Misplaced Pages

#520479

107-434: It is only your brain that makes you superior to the banth , but your brain is bound by the limitations of your body. Not so, ours. With us brain is everything. Ninety per centum of our volume is brain. We have only the simplest of vital organs and they are very small for they do not have to assist in the support of a complicated system of nerves, muscles, flesh and bone. We have no lungs, for we do not require air. Far below

214-545: A Space Shuttle named John Carter . The ninth book in the Diane Duane Young Wizards series was entitled A Wizard of Mars (2010), in reference to the book. Burroughs' Barsoom series was popular with American readers, helping inspire their support for the US Space Program , and also scientists who grew up on reading the novels. These include pioneers of space exploration research and

321-659: A "treasure" consisting of pretty stones, sea shells , etc. In addition to the naturally occurring races of Barsoom, Burroughs described the Hormads, artificial men created by the scientist Ras Thavas as slaves, workers, warriors, etc. in giant vats at his laboratory in the Toonolian Marsh in Synthetic Men of Mars and "John Carter and the Giant of Mars". Although the Hormads were generally recognizable as humanoid,

428-579: A Red Martian but lacking a head; when the Kaldane places itself upon the shoulders of the Rykor, a bundle of tentacles connects with the Rykor's spinal cord , allowing the brain of the Kaldane to control its motor nerves and sensory nerves . Should the Rykor become damaged or die, the Kaldane climbs upon another. Immediately I control every muscle of the rykor's body—it becomes my own, just as you direct

535-674: A code of honor and have a strong sense of fairness. Their culture is governed by law and is technologically advanced. They are capable of love and have families. The Green Martians are 15 feet (4.6 m) tall (males) and 12 feet (3.7 m) tall (females), have two arms, two legs and two intermediary limbs that can be used as either arms or legs at will. Their eyes are mounted at the side of their heads and can move independently of each other in order to see in two directions at once. They are nomadic, warlike and barbaric, do not form families, have little concept of friendship or love and enjoy inflicting torture upon their victims. Their social structure

642-470: A defined plot. It is also a captivity narrative , involving a civilized hero being captured by an uncivilized culture and being forced to adapt to the primitive nature of the captors to survive. As is the case with the majority of the Barsoom novels to follow, it portrays a hero facing impossible odds and forced to fight a range of lurid creatures in order to win the love of the heroine. Burroughs' Barsoom

749-741: A dying Mars. Burroughs' Barsoom novels have also been cited as a model for H. P. Lovecraft 's The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath . Frederik Pohl paid homage to the novel in his short story "Sad Solarian Screenwriter Sam" (1972), although it is a backhanded compliment: the story so offends the actual Martians, they obliterate the Earth (as the Martians attempt to do in The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells ). Others influenced by Burroughs and his John Carter books include James Cameron , who mentioned

856-471: A high position in the tribe and earns the respect and eventually the friendship of Tars Tarkas , one of the Thark chieftans. The Tharks subsequently capture Dejah Thoris , Princess of Helium, a member of the humanoid red Martian race. The red Martians inhabit a loose network of city-states and control the desert planet's canals , along which its agriculture is concentrated. Carter rescues Dejah Thoris from

963-553: A keen sense of fairness. Their culture is lawful and technologically advanced, and they are capable of love and family life. The chief crime in their cities is assassination . The Green Martians are 15 feet (4.6 m) tall, Burroughs wrote, adding from John Carter's observation of newly hatched children, They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at

1070-411: A kind of mythic figure, capable of achievements that no Barsoomian could manage. The Red Martians have created the dominant culture on Barsoom . They are organized into imperial city-states that control the planetary canal system, as well as more isolated states in the hinterlands. The Red Martians are hybrids of the ancient Yellow Martians, White Martians , and Black Martians, who joined forces when

1177-402: A large section of the novel. He was apprehensive about revealing what he was working on, and told only his wife that he was doing so. He still hoped to find business success, and thought the tale to be indicative of a childish nature, and so outlandish that potential business contacts would think him ungrounded if they discovered what he was working on. At this point he had already decided to adopt

SECTION 10

#1732779960521

1284-515: A later Martian novel, Llana of Gathol ; they are described as having become weak and degenerate through their dependence on the trappings and comforts of civilization. Race is a constant theme in the Barsoom novels, as Barsoom is distinctly divided along racial lines. White, Yellow, Black, Red, and Green races appear in various novels of the series, each with ethnic qualities that often define their individual representatives. Although John Carter

1391-423: A new king; but there would be no difference. His name would be Luud and all would go on as before, for are we not all alike? Luud has lived a long time and has produced many kings, so he lets only a few live that there may be a successor to him when he dies. The others he kills. The Kaldanes are also imbued with conscious race memory , obtained through selective breeding. They are carnivorous, and sometimes feed upon

1498-432: A number of elements with westerns in that they feature desert landscapes, women taken captive and a final confrontation with the antagonist. Burroughs' Barsoom stories are considered seminal planetary romances. While examples existed prior to the publication of his works, they are the principal influence on the many works of this type that followed. His style of planetary romance has ceased to be written and published in

