Tarzan, the Lord of the Jungle, has been one of the most enduring heroic figures in American popular culture. Created by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) in 1912, the Tarzan character first appeared in the pulp fiction All-Story Magazine. (Pulp magazines [see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2] of the era consisted of sensational stories printed on low-quality—that is, pulp—paper.) Tarzan has appeared in more than twenty novels, forty films, several television (see entry under 1940s—TV and Radio in volume 3) programs, radio (see entry under 1920s—TV and Radio in volume 2) serials, comic strips, cartoons, comic books (see entry under 1930s—Print Culture in volume 2), toys, and thousands of items of merchandise. The character's stories have been translated into more than fifty languages. He is one of the most famous men who never actually lived.

Burroughs had failed at nearly every endeavor he attempted before he...