Venus series
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The Venus Series by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a science fiction series consisting of four novels and one novelette. Most of the stories were first serialized in Argosy, an American pulp magazine. It is sometimes known as the Carson Napier of Venus Series, after their fictional main character, Carson Napier. The novels, part of the Sword and Planet subgenre of science fiction, follow earthman Napier's fantastic adventures after he crash-lands on Venus, called Amtor by its human-like inhabitants. Most of the events of the series take place on the island of Vepaja, the kingdom of Korva on the island of Anlap, and the city-states of Havatoo and Kormor on the tropical continent north of Vepaja.
As is common in Burroughs' works, the hero is bold and daring, and quickly wins the heart of the Vepajan princess (or janjong) Duare, though class prejudices long inhibit her from expressing her love. Napier meets many varied peoples, including the Vepajans, refugees from an overthrown empire; the Thorists, thinly disguised communists who ran the Vepajans out of what is now the Thoran empire; pirates; the super-scientific eugenicists of Havatoo; the zombies of Kormor; the fascistic Zanis of Korva; and the hideous Cloud People.
He is a pirate (twice), he escapes from the dread Room of the Seven Doors, and he is finally made a prince, or tanjong, of Korva after the overthrow of the Zanis. He also rescues princesses from incomparable dangers innumerable times.
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[edit] Amtorian geography
Amtor is a verdant world shielded from the heat of the sun by a (nearly) perpetual cloud cover. The portion depicted, largely confined to the southern hemisphere's temperate zone (or Trabol, as it is known to its inhabitants), is primarily oceanic, but includes two continents and a number of large islands.
The main continent is Thora, extending also far into the tropical zone of Strabol and the arctic zone of Karbol -– possibly as far as the south pole. Several smaller land masses projecting into Trabol from Karbol appear to be peninsular extensions of Thora; these include Bombaj, Ator, Rovlap, Vodaro, and Vaxlap. Interspersed among these are the great islands of Ganfal, Malpi, Donuk, Movis, Nor, Anlap, Vepaja, Trambol, and Zanbo. The unnamed second continent is a largely tropical landmass north of Vepaja and west of Thora.
Amtorian vegetation, particularly on Vepaja, tends to be gigantic. Vepaja is notable for the enormous forests Napier first encounters upon his arrival, with trees reaching into the inner cloud envelope. Elsewhere, the geography of Amtor is more varied, and he also travels through a dismal pine forest, grassland plains, glacial valleys, and several mountain ranges.
[edit] Amtorian culture
The human natives of Amtor are a generally inhospitable lot, often trying to murder Napier, kidnap his princess, or both. Their nations are rather loosely connected, partly because the geography is strewn with impassable mountains, impenetrable forests, and unnavigable seas (which Napier nevertheless passes, penetrates, and navigates), and partly because their maps are somewhat unusual. In spite of their relative isolation from each other, a worldwide language is current among all peoples. The level of culture runs the spectrum from savagery to advanced technology; some nations possess a longevity serum, atomic ray guns, and nuclear powered ships. Radio is unknown (the ships are reduced to communicating by flags), and there are no native aircraft; Napier designs and builds the first, based on Earth technology.
The other impediment to communication, Amtor's quirky cartography, stems from the inhabitants' bizarre cosmology, which at least in the southern hemisphere where Napier lands holds that the world is a flat disc floating on a burning sea, with a rim of ice and a center of fire. As the "rim" is actually the south pole, and the "center" the equator, Amtorians have an extraordinarily distorted view of their planet's surface, and their maps are warped accordingly. Due to the perpetual overcast, they have no celestial markers to correct their geographical mismeasurements, let alone on which to base the concepts of a solar system, other worlds, or the stars. The difference between the observed and theoretical versions of geography are reconciled by a pseudo-scientific "Theory of Relativity of Distance", which resolves the problem by multiplying by the square root of minus one. Napier finds it difficult to counter this rationale, noting that "You cannot argue with a man who can multiply by the square root of minus one." Such wry digs are typical of the series.
Other highlights include:
- (Napier is asked to build an aeroplane, and replies that it may take some time)
- "You have two or three hundred years, and the resources of a race of scientists. Materials we do not now possess we can create; nothing is impossible to Science."
- "Chand Kabi...taught me many things that are not in the curriculum for boys under ten" (referring to telepathy).