1605-506: A sacred cave, he is mysteriously transported to Mars , called " Barsoom " by its inhabitants. Carter finds that he has great strength and superhuman agility in this new environment as a result of its lesser gravity and lower atmospheric pressure. He soon falls in with the Tharks, a nomadic tribe of Green Martians, as the planet's warlike, six-limbed, green-skinned inhabitants are known. Thanks to his strength and martial prowess, Carter rises to

1712-596: A savage, frontier world with scarce resources, where strength is respected, and where the civilized Red Martians maintain their racial vigor by repelling the constant attacks of the Green Martians. The barbaric and tribal Green Martians are depicted similarly to how Native Americans were stereotyped in Westerns. A nostalgic desire to return to the frontier became a common theme in the United States during

1819-618: A seafaring race, but when the oceans began to dry up they began to cooperate with the Yellow and Black Martians to breed the Red Martians, foreseeing the need for hardy stock to cope with the emerging harsher environment. They became decadent and 'overcivilized'. At the beginning of the series they are believed to be extinct, but three remaining populations - the Orovars, Therns and Lotharians – are still living in secret and are discovered as

1926-533: A showdown with the antagonist. Burroughs worked as a soldier at Fort Grant, Arizona , where he patrolled the desert to protect white settlers. During this time he gained a great respect for American Indians and their warriors, such as Geronimo . Barsoom resembles a kind of Martian Wild West . Indeed, John Carter is an adventuring frontiersman who is cornered by Apache warriors in the Arizona desert before his transition to Mars . When he arrives there, he discovers

2033-405: A story. Because he liked and was familiar with The All-Story magazine, he submitted 43,000 words to the editor under the title "Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess". His cover letter explained that he thought he could produce another two parts of similar length. The Managing Editor of the magazine, Thomas Newell Metcalf, wrote back on August 24, 1911, to offer some criticisms of the pacing and focus of

2140-446: A wealth of unusual experiences from working in a variety of jobs which had brought him into contact with miners, soldiers, cowboys, and Native Americans . While writing A Princess of Mars , Burroughs initiated what soon became a regular writing tool: maintaining worksheets relating to the piece he was completing. The sheets included start and end dates of writing, titles of chapters, and characters. By August 11, 1911, he had completed

2247-501: A worldwide system of canals , controlled by quarreling city-states at the junctures thereof. The idea of Martian "canals" stems from telescopic observations by 19th century astronomers who, beginning with Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877, believed they saw networks of lines on the planet. Schiaparelli called them canali , meaning "channels" but mistranslated in English as "canals". During the time Burroughs wrote his first Barsoom stories,

SECTION 20

#1732779960521

2354-510: A worldwide system of canals , controlled by quarreling city-states. The thinning Martian atmosphere is artificially replenished by an "atmosphere plant" on which all life on the planet depends. The days are warm and the nights are cold, and climate varies little across the planet, except at the poles. In 1895 Percival Lowell published a book entitled Mars which speculated about an arid, dying landscape, whose inhabitants had been forced to build canals thousands of miles long to bring water from

2461-466: Is 24 hours and 37 minutes long. (Burroughs presumably derived this from the figures published by Lowell, but erroneously substituted the number of 24-hour Earth days in the Martian year, rather than the number of 24.6-hour Martian days , which is only 669.) The days are hot (again known to be false) and the nights are cold, and there appears to be little variation in climate across the planet except at

2568-426: Is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs , the first of his Barsoom series. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine All-Story Magazine from February–July, 1912. Full of swordplay and daring feats, the novel is considered a classic example of 20th-century pulp fiction . It is also a seminal instance of the planetary romance , a subgenre of science fantasy that became highly popular in

2675-663: Is able to befriend the Green Martian Tars Tarkas , who shows noble qualities, Tarkas is called an exception to the rule, and remains a noble savage . John Carter himself is white-skinned, so that Barsoomians sometimes identify him with their own surviving White race, known as the Holy Therns; for example, Carter successfully impersonates a Thern named Sator Throg in The Gods of Mars . Carter's unusual appearance and un-Barsoomian strength and agility make him

2782-567: Is also introduced as a minor character in The Gods of Mars , as is Thuvia. Three other books focus on their descendants: Carthoris, in Thuvia, Maid of Mars , his sister, Tara of Helium, in The Chessmen of Mars , and Tara's daughter, Llana of Gathol, in Llana of Gathol . Ulysses Paxton , another Earth man transported to Mars, is the focus of The Master Mind of Mars , and the rest of

2889-427: Is also morally unambiguous; there is no sense of moral relativity and characters are either good or evil. The tale portrays a hero with a sense of honor transcending race and politics. Compassion, loyalty and bravery are celebrated, and callousness, deception, and cowardice are frowned upon. The novel's vision of Mars was inspired by astronomical speculations of the time, especially those of Percival Lowell , who saw

2996-407: Is an unusual exception from the typical ruthless Green Martian, due to having known the love of his own mate and daughter. In the novels, the Green Martians are often referred to by the names of their hordes, which in turn take their names from the abandoned cities they inhabit. Thus the followers of Tars Tarkas, based in the ruined ancient city of Thark, are known as " Tharks ". Other hordes bear

