TARZAN AND THE ANT
MEN
Review contributed by
Doc
Hermes ERB Reviews
From the February and March
1924 issues of ALL STORY (where it was serialized before being published
in hardcover), this is a pretty wild adventure with strong elements of
satire. People who have only a passing knowledge of Tarzan may think the
books are a simple series of fights with wild animals and African tribes,
but this book in particular shows a vivid imagination with a good use of
extrapolated detail that makes the improbable events more convincing. Along
with the three previous books, this is the phase of Burroughs` career where
I like his prose best. It`s still eloquent and expressive, but not as overly
wordy as the earliest books and not the sparse, brittle tone of the rest
of the series.
The major part of this story
is fine, a classic example of pulp adventure, but the two lengthy subplots
are a bit too much added weight and lessen the impact. First, there`s the
misadventures of Esteban Miranda, the crazy Spaniard who looks exactly
like Tarzan and who comes to be believe he IS Tarzan (carrying method acting
a bit too far). We first met Miranda in the previous book, TARZAN AND THE
GOLDEN LION, and here he`s still a prisoner of a cannibal tribe which is
unsure what to do with him. Miranda`s usefulness in this book seems to
be that (by showing up amnesiac at the Greystoke plantation and leading
even Korak and Jane to mistake him for the Apeman), he provides a bit of
suspense at the thought that family might be fooled and Jane might, well,
carry out her wifely duties. Also, when Tarzan himself turns up at the
cannibal village, the natives think he`s the rather ineffectual Miranda
and get quite a surprise when they try to capture him. The comic aspect
of this falls flat, and might better have been developed as a humorous
short story, with mistaken identity and slapstick. Here it just seems
like paddding.
Then there`s the lengthy
interludes with the Alulus, a strange society where the men are meek little
wimps who hide in the forest from the hulking, muscular women. This whole
concept, which could have been interesting, is handled so clumsily that
it gets the book off to a false start which probably discouraged many readers
from continuing. Just the idea that these people are so primitive that
they don`t have a spoken language, only simple gestures, is impossible
to believe in a series where the Great Apes carry on conversations with
human beings. Apparently this is Burrough`s reflection on what giving women
the vote will lead to, and it rings false from beginning to end.
To be fair, there is a huge
amount of fiction aimed for a female audience which features matriarchal
societies full of kind, loving, noble near saintly women, while the men
are all brutal hopeless thugs. From Wonder Woman to CLAN OF THE CARE BEAR
(err, CAVE BEAR) to all those 600 page fantasy paperbacks by authors like
Robert Jordan, they present a viewpoint just as skewed to their audiences.
So it`s not like Burroughs is unique in this.
But the bulk of the story,
and the best part, is the Apeman`s encounter with the Minuians, the Ant
Men of the title. These are eighteen inch tall Causians with an elaborate
warlike society, the original pygmies of myth and legend, not the tribes
of short African natives now associated with the name. The Minunians are
a terrific creation, their cities of hundred feet high stone `ant hills`
are described in great detail, and the working of their class conscious
society is explored. Just a few inches shorter than the smallest recorded
midgets, the Minunians are not so tiny as to be completely unbelievable
(as if, say, they were six inches high).
And there is nothing cute
or elfin about them. They are heroic warriors with a strong code of honor,
riding small antelope into battle, and Tarzan (and the reader) takes an
immediate liking to them). Any resemblance to GULLIVER`S TRAVELS is superficial
beyond the basic premise of a normal man interacting with warring cities
of tiny humans, Captured by Minunians of an enemy anthill in a vivid scene,
Tarzan is (surprisingly enough) shrunk down to their size by scientific
doubletalk and taken as a slave. Adding more tension is the nagging knowledge
that at some point he will abruptly regain his normal size.. not an appealing
thought if it happens while he`s in a small stone room.
Making the best of things,
Tarzan has a grand old time among the Minunians, befriending the Prince
Komodoflorensal who was captured with him. When he inevitably makes his
near hopeless escape attempt, the Apeman is determined to also bring with
them a slave girl who had been kind to them (anything to make it more difficult).
In a startling moment, Tarzan discovers that he has retained most of his
normal strength and is now capable of bending thick steel bars and leaping
effortlessly several times his own length. (Remind anyone of a certain
Virginian on Barsoom?) Unfortunately not much is made of his new superhuman
powers, and I wish Burroughs had cut back on the anti-feminist Alalus premise
to instead show some spectacular scenes of Tarzan leaping over the charging
army, strangling a wildcat as big proportionately as a lion, or fighting
with a club as large as his body. As it is, our hero is normally so overwheming
that he hardly seems any different here.
But underneath the classic
pulp adventure is a large dose of Burroughs` social criticism, as we find
the Minunians are suffering through their own Prohibition, and that the
king has been taxing wealthy people so heavily that they have to work harder
than ever just to stay afloat (being rich and famous was not all Burroughs
thought it would be. "...those who work hard and accumulate property have
only their labor for their effort, since the government takes all from
them in taxes.") As satire goes, it`s pretty blatant but not really overbearing,
and it provides an interesting counterpoint to the bitter remarks in GULLIVER`S
TRAVELS.