[edit] The novels
- Pirates of Venus (1934)
- Lost on Venus (1935)
- Carson of Venus (1939)
- Escape on Venus (1946)
- Wizard of Venus (1964)
[edit] Controversy
Pirates of Venus includes a controversial passage which in the opinion of some expresses sympathy for the Ku Klux Klan, this should not surprise anyone with even a passing superficial knowledge of history and costume of the early 1900s in the united states. The Ku Klux Klan was then seen as a beneficial organization of brave individuals, as pictured in Griffith's movie Birth of a Nation and glorified by people like the u.s. president Woodrow Wilson. [1]
[edit] External links
Works of Edgar Rice Burroughs | |
|---|---|
| Tarzan novels | Tarzan of the Apes (1912) • The Return of Tarzan (1913) • The Beasts of Tarzan (1914) • The Son of Tarzan (1915) • Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916) • Tarzan the Terrible (1921) • Tarzan and the Golden Lion (1922/23) • Tarzan and the Ant Men (1924) • Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1927/28) • Tarzan and the Lost Empire (1928/29) • Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929/30) • Tarzan the Invincible (1930/31) • Tarzan Triumphant (1931/32) • Tarzan and the City of Gold (1932) • Tarzan and the Lion Man (1933/34) • Tarzan and the Leopard Men (1932/33) • Tarzan's Quest (1935/36) • Tarzan and the Forbidden City (1938) • Tarzan and the Foreign Legion (1947) • Tarzan and the Madman (1964) • Tarzan and the Castaways (1941) • Tarzan: the Lost Adventure (1995) |
| Tarzan collections | Jungle Tales of Tarzan (1919) • Tarzan the Untamed (1920) • Tarzan the Magnificent (1939) • Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins (1963) • Tarzan and the Castaways (1965) |
| Tarzan short stories | Tarzan's First Love (1916) • The Capture of Tarzan (1916) • The Fight for the Balu (1916) • The God of Tarzan (1916) • Tarzan and the Black Boy (1917) • The Witch-Doctor Seeks Vengeance (1917) • The End of Bukawai (1917) • The Lion (1917) • The Nightmare (1917) • The Battle for Teeka (1917) • A Jungle Joke (1917) • Tarzan Rescues the Moon (1917) • Tarzan the Untamed (1919) • Tarzan and the Valley of Luna (1920) • The Tarzan Twins (1927) • Tarzan and the Tarzan Twins with Jad-Bal-Ja the Golden Lion (1936) • Tarzan and the Magic Men (1936) • Tarzan and the Elephant Men (1937/38) • Tarzan and the Champion (1940) • Tarzan and the Jungle Murders (1940) |
| Other jungle adventure | The Cave Girl (1925) • The Eternal Lover (1925) • Jungle Girl (1932) • The Man Eater (1935) • The Lad and the Lion (1938) |
| Martian series | A Princess of Mars (1917) • The Gods of Mars (1918) • The Warlord of Mars (1919) • Thuvia, Maid of Mars (1920) • The Chessmen of Mars (1922) • The Master Mind of Mars (1928) • A Fighting Man of Mars (1931) • Swords of Mars (1936) • Synthetic Men of Mars (1940) • Llana of Gathol (1948) • John Carter of Mars (1964) |
| Pellucidar series | At the Earth's Core (1914) • Pellucidar (1915) • Tanar of Pellucidar (1929) • Tarzan at the Earth's Core (1929) • Back to the Stone Age (1937) • Land of Terror (1944) • Savage Pellucidar (1963) |
| Venus series | Pirates of Venus (1934) • Lost on Venus (1935) • Carson of Venus (1939) • Escape on Venus (1946) • Wizard of Venus (1964) |
| Other science fiction | Beyond Thirty (1916) • The Land That Time Forgot (1918) • The People That Time Forgot (1918) • Out of Time’s Abyss (1918) • The Moon Maid (1926) • The Monster Men (1929) • The Resurrection of Jimber-Jaw (1937) • Beyond the Farthest Star (1941) |
| Westerns | The Bandit of Hell's Bend (1926) • The War Chief (1927) • Apache Devil (1933) • The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (1940) |
| Historical novels | The Outlaw of Torn (1914/1927) • I Am a Barbarian (1967) |
| Other works | The Mucker (1914/16) • The Girl from Farris's (1916) • The Oakdale Affair (1917) • The Efficiency Expert (1921) • The Girl from Hollywood (1923) • The Mad King (1926) • The Rider (1937) • Pirate Blood (1970) • Minidoka: 937th Earl of One Mile Series M (1998) • Marcia of the Doorstep (1999) • You Lucky Girl! (1999) • Forgotten Tales of Love and Murder (2001) |