3103-574: Is composed of the Martian name for planet, "soom", and the Martian word for eight, "bar". This reflects counting Mars as the eighth body in the inner solar system, by counting not just planets, but the Sun and the satellites of Earth and of Mars. A Princess of Mars , the first novel in the Barsoom series, with its sequels The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars , form a trilogy centered upon protagonist John Carter and damsel in distress Dejah Thoris . John Carter's and Dejah Thoris's son Carthoris

3210-620: Is composed of two novellas. Most are first-person narratives. John Carter narrates A Princess of Mars , The Gods of Mars , The Warlord of Mars , Swords of Mars , the four novellas in Llana of Gathol , and "Skeleton Men of Jupiter" in John Carter of Mars . Ulysses Paxton narrates one, The Master Mind of Mars . Martian guardsman Vor Daj narrates Synthetic Men of Mars , and Martian navy officer Tan Hadron narrates A Fighting Man of Mars . Two other novels, Thuvia, Maid of Mars and The Chessmen of Mars , are written in

3317-481: Is described as Burroughs' great-uncle. Collectively, this series of novels has been referred to as the Martian Series . Burroughs frequently invented words of the languages spoken by the people in his novels, and used these extensively in the narrative. In Thuvia, Maid of Mars he included a glossary of Barsoomian words used in the first four novels. The word "Barsoom", the native Martian word for Mars,

Kaldane - Misplaced Pages Continue

3424-426: Is highly communal and rigidly hierarchical, consisting of various levels of chiefs, with the highest office of Jeddak obtained by mortal combat. The Green Men are primitive, intellectually unadvanced, do not have any kind of art and are without a written language. While they manufacture edged weapons, any advanced technology they possess, such as 'radium pistols', is stolen from raids upon the Red Martians. They inhabit

3531-401: Is mysteriously transported from Earth to the dying world of Mars where he meets and romances the beautiful Martian princess Dejah Thoris . Ten sequels followed over the next three decades, further extending his vision of Barsoom and adding other characters. The Barsoom series, particularly the first novel, is considered a major influence on early science fiction . Burroughs began writing

3638-610: Is no such thing. They frequently raid the White Martian Therns, who maintain the false Martian religion, carrying off people as slaves. John Carter defeats their navy in The Gods of Mars . The Chessmen of Mars introduces the Kaldanes of the region Bantoom , whose form is almost all head but for six spiderlike legs and a pair of chelae , and whose racial goal is to evolve even further towards pure intellect and away from bodily existence. In order to function in

3745-489: Is possible, as Richard A. Lupoff argues in the book Master of Adventure: The Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs , that Burroughs took some inspiration from the 1905 novel Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation , by Edwin Lester Arnold , which also featured an American military man transported to Mars. Lupoff also suggested John Carter has strong similarities to Phra, hero of Arnold's The Wonderful Adventures of Phra

3852-513: Is the "directional compass"; this may be believed to be the precursor to the now-common " global positioning system ", or GPS for short. The Red Martians have flying machines, both civilian transports and fleets of heavily armed war craft. These stay aloft through some form of anti-gravity , which Burroughs explains as relating to the rays of the Sun. Fliers travel at approximately 166.1 miles per hour (267.3 km/h) (450 Martian Haads per hour). A Princess of Mars A Princess of Mars

3959-408: Is the all-powerful Jeddak, who reaches this position through combat. They are tribal, and war among one another. They are primitive, intellectually backwards, and have no art or written language. Any advanced technology they possess is stolen from the Red Martians. They inhabit the ancient ruined cities of Barsoom. The copyright for this story has expired in the United States and, thus, resides in

4066-580: Is the right thing to do. Qualities of compassion, loyalty, and bravery are celebrated, while callousness, deception, and cowardice are deprecated. Typically the novels include descriptions of aspects of the Martian world such as the architecture, and the presence of desolate landscapes punctuated by abandoned cities, technological achievements, advanced medicine, cultural elements such as religious practices and eating habits, breeding practices, and methods of population control. Many lost cities and civilizations and journeys into forgotten underworlds appear across

4173-580: The public domain there. The text is available from Project Gutenberg and Wikisource. In anticipation of the 2012 Disney film John Carter , Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. trademarked the phrases "John Carter of Mars", "Princess of Mars", and "Barsoom", among others, despite the Dastar decision of the United States Supreme Court, which invalidates trademark on public domain works. Except for Guatemala, Honduras, Samoa, Saint Vincent and

4280-565: The third person , as is "John Carter and the Giant of Mars" in John Carter of Mars . Beginning with A Princess of Mars , Burroughs established a practice which continued in the four sequels of introducing the novel as if a factual account passed on to him personally, wherein John Carter appears as an avuncular figure known to his family for years. The same device appears in several sequels: The Gods of Mars ; The Chessmen of Mars ; Swords of Mars ; and Llana of Gathol . All

