Civilized or not, they just seem to go together.

14 February 2025

Tarzan emerged from the prolific imagination of writer Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, and his popularity carried him onward for years, through a series of 23 additional Tarzan books. But Tarzan didn’t get through too many books before Jane showed up to join him.

In the stories Tarzan (which is the jungle name for the hero, also named John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke of Britain) is orphaned in infancy and raised by great apes in the African wilds. He learns ape tech from his foster family and learns multiple human languages by reading the books left behind by his deceased parents. It may seem improbable, but as a result he manages to be a well-spoken, gentlemanly fella by the time he is full-grown. One who talks to animals too.

Maybe readers clamored for equal representation of the sexes in ER Burroughs’ Tarzan stories. As much as anything else, there just seemed to be a need for a Jane to go with Tarzan.

Voila, Jane appeared. Although film versions of the story lean toward the primitive “Me Tarzan, you Jane” version of their relationship, in Edgar Rice Burrough’s imagination Jane fell in love with an adventurer who was more like a British gentleman.

Interpretations differ. But it doesn’t seem to matter whether Jane loves a wild guy who sort of speaks her language or an educated man who is wild about the out-of-doors; it doesn’t matter whether Tarzan falls in love with a civilized European-style woman who looks like dear old mum, or a free-spirited escapee from civilization. The story still works.

It always does. Civilized or not, Tarzan just wouldn’t be Tarzan without Jane.