Tarzan and the Ant Men
Encyclopedia
Tarzan and the Ant Men is the tenth book in Edgar Rice Burroughs
' series of novels 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. It was first published in book form in hardcover by A. C. McClurg
in September, 1924. The story 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.
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.
and continued through Tarzan the Terrible
and Tarzan and the Golden Lion
in which Burroughs' vivid imagination and storytelling abilities 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 important 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.
soon masters after spending some time with his friends the Trohanadalmakusians. The language has longer words than other languages rudimentarily constructed by Burroughs, and it has a somewhat Greek or Latin look and feel. The length of the personal names of a people of short stature and of the words of their language is supposed to have been a deliberate allusion to Gulliver's Travels
.
The reader learns little of the language, but it is obvious that titles both noble and military follow the given name of a person in the language: Zoanthrohago is addressed as Zoanthrohago zertal, for instance, and Komodoflorensal would be called Komodoflorensal zertolosto.
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
.
for this story has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain
there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia
.
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
' series of novels about the jungle hero Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
. 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. It was first published in book form in hardcover by A. C. McClurg
A. C. McClurg
A. C. McClurg was a Chicago based publisher made famous by their original publishing of the Tarzan of the Apes novels and other stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs....
in September, 1924. The story was also adapted for Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
in Tarzan #174-175 (1968).
In the book Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs
Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs is a book by Richard A. Lupoff that explores the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan and author of numerous science fiction, fantasy, and adventure novels...
, Richard A. Lupoff
Richard A. Lupoff
Richard Allen Lupoff is an American science fiction and mystery author, who has also written humor, satire, non-fiction and reviews. In addition to his two dozen novels and more than 40 short stories, he has also edited science-fantasy anthologies. He is an expert on the writing of Edgar Rice...
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.
Plot summary
Tarzan, the king of the jungle, enters an isolated country called Minuni, inhabited by a people four times smaller than himself. The Minunians 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. Tarzan is captured on the battle-ground and taken prisoner by the Veltopismakusians. The Veltopismakusian scientist Zoanthrohago conducts an experiment reducing Tarzan 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.Major themes
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
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
. 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.
Importance
Tarzan and the Ant Men marks the end of a sequence that began with Tarzan the UntamedTarzan the Untamed
Tarzan the Untamed is a book written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the seventh in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was originally published as two separate stories serialized in different pulp magazines; "Tarzan the Untamed" in Redbook from March to August, 1919, and "Tarzan and...
and continued through Tarzan the Terrible
Tarzan the Terrible
Tarzan the Terrible is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the eighth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published as a serial in the pulp magazine Argosy All-Story Weekly in the issues for February 12, 19, and 26 and March 5, 12, 19, and 26, 1921; the first...
and Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Tarzan and the Golden Lion
Tarzan and the Golden Lion is a novel written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the ninth in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published as a seven part serial in Argosy All-Story Weekly beginning in December 1922; and then as a complete novel by A.C. McClurg & Co...
in which Burroughs' vivid imagination and storytelling abilities 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 important characters as Jane
Jane Porter (Tarzan)
Jane Porter is a major character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly film.- In the novels :...
and Korak
Korak
Korak [long "O"] is the ape name of John 'Jack' Clayton, the son of Tarzan and Jane.-History:Jack first appeared in the original Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs. He was introduced as an infant in the non-Tarzan novel The Eternal Lover , in which the Ape Man and his family played supporting...
, as well as the familiar base of Tarzan's African estate. Formerly pivotal characters would return only occasionally; Jane, La of Opar
La (Tarzan)
La is a character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's series of Tarzan novels. She first appeared in the second Tarzan novel, The Return of Tarzan , and reappeared in the fifth, Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar , the ninth, Tarzan and the Golden Lion , and the fourteenth, Tarzan the Invincible...
and Paul d'Arnot would each reappear once, while the Waziri
Waziri (fictional tribe)
Waziri is the name of a fictional African tribe created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in his Tarzan books.In The Return of Tarzan Tarzan returns from civilization to his beloved jungle. But he has changed: when he meets a black warrior, instead of killing him he saves him from Numa, the lion. The warrior...
or Jad-bal-ja
Jad-bal-ja
Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion is a fictional lion character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics.-Character:...
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
Tarzan the Untamed
Tarzan the Untamed is a book written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the seventh in his series of books about the title character Tarzan. It was originally published as two separate stories serialized in different pulp magazines; "Tarzan the Untamed" in Redbook from March to August, 1919, and "Tarzan and...
; after Tarzan and the Ant Men it would become dominant.
Minunian Glossary
The Minunians are supposed to speak a language of their own, which TarzanTarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
soon masters after spending some time with his friends the Trohanadalmakusians. The language has longer words than other languages rudimentarily constructed by Burroughs, and it has a somewhat Greek or Latin look and feel. The length of the personal names of a people of short stature and of the words of their language is supposed to have been a deliberate allusion to Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
.