4387-875: The Barsoom books in the second half of 1911 and produced one volume a year between 1911 and 1914; seven more were produced between 1921 and 1941. The first Barsoom tale was serialized in The All-Story magazine as Under the Moons of Mars (1911), and then published in hardcover as the complete novel A Princess of Mars (1917). The final Barsoom tale was a novella, Skeleton Men of Jupiter , published in Amazing Stories in February 1943. The novel editions of A Princess of Mars , The Gods of Mars and Llana of Gathol contain newly written forewords describing Edgar Rice Burroughs' interactions with John Carter, who

Kaldane - Misplaced Pages Continue

4494-620: The Barsoom series in the second Samurai Cat book. The novels based on the TSR Buck Rogers RPG has a military academy on Mars called the John Carter Academy, which one of the characters in the franchise attends. The Lin Carter Callisto stories are in part an homage to John Carter. A Princess of Mars has many similarities to Westerns , including a desert setting, a heroine taken captive, and

4601-425: The Barsoom tales were published under the name of Edgar Rice Burroughs, except Under the Moons of Mars , the first publication of A Princess of Mars , which was published under the pseudonym "Norman Bean". Burroughs had actually typed "Normal Bean" (meaning not insane ) on his submitted manuscript; but his publisher's typesetter changed it to "Norman". The first novella in John Carter of Mars , "John Carter and

4708-606: The Black Men of Mars in an analogous deception to that the Therns practice on other Martians. They are also the repeated target of raids by the Black Martians to capture their females as slaves. They are white-skinned (of a skin tone close enough to human Caucasians that John Carter was able to easily pose as one) and the males are bald but wear blond wigs. Legend suggests that the Black Martians are inhabitants of one of

4815-597: The Giant of Mars", is thought to have been penned by Burroughs' son John "Jack" Coleman Burroughs, although allegedly revised by his father. It was recognized by fans, upon publication, as unlikely of being Burroughs' work, as the writing is of a juvenile quality compared with that of Burroughs' other stories. The stories are science fantasy , belonging to the subgenre planetary romance , which has strong elements of both science fiction and fantasy . Planetary romance stories are similar to sword and sorcery tales, but include scientific aspects. They mostly take place on

4922-473: The Green Martians are much taller, have four arms, tusks, and antennae like ears. The traditional Martian lifespan of 1,000 is based on the customary pilgrimage down the River Iss, which is taken by virtually all Martians by that age, or those who feel tired of their long lives and expect to find a paradise at the end of their journey. None return from this pilgrimage, because it leads to almost certain death at

5029-523: The Kaldane merely climbs upon another as an earthling might change a horse. A lesser people of Barsoom are the Kangaroo Men of Gooli, so called due to their large, kangaroo -like tails, ability to hop large distances and the rearing of their eggs in pouches. They are presented as a race of boastful, cowardly individuals. Their moral character is not highly developed; they are devout cowards and petty thieves, who value (aside from their lives) only

5136-480: The Kaldanes do not breed except for their "king": He produces many eggs from which we, the workers and the warriors, are hatched; and one in every thousand eggs is another king egg, from which a king is hatched. Did you notice the sealed openings in the room where you saw Luud? Sealed in each of those is another king. If one of them escaped he would fall upon Luud and try to kill him and if he succeeded we should have

5243-483: The Phoenician (1890), who is also a master swordsman who appears to be immortal. This book and its series are noted as early inspirations for many later science fiction authors, including Robert A. Heinlein , Arthur C. Clarke , and Ray Bradbury . Bradbury admired Burroughs' stimulating romantic tales, and they were an inspiration for his The Martian Chronicles (1950), which used some similar conceptions of

5350-527: The Rykors. Ghek had never seen an ulsio, since these great Martian rats had long ago disappeared from Bantoom, their flesh and blood having been greatly relished by the kaldanes; but Ghek had inherited, almost unimpaired, every memory of every ancestor, and so he knew that ulsio inhabited these lairs and that ulsio was good to eat, and he knew what ulsio looked like and what his habits were, though he had never seen him nor any picture of him. As we breed animals for

5457-512: The Tarids in Swords of Mars . While Burroughs' Barsoom tales never aspired to anything other than escapism , his vision of Mars was loosely inspired by astronomical speculation of the time, especially that of Percival Lowell , that saw the planet as a formerly Earthlike world now becoming less hospitable to life due to its advanced age. Living on an aging planet, with dwindling resources,

SECTION 50

#1732779960521

5564-496: The Therns to cannibalize, only excepting those whom the directing Therns choose instead to enslave. They consider themselves a unique creation, different from other Martians. They maintain the Martian religion through a network of collaborators and spies across the planet. When they reach the age of 1000 years they make a pilgrimage to the Temple of Issus, unaware that they have been manipulated into doing so in order to be slaughtered by

5671-504: The Tunnel Crabs. Banth Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs . The first Barsoom tale was serialized as Under the Moons of Mars in pulp magazine The All-Story from February to July 1912 and published compiled as a novel as A Princess of Mars in 1917. It features John Carter , a late-19th-century American Confederate veteran who

