TARZAN TRIUMPHANT - 1932
Written
Feb to May 1931
ERB's working title
Tarzan and the Raiders
First published
Blue Book magazine, Oct 1931 to Mar 1932
Magazine title
The Triumph of Tarzan
First hardcover edition
ERB Inc, Sep 1932
Book illustrator
Studley Burroughs
Filmed
No, Tarzan Triumphs (1943) has no connection
BACKGROUND
When ERB expressed a desire to enter the book publishing business he was advised against it by Joe Bray, the editor at McClurg, his longtime book publisher.  Bray advised that because of the Depression "The book business is flopping worse than ever."  Fortunately for Burroughs, the success of the first MGM Weissmuller film, Tarzan the Ape Man, had a pronounced ripple effect and increased the popularity of the character in the daily and Sunday newspaper strips, and propped up the sale of the Burroughs books.  In June 1932 ERB notified Bray that Tarzan the Invincible, generally considered a poor book, had made a profit.  Ed also notified Bray that he expected to make a profit on his next title, Tarzan Triumphant, which had already been serialised in Blue Book.  Fenton argues that the three principle characters of this work, Lafayette Smith, the young, handsome American hero, Jezebel, the pretty foreign girlfriend, and Leon Stabuch, the communist villain, replace Wayne Colt, Zora and Peter Zveri from Tarzan the Invincible and that the two works are "identical twins".  ERB certainly appeared to be having difficulty finding fresh material, as evidenced by the recurrence of motifs and devices such as the lost city, Tarzan look-alikes, and the hero's amnesia. (Taliaferro & Fenton)
PLOT
La was in trouble.  The high priestess of the Flaming God in the ancient city of Opar - forgotten outpost of Atlantis - had been betrayed by her people and locked in the eon-haunted dungeons until Tarzan came to rescue her.  La still loved Tarzan, but Tarzan had brought her to his people, and then left her.  Now, together with a strange woman of Tarzan's kind, she lay bound in the tent of an Arab slave-trader, dreading her certain fate.  Meanwhile, Tarzan was beset by a strange band of men who invaded his land... led by a madman bent on evil subversion! (1982 Ballantine paperback)
SOURCES
• Tarzan Forever by John Taliaferro, 1999, Simon & Schuster
• The Big Swingers by Robert W Fenton, 1967, Prentice-Hall
COVERS
• Edward Mortelmans' cover from 1961 Four Square Books paperback edition is from my personal collection
• Studley Burroughs cover from the dustjacket of the 1932 ERB Inc hardcover edition was pilfered from an eBay auction item
• Frank Frazetta/Roy G Kenkel cover from 1963 Ace paperback edition was pilfered from an eBay auction item
• Studley Burroughs cover Oct 1931 Blue Book magazine was pilfered from an eBay auction item
LYNX
• The full text of this novel is available on-line from Project Guttenburg's Tarzan Triumphant page
• Read a summary of this novel at Tangor's Tarzan Triumphant Summarized page
• Colourful paperback covers are at Nick Knowles' Tarzan Triumphant page
CAPTURE
• Bag yourself a copy of this novel at Amazon.com's Tarzan Triumphant page or try eBay
Tarzan© is the property of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Tarzana CA.
This independent, non-profit, fan-based analysis of the Tarzan material is copyright © 2002-2007 Paul Wickham
This page updated July 2006