My trip to Barsoom
Filed under Reviews on September 21, 2009
Tagged: A Princess of Mars, Barsoom, Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter
I owe a large part of my love for fantasy fiction to my parents’ bookshelves, upon which were stacked the works of Brooks, Eddings, Lewis, McCaffrey, Tolkien, and others. There was a mix of science fiction as well, but I shied away from the likes of Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. (I did read Chalker’s Rings of the Masters series). Perhaps that is why I never got around to reading my father’s collection of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom series. While the Frazetta covers certainly drew my eye, the “Mars” in the titles meant “science fiction” to my youthful mind, and I preferred spending my time with elves, dragons, magic swords, and wizards at that point in my life.
A series of posts on pulp fantasy at an RPG blog I follow, along with a John Carter of Mars film in production, brought the classic sword-and-planet series back to mind. My father’s collection disappeared during the years since I moved out, so I turned to the public library for a copy of A Princess of Mars.
I was at once struck by the archaic and stilted grammatical structure of the prose. It took some getting used to, even with the knowledge that the narrator is a Virginia gentleman from the post-Civil War era. A Princess of Mars is told in first person as a written account of John Carter’s adventure, except for the introduction, wherein Burroughs sets himself up as the nephew of Carter, assigned the responsibility of building Carter’s tomb to the proscribed specifications left by Carter’s will, and safekeeping the manuscript of Carter’s story until he had permission to release it.
Like most of its contemporaries in the genre, the story handwaves the fantastical and focuses on the adventure. I say “adventure” rather than “action” because many of the fight scenes are summarized. You won’t be reading detailed depictions of swordplay or long, involved chase scenes across the landscape of Barsoom (the natives’ name for Mars).
It’s characters are also basic archetypes: the noble savage Tars Tarkas, the damsel-in-distress (Dejah Thoris, the titular Princess of Mars), the well-meaning-but-ineffective sidekick (Kantos Kan), the faithful dog/companion Woola. John Carter himself is something of a Marty Stu, finding allies at just the right moment in unlikely circumstances or settings. He is stronger and more agile than native Martians by virtue of the lesser atmospheric pressure on Mars compared to earth. And Martians have an incredible healing unguent that can revive one from even the most mortal of wounds, if applied swiftly enough. Conflict typically comes from the peril faced by John Carter’s friends and allies as opposed to himself, and was often resolved through a deus ex machina.
For all that, I still enjoyed John Carter’s struggles to overcome the obstacles in his path. That he would overcome was rarely in doubt, but how he did provided good entertainment. Burroughs imagining of the culture on a dying planet has depth and richness that drew me in. The stories are perfect for passing time on the commuter rail, and the ending of A Princess for Mars generated sympathy for John Carter within me.
September 25th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I, too, enjoyed passing the time with the Warlord of Mars. I read these books in my teens, so I was wondering how they might hold up some 20 years later, now that I’m entering my dotage.
Glad to read your blog and how you enjoyed A Princess for Mars. Like your father’s collection, my books have long since disappeared, along with all of Burrough’s Tarzans (also with Frazetta covers!), unfortunately. So there’s a John Carter movie coming out? That’s excellent. I wonder when we’ll see it. Guess I’ll post this and follow that handy link you provided.
.-= J.M. Martin´s last blog ..Book Review: The Satan Factory by Tom Sniegoski =-.
September 25th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Oh, cool. They’re filming now, and it stars the guy who played Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Nice. But, dude, filming is supposed to wrap July, 2010, yet release date isn’t until 2012? I’m sure it will be effects-laden, but that’s, what, two years-ish of post-production? WTH?
.-= J.M. Martin´s last blog ..Book Review: The Satan Factory by Tom Sniegoski =-.