Edgar Rice Burroughs

Born Sept. 1, 1875, in Chicago; died Mar. 19, 1950, in Encino, California. American writer.

Burroughs was born into a rich family. He was a cowboy, a prospector for gold, and a policeman. He wrote approximately 60 novels filled with improbable adventures. His widely known series of 23 novels about Tarzan—Tarzan (1914; Russian translation, 1922), The Return of Tarzan (1915; Russian translation, 1922), Tarzan the Untamed (1920), Tarzan the Magnificent (1939), and others—depict a young man who has grown up in the jungles of Africa among apes and who successfully surmounts all dangers. The plots of these novels have served as the basis for many American motion pictures. Burroughs also wrote the science fiction novels A Princess of Mars (1917; Russian translation, 1924), The Gods of Mars (1918; Russian translation, 1924), The Warlord of Mars (1919; Russian translation, 1924), The Synthetic Men of Mars (1940), The Pirates of Venus (1934), At the Earth’s Core (1922), and others.