secondary characters as early as Tarzan the Untamed; after Tarzan and the Ant Men it would become dominant.

## References in other literature[edit]

Tarzan and the Ant Men is referred to in Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960) as a book read by the young protagonist, Jean Louise ("Scout") Finch.

Tarzan and the Ant Men is also mentioned, along with other unspecified Tarzan titles, in Herman Wouk's A City Boy (1948), being read at Camp Manitou by Herbie Bookbinder, the tubby bookworm hero.

## Comic adaptations[edit]

The book has been adapted into comic form by Gold Key Comics in Tarzan nos. 174-175, dated June–July 1969, with a script by Gaylord DuBois and art by Russ Manning.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Richard A. Lupoff (2005). Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Bison Books.
2. ^ Tarzan and the Ant-men, chapter ten.

## External links[edit]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Tarzan and the Ant Men

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tarzan and the Ant Men.

*   * Tarzan and the Ant Men at Project Gutenberg
* Tarzan and the Ant Men at Faded Page (Canada)
* Text of the novel at Project Gutenberg Australia
* Formatted epub version of the book on edgar-rice-burroughs-ebooks.blogspot.com
* Tarzan and the Ant Men public domain audiobook at LibriVox
* ERBzine.com Illustrated Bibliography entry for Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Ant Men
* Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for Tarzan and the Ant Men
* Tarzan comic series at the Grand Comics Database
* Bleiler, Everett (1948). The Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers. p. 67.

Preceded by

Tarzan and the Golden Lion

|  Tarzan series
Tarzan and the Ant Men | Succeeded by

Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins

|
|

* v
* t
* e

Edgar Rice Burroughs (works)

Tarzan novels|

* Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
* The Return of Tarzan (1913)
* The Beasts of Tarzan (1914)
* The Son of Tarzan (1915)
* Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916)
* Tarzan the Terrible (1921)
* Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1922/23)
* Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924)
* Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1927/28)
* Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928/29)
* Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929/30)
* Tarzan the Invincible (1930/31)
* Tarzan Triumphant (1931/32)
* Tarzan and the City of Gold (1932)
* Tarzan and the Lion Man (1933/34)
* Tarzan and the Leopard Men (1932/33)
* Tarzan's Quest (1935/36)
* Tarzan and the Forbidden City (1938)
* Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (1947)
* Tarzan and the Madman (1964)
* Tarzan: The Lost Adventure (1995)

Tarzan collections|

* Jungle Tales of Tarzan (1919)
* Tarzan the Untamed (1920)
* Tarzan the Magnificent (1939)
* Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1963)
* Tarzan and the Castaways (1965)

Tarzan
short stories|

* Tarzan's First Love (1916)
* The Capture of Tarzan (1916)
* The Fight for the Balu (1916)
* The God of Tarzan (1916)
* Tarzan and the Black Boy (1917)
* The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance (1917)
* The End of Bukawai (1917)
* The Lion (1917)
* The Nightmare (1917)
* The Battle for Teeka (1917)
* A Jungle Joke (1917)
* Tarzan Rescues the Moon (1917)
* Tarzan the Untamed (1919)
* Tarzan and the Valley of Luna (1920)
* The Tarzan Twins (1927)
* Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion (1936)
* Tarzan and the Magic Men (1936)
* Tarzan and the Elephant Men (1937/38)
* Tarzan and the Champion (1940)
* Tarzan and the Jungle Murders (1940)
* Tarzan and the Castaways (1941)

Other jungle
adventures|

* The Man-Eater (1915)
* The Cave Girl (1925)
* The Eternal Lover (1925)
* Jungle Girl (1932)
* The Lad and the Lion (1938)

Martian series|

* A Princess of Mars (1917)
* The Gods of Mars (1918)
* The Warlord of Mars (1919)
* Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920)
* The Chessmen of Mars (1922)
* The Master Mind of Mars (1928)
* A Fighting Man of Mars (1931)
* Swords of Mars (1936)
* Synthetic Men of Mars (1940)
* Llana of Gathol (1948)
* John Carter of Mars (1964)

