LH-

Thanks for initiating a thread which deals with cultural issues associated with Edgar Rice Burroughs's fantasies. I remember well how our crew aboard the Stout Heart used to while away the dog-watches taking turns reading such stories. The challenge was to "creatively read" the stories, to see how far you could stray before someone realized you were making it up. There were severe penalties for those who challenged you only to find out that you were literally sticking to the arcane text.

But with regard to the matter at hand, so to speak, there was no literal sex between any of the characters, great ape or otherwise.

One would think by the time Tarzan got to Mars, something more sexy (other than the book cover) would be happening but it was all a big let down.

Now there was racism and ethnocentrism galore in Burroughs's stories, but who would be interested in a discussion of that?

Charley Noble