Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs (Bison Frontiers of Imagination)

In answer to jean claude suares, I think that when this book first came out , there was very little perception of Burroughs as anything other than a pulp writer whose work inspired all those trashy movies. So it brought something new to the table, in your phrase, all those years ago. I think it stands up well on its own terms. I think you're asking for a different book - one I'd like to see - along the lines of 'The Burroughs Vault', The Ultimate Guide to Burroughs' or some such. Someone did, or was going to do (might even have been Lupoff) a companion to a volume called 'The Fantastic Worlds of Robert E Howard' with similar essays about ERB's writing. I have two disagreements with Lupoff - one frivolous, one slightly less so. I read 'Synthetic Men of Mars' (which he calls 'a thoroughly bad book') when I was a teenager, and, yes, it's kind of trashy, but I loved it. I also have to disagree with him when he says that out of Superman, Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan, the latter has the best chance of lasting forever. Superman, he says, is irredeemably branded as 'kids' stuff' and therefore won't last. Superman is now read mainly by adults, while it seems to me that if anything, it's Tarzan that's now considered kids' stuff, thanks to Walt Disney. Similarly, he says that Holmes is irretrievably connected to the Victorian era and will eventually become dated. The roaring international success of the BBC Sherlock belies that; in fact it's Tarzan who seems to resist modernization. Attempts have been made, Robin Maxwell's 'Jane' for example, but they haven't been successful enough to alter public perception of the character.But by and large this is well written and perceptive and should by read by ERB fans, and by anyone interested in the history of SF or adventure fiction.

Couldn't put it down. Loved his assessment of ERB. I agree with his critical review of Burroughs works accept in one place. I don't know why he doesn't like Synthetic Men of Mars. I thought it was just as good (actually one of my personal favorites) as the rest of the series. Lupoff says there's little to recommend it. I disagree. Other than that an outstanding effort.

This is a book I read in an earlier version nearly forty years ago. Then it was a splendid introduction to the sheer variety of Burroughs' work as it covers not only familiar books such as those concerning Tarzan and John Carter of Mars but such esoterica as Beyond Thirty and The Girl from Hollywood. It is less interesting now that I have read many of the works that intrigued me, and I am content that I am not interested in reading many of his more obscure works.Lupoff holds to his promise of taking a middle position between the snobs who dismiss Burroughs' work as trash and overenthusiastic fans who treat his work as important literature. Especially in his later chapters he devotes a good deal of attention to matters such as how original magazine and later book editions of stories compare, matters that will be of interest primarily to serious librarians, literary historians and the like.On the whole this is a well-written and admirably researched survey of Burroughs work which will be of the greatest interest to people who are just beginning to read Burroughs' work, or who are devoted scholars. For people who read Burroughs now and again it is likely to be of less interest, though it does give honest appraisals of whole series of books one may not have tried as yet and of relatively lesser known stand-alone books.On the whole books of criticism Lupoff has edited rather than written entire such as All in Color for a Dime are much more entertaining, provided one is interested in their subject matter: comic books, comic strips and pulps in general.

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Edgar Rice Burroughs, one of my favorite authors.

Thoroughly enjoying rereading this book, with its updates from the edition I originally read.

A wonderful descriptive book about all of ERB's works. Strongly recommend Mr. Luppoff's book for anyone who is familiar with his works and for those who are not.

Since this book came out in 1965, Richard Lupoff has become known as one of the most important ERB scholars there are. Here, he provides good detail about the Master of Adventure's many stories and some excellent critical analysis and synopsis. Unfortunately, despite Lupoff's enthusiasm for Burroughs, the occasional error creeps in and he advocates too much for Edwin Arnold's Gullivar of Mars having inspired Barsoom. Philip Burger's essay at the end is phenomenal, and the rest of the book's production value is commendable. Recommended for anyone wanting to get a good grasp of the Master's writing.

Although factual and fairly well researched, the book brings little to the party. There's a bare minimum of graphics which is too bad when you think of the enormous output from movies to syndicated comic strips, let alone the books about Tarzan.

Libro scritto da un fan ma non solo per fans..una analisi dei mondi creati da Burroghs , le loro unicità e le loro fonti ispirative e anche la grande influenza che ha avuto questo autore sulla syfy e sul fumetto supereroistico..certo alcuni assunti si prestano a contraddittorio ma ogni argomento portato è documentato , non sono solo pareri da fan sfegatato..se conoscete l'inglese è volete ampliare la vostra conoscenza della syfy è un ottimo acquisto