The reader learns little of the language, but it is obvious that titles both noble and military follow the given name of a person in the language: Zoanthrohago is addressed as Zoanthrohago zertal, for instance, and Komodoflorensal would be called Komodoflorensal zertolosto.
- Aoponato Komodoflorensal's registration number as a slave of Veltopismakus, meaning eight hundred cubed plus nineteen.
- Aopontando Tarzan's alias as a slave of Veltopismakus. It is simply his registration number, eight hundred cubed plus twenty-one.
- Caraftap a dungeon-slave and a bully, Kalfastoban's favourite.
- Elkomoelhago is the king or thagosto of Veltopismakus, when Tarzan and Komodoflorensal are captured by his armed forces. A vain and impopular monarch, he has staffed most of his cabinet with men who are not equal to their tasks, and who would be happier doing something else.
- Gefasto is the commander in chief of the armies of Veltopismakus. As most other cabinet ministers, he had no schooling for his office, but unexpectedly turned out to be quite a good general. In Gefasto behold his (Elkomoelhago's) greatest blunder! He elevated a gay young pleasure-seeker to the command of the army of Veltopismakus and discovered in his new Chief of Warriors as great a military genius as Veltopismakus has ever produced.
- Gofoloso is the Chief of Chiefs (which probably means something like the Prime Minister) in Elkomoelhago's government. As most other cabinet ministers, he is not very apt at his work: I, a breeder of diadets, master of ten thousand slaves who till the soil and raise a half of all the food that the city consumes, am chosen Chief of Chiefs, filling an office for which I have no liking and no training.
- Hamadalban a warrior of Veltopismakus, Kalfastoban's next-door neighbour.
- Janzara the Princess of Veltopismakus, Elkomoelhago's daughter.
- Kalfastoban a warrior of Veltopismakus, who sees Talaskar in the slave quarters and purchases her from Zoanthrohago.
- Makahago is the Chief of Buildings in Elkomoelhago's cabinet. As most other cabinet ministers, he is not particularly suited for his office. Makahago worked the quarry slaves for a hundred moons and is made Chief of Buildings.
- Mandalamakus a Minunian city-state, the original home of Talaskar.
- Talaskar a slave-girl in the dungeons of Veltopismakus, befriended by Tarzan and Komodoflorensal
- thagosto king, "chief-royal"
- Throwaldo is the Chief of Agriculture in Elkomoelhago's cabinet, who scarce knows the top of a vegetable from its roots.
- Torndali is the Chief of Quarries in Elkomoelhago's cabinet.
- tuano! good night!
- Veltopishago seems to be the name of some ancient and revered warrior-king of Veltopismakus. Elkomoelhago, being an impopular ruler, is by some of his councillors deemed unfit for the "throne of Veltopishago".
- Vestako is "the Chief of the Royal Dome", i.e. the chief of the security police, in Elkomoelhago's cabinet.
- zertal prince, in the sense of the scion of a noble family. The king's heir is called zertolosto.
- zertalacolol one of the primitive, ape-like people guarding the borders of Minuni, also called alali by Burroughs. The zertalacolols are a matriarchal people, until their oppressed males revolt, inspired by the example of Tarzan.
- zertolosto prince, in the sense of the future inheritor of the throne. Komodoflorensal is the zertolosto of Trohanadalmakus.
- Zoanthrohago the scientist and noble to whom Tarzan belongs as chattel. His noble title in the Minunian language is zertal. Burroughs scholars have seen him as the prototype of the Barsoomian scientist Ras ThavasThe Master Mind of MarsThe Master Mind of Mars is an Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel, the sixth of his famous Barsoom series. It was first published in the magazine Amazing Stories Annual vol. 1, July 15, 1927. The first book edition was published by A. C...
.
- Zuanthrol is the Minunian word for "giant" and the name given to Tarzan by his Veltopismakusian captors
Comic adaptations
The book has been adapted into comicTarzan (comics)
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.-Comic strips:...
form by Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
in Tarzan nos. 174-175, dated June-July 1969, with a script by Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois , or DuBois In his lifetime he wrote well over 3000 comic book stories and comic strips as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure...
and art by Russ Manning
Russ Manning
Russell Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars...
.
Copyright
The copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
for this story has expired in Australia, and thus now resides in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
there. The text is available via Project Gutenberg Australia
Project Gutenberg Australia
Project Gutenberg Australia, abbreviated as PGA, is an Internet site which was founded in 2001 by Colin Choat. The site hosts free ebooks or e-texts which are in the public domain in Australia. The ebooks have been prepared and submitted by volunteers...
.