5778-407: The ancient ruined cities left behind by civilizations which lived on Barsoom during a more advanced and hospitable era in the planet's history. They apparently arose from a biological experiment which went awry and as with all other Martians, they are an egg-laying species, concealing their eggs in incubators until hatching. Tars Tarkas , who befriends John Carter when he first arrives on Barsoom,

5885-412: The antagonist. Burroughs employs a literary device for A Princess of Mars to which he returned in several sequels—introducing the novel as though it were a factual account passed on to him personally. In this case he frames John Carter as an avuncular figure known to his family who has given him the manuscript earlier, and instructed him not to publish it for 21 years. Burroughs used the same device in

5992-470: The books focus on John Carter's later adventures ( Swords of Mars and John Carter of Mars ), or on native Martian characters ( A Fighting Man of Mars and Synthetic Men of Mars ). Most of the Barsoom books are novels, but two are collections of shorter works: Llana of Gathol has four linked novelettes, originally published in Amazing Stories during 1941, and John Carter of Mars

6099-411: The books progress. The Lotharians are a remnant population of the original White Martians, which appear only in Thuvia, Maid of Mars . There are only 1000 of them remaining, all of them male. They are skilled in telepathy, able to project images that can kill, or provide sustenance. They live a reclusive existence in a remote area of Barsoom, debating philosophy amongst themselves. Descendants of

6206-438: The center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears. There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color.... They are nomadic, warlike, and barbaric; do not form families; have discarded concepts of friendship and affection (presumably in the name of survival); and enjoy torture. Their social structure is communal and rigidly hierarchical, with various levels of chiefs. The highest rank

6313-400: The closely related genre sword and planet , which consists of what are essentially sword and sorcery stories that take place on another planet. A Princess of Mars is widely considered to be the archetypal novel of the sword and planet genre. The novel also shares a number of elements of Westerns , such as desert settings, women taken captive, and a climactic life-or-death confrontation with

6420-457: The cultures are dynasties or theocracies. The Red Martians are the dominant culture on Barsoom. They are organized into a system of imperial city-states including Helium, Ptarth, and Zodanga, controlling the planetary canal system, as well as other more-isolated city-states in the hinterlands. The Red Martians are the interbred descendants of the ancient Yellow Martians, White Martians and Black Martians, remnants of which exist in isolated areas of

6527-600: The decades following its publication. Its early chapters also contain elements of the Western . The story is set on Mars , imagined as a dying planet with a harsh desert environment. This vision of Mars was based on the work of the astronomer Percival Lowell , whose ideas were widely popularized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Barsoom series inspired a number of well-known 20th-century science fiction writers, including Jack Vance , Ray Bradbury , Arthur C. Clarke , Robert A. Heinlein , and John Norman . The series

SECTION 60

#1732779960521

6634-489: The early twentieth century. In the Disney movie John Carter, Bryan Cranston portrays a U.S. Cavalry Major who tries to convince John Carter to fight American Indians. As the nation become more urbanized, the 19th-century frontier was romanticized as a lost world of freedom and noble savagery. Similar ideas may be reflected in the fate of the ancient white race of Mars, which is mentioned in A Princess of Mars and reintroduced in

6741-578: The entire planet, but a variety of writing systems. All Martians are telepathic among one another, and also with domestic animals. Other telepathic abilities are demonstrated across the books. The Lotharians in Thuvia, Maid of Mars , are able to project images of warfare that can kill by suggestion. In The Warlord of Mars , the nations are described as bellicose and self-sufficient; but in The Gods of Mars inter-city state merchants are mentioned, and in Thuvia, Maid of Mars , towering staging posts for inter-city liners are also described. Most of

6848-514: The extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back and also independently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head. The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in

6955-449: The green men in a bid to return her to her people. Subsequently, Carter becomes embroiled in the political affairs of both the red and green Martians in his efforts to safeguard Dejah Thoris. He eventually raises a horde of Tharks and other tribes, and leads them against the city-state of Zodanga, the historic enemy of Helium. Winning Dejah Thoris' heart, he becomes Prince of Helium, and the two live happily together for nine years. However,

7062-407: The hands of ferocious creatures. While the Martian females are egg-laying, Martians have inexplicably mammalian characteristics such as a navel and breasts. While they have skins of various colors, and their bodies differ in some cases from traditional humans, they are very similar to varieties of Earth humans and there is little examination of difference. There is only one spoken language across

7169-419: The hero; who himself fights a variety of enemies and deposes petty rulers of severely repressed populations, usually with the assistance of a native. The world of Barsoom is morally unambiguous: characters are either good or evil; there is no sense of moral relativity. A sense of honor transcends race or political affiliation, and characters fight alongside one another and against their adversaries because it

7276-633: The influence on his science-fiction epic Avatar (2009) in The New Yorker magazine, and George Lucas , whose Star Wars films were influenced by Flash Gordon , which in turn was influenced by Burroughs. Author Michael Crichton named a character on the TV medical drama series ER (1994–2009) after John Carter. The John Barnes novel In the Hall of the Martian King (2003) features

