Tarzan moved stealthily in the trees high above a savage scene. The tempo of the dance had increased. Painted warriors were leaping and stamping around a small group that surrounded the prisoner. As Tarzan gazed at the prisoner he experienced a shock.
It was as though his disembodied spirit hovered above and looked down upon himself, so amazing was the likeness of this man to the Lord of the Jungle.
Who was this man who looked so much like Tarzan as to startle even Tarzan himself and what did he seek in the jungles of Africa?
FOREWORD
If ever Burroughs wrote a tongue-in-cheek Tarzan story, Tarzan and the Lion Man came closest. Several critics have commented that Burroughs often satirized such things as religion, social customs and the like, but it should also be noted that he was not above kidding himself and his fellow men.
In Chapter 5, the suggestion is made that the motion picture hero go out in front of the safari, and clear the way of marauding natives. But the Lion Man is quick to reply that he'd "like to have the author of that story" sent out instead. The Old Master must have smiled to himself as he wrote that dialogue, for through his seventy-four years, he never once set foot in Africa.
Burroughs was also continually pointing out that man is the only creature that is cruel, vindictive, selfish, ambitious and treacherous, while wild animals are not. This is blandly pointed out in the novel, particularly in the latter portions of Chapter 25.
But the crowning satire of the whole novel, even overshadowing the fabulous episode of the gorillas, are the last couple of chapters dealing with Tarzan's visit to Hollywood, California. They concern the casting of a new Tarzan film, and one John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, Tarzan of the Apes himself. Upon being asked to try out for the part of Tarzan, he is considered by the casting director as "not the type." Truly, Burroughs must still be chuckling about that little scene.
—Camille Cazedessus, Jr.
Editor, ERB-dom, a magazine
devoted to Burroughs and his works.