Pellucidar series|

* At the Earth's Core (1914)
* Pellucidar (1915)
* Tanar of Pellucidar (1929)
* Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929)
* Back to the Stone Age (1937)
* Land of Terror (1944)
* Savage Pellucidar (1963)

Venus series|

* Pirates of Venus (1934)
* Lost on Venus (1935)
* Carson of Venus (1939)
* Escape on Venus (1946)
* The Wizard of Venus (1964)

Caspak series|

* The Land That Time Forgot (1918)
* The People That Time Forgot (1918)
* Out of Time's Abyss (1918)

Other
speculative fiction|

* Beyond Thirty (1915)
* The Moon Maid (1926)
* The Monster Men (1929)
* "The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw" (1937)
* Beyond the Farthest Star (1941)
* Tales of Three Planets (1964)

Westerns|

* The Bandit of Hell's Bend (1926)
* The War Chief (1927)
* Apache Devil (1933)
* The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (1940)

Historical novels|

* The Outlaw of Torn (1914/1927)
* I Am a Barbarian (1967)

Ruritanian romances|

* The Rider (1918)
* The Mad King (1926)

Contemporary
novels|

* The Mucker (1914/16)
* The Girl from Farris's (1916)
* The Oakdale Affair (1918)
* The Efficiency Expert (1921)
* The Girl from Hollywood (1923)
* Pirate Blood (1970)
* Marcia of the Doorstep (1999)

Other works|

* The Oakdale Affair and The Rider (1937)
* Beyond Thirty and The Man-Eater (1957)
* Minidoka: 937th Earl of One Mile Series M (1998)
* You Lucky Girl! (1999)
* Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder (2001)
* Brother Men (2005)

Related|

* Florence Gilbert (second wife)
* John Coleman Burroughs (son)
* Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
* Tarzana, Los Angeles
* Tarzan, Texas

* v
* t
* e

Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Literature

| Edgar Rice Burroughs'
official canon|

* Tarzan of the Apes (1912)
* The Return of Tarzan (1913)
* The Beasts of Tarzan (1914)
* The Son of Tarzan (1915)
* Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916)
* Jungle Tales of Tarzan (1919)
* Tarzan the Untamed (1920)
* Tarzan the Terrible (1921)
* Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1922/23)
* Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924)
* Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1927/28)
* Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928/29)
* Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929/30)
* Tarzan the Invincible (1930/31)
* Tarzan Triumphant (1931/32)
* Tarzan and the City of Gold (1932)
* Tarzan and the Lion Man (1933/34)
* Tarzan and the Leopard Men (1932/33)
* Tarzan's Quest (1935/36)
* Tarzan and the Forbidden City (1938)
* Tarzan the Magnificent (1939)
* Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (1947)
* Tarzan and the Madman (1964)
* Tarzan and the Castaways (1965)

|

Related works|

* The Eternal Lover (1925)
* The Mad King (1926)
* Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1963)
* Tarzan: The Lost Adventure (1995)

Licensed works|

* Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966)
* Hadon of Ancient Opar (1974)
* Bunduki (1975)
* Flight to Opar (1976)
* Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996)
* The Dark Heart of Time (1999)
* The Adventures of Tarzan (1921/2006)
* Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy (2011)
* Tarzan: Return to Pal-ul-don (2015)
* Tarzan on the Precipice (2016)
* King Kong vs. Tarzan (2016)
* Tarzan Trilogy (2016)
* Tarzan: The Greystoke Legacy Under Siege (2017)

Films

| Silent films|

* Tarzan of the Apes (1918)
* The Romance of Tarzan (1918)
* The Revenge of Tarzan (1920)
* The Son of Tarzan (1920)
* The Adventures of Tarzan (1921)
* Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1927)
* Tarzan the Mighty (1928)
* Tarzan the Tiger (1929)

|

1930s theatrical films|

* Tarzan the Fearless (1933)
* The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935)
* Tarzan's Revenge (1938)