7383-556: The inhabitants of Barsoom have become hardened and warlike, fighting one another to survive. Once a wet world with continents and oceans, Barsoom's seas gradually dried up, leaving it a dry planet of highlands interspersed with moss-covered dead sea bottoms. Abandoned cities line the former coasts. The last remnants of the former bodies of water are the Great Toonolian Marshes and the antarctic Lost Sea of Korus. Barsoomians distribute their scarce water supplies via

7490-406: The levels to which we can take the rykors is a vast network of burrows where the real life of the kaldane is lived. There the air-breathing rykor would perish as you would perish. There we have stored vast quantities of food in hermetically sealed chambers. It will last forever. Far beneath the surface is water that will flow for countless ages after the surface water is exhausted. We are preparing for

7597-564: The mainstream, though his books remain in print. Like most of Burroughs' fiction, the novels in the series are mostly travelogues , feature copious violence, and often depict civilized heroes captured by uncivilized cultures and mimicking their captors to survive. Most Barsoom novels follow a familiar plot structure wherein a hero is forced to a far-off location in search of a woman kidnapped by an odious but powerful villain. Female characters are likely to be virtuous and fight off amorous advances and other dangers until able to connect with

7704-504: The moons of Mars , when in fact they live in an underground stronghold near the south pole of the planet, around the submartian Sea of Omean, below the Lost Sea of Korus, where they keep a large aerial navy. They call themselves the 'First-Born', believing themselves to be a unique creation among Martian races, and worship Issus, a woman who styles herself as the God of the Martian religion but

7811-411: The movement of the muscles of your body. I feel what the rykor would feel if he had a head and brain. If he is hurt, I would suffer if I remained connected with him, but the instant one of them is injured or becomes sick we desert it for another. As we could suffer the pains of their physical injuries, similarly do we enjoy the physical pleasures of the rykors. Although the Rykors breed like other animals,

7918-703: The name suggests. Air travel over the barrier is discouraged through the use of a great magnetic pillar called "The Guardian of the North," which draws fliers of all sizes inexorably to their doom as they collide with the massive structure. Their cities are domed hothouses which keep out the cold, but outdoors they favor orluk furs and boots. Physically they are large and strong, and the men usually wear bristling black beards. The White Martians, known as 'Orovars', were rulers of Mars for 500,000 years, with an empire of sophisticated cities with advanced technology. They were white-skinned, with blond or auburn hair. They were once

8025-653: The names of Warhoon, Torquas, and Thurd. Yellow Martians are supposedly extinct, but in The Warlord of Mars they are found hiding in secret domed cities at the North Pole of Mars. At the time John Carter arrives on Barsoom, the Yellow Race is known only in old wives' tales and campfire stories. The only means of entrance to the Okarians' city is through The Carrion Caves, which are every bit as unpleasant as

8132-489: The narrative. Most villains in the Barsoom series are implacably evil or are rulers or despots of major empires or of hidden fiefdoms. They are usually hated by their subjects and possess a voracious sexual appetite, usually directed towards the heroine. The pattern is established by Tharkian Jeddak Tal Hajus in the first novel, A Princess of Mars . Further examples include Salensus Oll of The Warlord of Mars , Nutus of Dusar in Thuvia, Maid of Mars , and Ul Vas, Jeddak of

8239-488: The original White Martians who live in a complex of caves and passages in the cliffs above the Valley Dor. This is the destination of the River Iss, on whose currents most Martians eventually travel, on a pilgrimage seeking final paradise, once tired of life or reaching 1000 years of age. The valley is actually populated by monsters who, overseen by Therns, attack all who enter the valley, killing and exsanguinating them for

8346-467: The pen name of "Normal Bean", an attempt to suggest that despite the incredible nature of his story, he was still a sane, reliable character. He struggled to find an appropriate title for the novel: My First Adventure of Mars , The Green Martians , and Dejah Thoris, Martian Princess were all early attempts to solve this problem. Before completing the novel, he considered options for publishing, and realized he knew little about this world or how to submit

8453-458: The physical realm, they have bred the Rykors , a complementary species composed of a body similar to that of a perfect specimen of Red Martian but lacking a head; when the Kaldane places itself upon the shoulders of the Rykor, a bundle of tentacles connects with the Rykor's spinal cord , allowing the brain of the Kaldane to interface with the body of the Rykor. Should the Rykor become damaged or die,

8560-596: The planet as a formerly Earth -like world now becoming inhospitable to life because of its advanced age. According to the Barsoomians themselves, Mars was a lush world with global oceans just one million years before the present day. As the oceans evaporated and the atmosphere thinned, the planet devolved into partial barbarism. Living on a dying planet, with dwindling resources, the inhabitants of Barsoom have become hardened and warlike, constantly fighting one another to survive. Barsoomians distribute scarce water via

8667-508: The planet, and fly-bys and landings by Russian and American probes such as the two Viking missions which found a dead, frozen world where water could not exist in a liquid state. The first science fiction to be set on Mars may be Across the Zodiac: The Story of a Wrecked Record , by Percy Greg, published in 1880. An 1897 novel by Kurd Lasswitz, Auf Zwei Planeten , dealt with benevolent Martians arriving on Earth , but as it

