Reading Ruminations: Tarzan of the Apes
Recently, while I was visiting home I was in a bookstore with my older sister, and unable to resist the pull of the printed word ended up purchasing more than I had intended. One of the books that I succumbed to buying was “Tarzan of the Apes” by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I have always enjoyed the Disney film version, and since I was unfamiliar with the literary version of Burroughs’ character decided to acquaint myself with him. On the first leg of my return trip, I opened the book. It is an excellent read, for those who may wonder, however, I was shocked to discover how Disney-fied my own expectations of the story were! First, I was disconcerted to discover that Miss Jane Porter is an American, not a Brit. She’s from Baltimore, in fact. I was chagrined by this. I had been annoyed by the recent film “The Legend of Tarzan” where Jane’s character is an American since I ignorantly believed the writers to have taken much artistic lic...