MGM/RKO film series|

| Johnny Weissmuller|

* Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
* Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
* Tarzan Escapes (1936)
* Tarzan Finds a Son! (1939)
* Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)
* Tarzan's New York Adventure (1942)
* Tarzan Triumphs (1943)
* Tarzan's Desert Mystery (1943)
* Tarzan and the Amazons (1945)
* Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946)
* Tarzan and the Huntress (1947)
* Tarzan and the Mermaids (1948)

|

Lex Barker|

* Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949)
* Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950)
* Tarzan's Peril (1951)
* Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952)
* Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953)

Gordon Scott|

* Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955)
* Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957)
* Tarzan and the Trappers (1958)
* Tarzan's Fight for Life (1958)
* Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959)
* Tarzan the Magnificent (1960)

Jock Mahoney|

* Tarzan Goes to India (1962)
* Tarzan's Three Challenges (1963)

Mike Henry|

* Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966)
* Tarzan and the Great River (1967)
* Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968)

Remakes|

* Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)
* Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)

Warner Bros. films|

* Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan (1984)
* Tarzan and the Lost City (1998)
* The Legend of Tarzan (2016)

Television films|

* Tarzan's Jungle Rebellion (1967)
* Tarzan's Deadly Silence (1970)
* Tarzan in Manhattan (1989)

Disney animated films|

* Tarzan (1999)
* Tarzan & Jane (2002)
* Tarzan II (2005)

Other animated films|

* Tarzan of the Apes (1999)
* Tarzan (2013)

Related documentaries|

* Investigating Tarzan (1997)

Non-English language|

* Vanaraja Karzan (1938)
* Tarzan and the Brown Prince (1972)
* Adventures of Tarzan (1985)
* Tarzan Ki Beti (2002)

Television

| Series|

* Tarzan (1966–1968)
* Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976–1980)
* Tarzán (1991–1994)
* Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996–1997)
* The Legend of Tarzan (2001–2003)
* Tarzan (2003)
* Tarzan and Jane (2017–2018)

|

Adventure hours|

* The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour
* The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour
* Tarzan and the Super 7

Characters

| People|

* Tarzan
* Jane Porter
* Harry Holt
* Korak
* La
* Meriem
* Muviro
* Waziri
* William Cecil Clayton

|

Animals|

* Cheeta
* Jad-bal-ja
* Kala
* Kerchak
* Mangani
* Nkima
* Sabor
* Tantor
* Tublat

Disney version misc.

| Adaptations|

* Musical
* Tarzan Rocks!
* Tarzan's Treehouse

|

Video games|

* Disney's Tarzan Activity Center
* Kingdom Hearts
* Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure

Music and radio

| Disney|

* Soundtrack
* "You'll Be in My Heart"
* "Strangers Like Me"
* "Son of Man"
* "Two Worlds"

|

Radio|

* Tarzan (radio program)

Other|

* "Gitarzan" (1969)
* "Jungle Boogie" (1973)
* "Tarzan Boy" (1985)
* "Tarzan & Jane" (1998)

Miscellaneous

| Speech|

* Kreegah bundolo
* Tarzan yell

|

Games|

* Jungle Lord
* Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle
* Disney's Tarzan
* Tarzan: Untamed
* Disney's Tarzan: Return to the Jungle

Comics|

* Tarzanesque
* Tarzan vs. Predator: At the Earth's Core
* Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Cat-woman
* Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle
* Tarzan on the Planet of the Apes
* Tarzan: The Complete Russ Manning Newspaper Strips

General|

* Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
* Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke
* "Brothers of the Spear"
* Opar
* Pellucidar
* Starzan: Shouting Star of the Jungle
* Tarzan and Jane (musical)
* Tarzana, Los Angeles
* Zone (play)

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