8774-409: The planet, particularly the poles. The Red Martians are said in A Princess of Mars to have been bred when the seas of Barsoom began to dry up, in hopes of creating a hardy race to survive in the new environment. They are, like all the humanoid races of Mars, oviparous , i.e., their newborn hatch from eggs. The Red Martians are highly civilized, respect the idea of private property, adhere to

8881-627: The planet. In the early 20th century Lowell published two more books, further developing the concept of a dying Mars. Burroughs was aware of these theories and appears to have consciously followed them. However, Burroughs does not seem to have based his vision of Mars on precise reading of Lowell's theories, as there are a number of errors in his interpretation which suggest he may have got most of his information from reading newspaper articles and other popular accounts of Lowell's Mars. The ideas of canals with flowing water and an inhabited, if dying world, were later disproved by more accurate observation of

8988-409: The polar caps to irrigate the remaining arable land. Lowell built upon ideas introduced by Italian astronomer, Giovanni Schiaparelli , who in 1877, observed geological features on Mars which he called canali (Italian for "channels"). This was mistranslated into the English as "canals" which, being artificial watercourses, fueled the belief that there was some sort of intelligent extraterrestrial life on

9095-481: The poles. Burroughs explained his ideas about the Martian environment in an article "A Dispatch on Mars" published in the London Daily Express in 1926. He assumed that Mars was formerly identical to the Earth; therefore a similar evolutionary development of fauna would have taken place. He referenced winds, snows, and marshes supposedly observed by astronomers, as evidence of an atmosphere, and that

9202-401: The principal example, although another plays a prominent role in A Fighting Man of Mars . Instances of the use of superstition by religious cults to control and manipulate others are also common. A Princess of Mars was possibly the first fiction of the 20th century to feature a constructed language ; although Barsoomian was not particularly developed, it did add verisimilitude to

9309-622: The process was far from perfect, and generated monstrosities ranging from the occasional misplaced nose or eyeball to " a great mass of living flesh with an eye somewhere and a single hand. " When Burroughs wrote the first volume of the Barsoom series, aviation and radio technology was in its infancy and radioactivity was a fledgling science. Despite this, the series includes a range of technological developments including radium munitions, battles between fleets of aircraft, devices similar to faxes and televisions, genetic manipulation, elements of terraforming and other ideas. One notable device mentioned

9416-428: The reading public, and A.C. McClurg & Company decided to print a number of his formerly serialized tales as novels. McClurg began with three Tarzan novels, and then published A Princess of Mars on October 10, 1917. Although Metcalf thought that the chapter "Sola Tells Me Her Story" slowed the story's pace, and thus omitted it from the magazine serialization, this chapter was restored for the novel version. The novel

9523-540: The search for life on other planets. Scientist Carl Sagan read the books as a young boy, and they continued to affect his imagination into his adult years; he remembered Barsoom as a "world of ruined cities, planet girding canals, immense pumping stations—a feudal technological society". For two decades, a map of the planet, as imagined by Burroughs, hung in the hallway outside of Sagan's office in Cornell University . Author-Illustrator Mark Rogers lampooned

9630-561: The seas of Barsoom began to dry up; their union created a hardy race capable of surviving in a dying world. They are, like all the humanoid races of Mars, oviparous , i.e., their newborn hatch from eggs. The Red Martians, like the Green Martians, eschew clothing, going nude except for jewelry and other ornamentation. In Chapter 11, Dejah Thoris derides Earth men, who "almost without exception, cover their bodies with strange, unsightly pieces of cloth." The Red Martians are honorable and highly civilized; they respect private property and have

9737-760: The sequel The Gods of Mars and Tarzan of the Apes . While the novel is often classed as science fantasy , it also belongs to the subgenre of planetary romance , which has affinities with fantasy and sword and sorcery ; it is distinguished by its inclusion of scientific (or pseudo-scientific) elements. Planetary romances take place primarily on the surface of an alien world, and they often include sword-fighting and swashbuckling; monsters; supernatural elements such as telepathic abilities (as opposed to magic); and cultures that echo those of Earth in pre-industrial eras, especially with dynastic or theocratic social structures. Spacecraft may appear, but are usually not central to

9844-473: The sequels, The Gods of Mars , The Chessmen of Mars and Swords of Mars . In The Chessmen of Mars , Burroughs even includes a reference to the chess games he played with his real life assistant, John Shea, while writing the novel. A Princess of Mars is similar to many of Burroughs' tales. Characterized by copious violent action, it is basically a travelogue , a tale of a journey and various encounters on that journey, which does not necessarily have

9951-444: The serialization rights (equivalent to $ 13,080 in 2023), with the request to change the title and further edit the opening section of the novel. When Burroughs received his acceptance letter from Thomas Metcalf of The All-Story , Metcalf said that the serial would be published under the title " In the Moons of Mars ". However, when the first part of the serialization appeared in the February 1912 edition of The All-Story , it bore

10058-412: The series, and the environment beyond the cities is populated by a variety of ferocious beasts, many roughly equivalent with Earth creatures and most bearing multiple sets of limbs. There are numerous examples of striking coincidences and dei ex machina usually to the benefit of the protagonists. Mad scientists also appear, Ras Thavas from The Master Mind of Mars and Synthetic Men of Mars being

10165-476: The story; this is a key difference from space opera , in which spacecraft are usually key to the narrative. While there are earlier examples of this genre, A Princess of Mars and its sequels are the best known, and they were a dominant influence on subsequent authors. Initially published in magazines with general readership, by the 1930s the planetary romance had become very popular in the emerging science fiction pulp magazines. The novel can also be classified as

10272-544: The sudden breakdown of the Atmosphere Plant that sustains the planet's waning air supply endangers all life on Barsoom. In a desperate attempt to save the planet's inhabitants, Carter uses a secret telepathic code to enter the factory, bringing an engineer along who can restore its functionality. Carter then succumbs to asphyxiation, only to awaken back on Earth , left to wonder what has become of Barsoom and his beloved. Burroughs began work on A Princess of Mars in

10379-452: The summer of 1911 when he was 35. He wrote most of the first half of the novel while working for his brother in a stationery company, penning the words on scratch pads produced by the business. He had been struggling for some time to establish himself as a businessman, so far with little success, and with a wife and two children to support, turned to writing in desperate need of income. Despite failure in his business affairs, he had accumulated

10486-543: The surface of an alien world, frequently include sword fighting, monsters, supernatural elements such as telepathic abilities, and civilizations similar to Earth in pre-technological eras, particularly with the inclusion of dynastic or religious social structures. Spacecraft appear in the stories, but are not central to the story. The series can also be classified as the closely related genre sword and planet , which consists of what are essentially sword and sorcery stories that take place on another planet. The stories also share

10593-502: The tale, and suggested omitting the chapter "Sola Tells Me Her Story" (it was restored in the novel); he suggested that if Burroughs could finish the novel at under 70,000 words, he (Metcalf) would consider publishing it. After further work on the novel, and further correspondence with Metcalf, which included suggestions for plot devices and structural changes, Burroughs submitted the finished novel. On November 4, 1911, Burroughs received an acceptance letter from Metcalf, offering US$ 400 for

10700-443: The theory was put forward by a number of prominent scientists, notably Lowell , that these were huge engineering works constructed by an intelligent race. This view, though utterly false as is now known, inspired much science fiction. The thinning Barsoomian atmosphere is artificially replenished by an "atmosphere plant" on whose function all life on the planet is dependent. The Martian year comprises 687 Martian days, each of which

10807-479: The time we know must come -- the time when the last vestige of the Barsoomian atmosphere is spent -- when the waters and food are gone. For this purpose were we created, that there might not perish from the planet Nature's divinest creation -- the perfect brain. In order to function in the physical realm, the Kaldanes have bred the Rykors : a nonsentient complementary species composed of a body similar to that of

10914-413: The title " Under the Moons of Mars ". For the publication of the serial, Burroughs used the pen name "Normal Bean", which he selected as a pun to stress that he was in his right mind, as he feared ridicule for writing such a fantastic story. The effect was spoiled by a typesetter who interpreted "Normal" as a typographical error and changed it to "Norman". By 1914, Burroughs had become very popular with

11021-637: The transmission of physical attributes, so the Kaldanes breed themselves for the transmission of attributes of the mind, including memory and the power of recollection, and thus have they raised what we term instinct, above the level of the threshold of the objective mind where it may be commanded and utilized by recollection. In the Wold Newton Universe , the kaldanes are said to be descended from mutated Sarmaks which, in turn, were possibly descended from Cthulhuoids . In Larry Niven 's Rainbow Mars , Kaldanes also appear, although they are called

11128-403: The wastes of the planet had been irrigated (probably referencing Lowell's "canals"), which suggested that an advanced civilization existed on the planet. All Barsoomian races resemble Homo sapiens in most respects, except for being oviparous (making them classified as monotremes instead) and having lifespans in excess of 1,000 years (though actual life expectancy is far shorter.) However,

11235-621: Was also inspirational for many scientists in the fields of space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life, including Carl Sagan , who read A Princess of Mars when he was a child. John Carter , a Confederate veteran of the American Civil War , goes prospecting in Arizona immediately after the war's end. Having struck a rich vein of gold, he runs afoul of the Apaches . While attempting to evade pursuit by hiding in

11342-530: Was illustrated by Frank E. Schoonover, who carefully read the descriptive passages on the costumes and weapons of Barsoom and developed an overall concept for the artwork, even ensuring that John's Carter's pistol and belt in his cover illustration reflected their origins in Green Martian craftsmanship. A Princess of Mars was one of the few works for which Burroughs, in his inexperience as a new writer, relinquished all serialization rights. Others included

11449-491: Was not translated until 1971 it is unlikely that Burroughs knew of it. H. G. Wells ' novel The War of the Worlds (1898) was influenced, as was Burroughs' novel, by the ideas of Percival Lowell starting with publication of the book Mars (1895). It depicted Mars as an ancient world, nearing the end of its life, home to a superior civilization capable of advanced feats of science and engineering. Burroughs, however, claimed never to have read any of H. G. Wells' books. It

#520479