''Lord Tyger'' is an American

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

Philip José Farmer Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 – February 25, 2009) was an American author known for his science fiction and fantasy fiction, fantasy novels and short story, short stories. Obituary. Farmer is best known for two sequences of novels, t ...

. Originally released in 1970, the book is a

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

of one of Farmer's favorite subjects,

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, a feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer. Creat ...

Plot summary

Ras Tyger has lived in the jungle for as long as he can remember. Raised by apes, he lives an idyllic existence as the lord of the jungle, gleefully hunting prey and feeding his prodigious sexual appetite with various female denizens of his jungle. Eventually, however, Tyger begins to suspect that all is not as it seems. He sees strange giant birds, black and without movement aside from their spinning wings atop their heads. He sees other apes raising their young and ponders why his childhood was so different. Always receiving more questions than answers, the more Tyger explores his universe, the more it begins to deconstruct before his very eyes. Ultimately, Tyger discovers that his entire life is a fraud, a construct. A crazed millionaire named Boygur has, in an effort to reproduce the ''Tarzan'' novels he loved as a child, purchased a young English nobleman (Tyger) and created a complex series of jungle environs for him to live within. He hires two dwarfs to act as his ape parents, and has two huge black helicopters (Tyger's "giant birds") patrol the area to keep outsiders out, and insiders in. Ultimately, neither Tyger nor Boygur get what they desire. Tyger cannot handle the harshness of his newfound reality, and Boygur is shocked and appalled when the jungle superman he has raised is far from innocent. At the end of the book, Boygur sadly notes that "things went their own way."

Reaction and analysis

Critics' reaction to the book varied wildly. While many admired the creativity of Farmer's premise and his exploration and rethinking of Burroughs' Tarzan mythos, others condemned the book for its sometimes graphic content.

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, copy editing, editor and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome in collaboration with Jerome ...

declared ''Lord Tyger'' to be "an entertaining, rich, inventive adventure novel in the best sense, with its most lyrical passages far surpassing any effect Edgar Rice Burroughs was ever able to achieve." Farmer's handling of Tarzan has been met with different reactions. Some said that he succeeded in creating a "real" Tarzan, or that it even surpassed Burroughs' original work. Even those who did not enjoy the plot or revisionism of the book still found Farmer's writing to be of high quality.Paul Walker, ''Science Fiction Review'' nos. 39, in a review & 40, in a letter reflecting upon his review in the previous issue.

Publishing history

''Lord Tyger'' was first released by Doubleday in 1970, as a hardcover. This edition featured cover art by Seymour Chwast. It was reprinted as a paperback by

Signet Signet may refer to: *Signet, Kenya, A subsidiary of the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), specifically set up to broadcast and distribute the DTT signals * Signet ring, a ring with a seal set into it, typically by leaving an impression in sea ...

with cover art by Bob Pepper, in 1972. It was first released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as a Panther paperback in 1974, featuring cover art by Richard Clifton-Dey. Another Signet edition, this time in 1981, was a "Signet Double Science Fiction" paired with Farmer's earlier novel ''

Flesh Flesh is any aggregation of soft tissues of an organism. Various multicellular organisms have soft tissues that may be called "flesh". In mammals, including humans, ''flesh'' encompasses muscles, fats and other loose connective tissues, ...

''. The Richard Clifton-Dey artwork was re-used for the latest edition, a 1985

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

paperback. The

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

edition was entitled ''Le Tigre Africain'', roughly "The African Tiger".

References

''Lord Tyger''
at Farmer's official website.

at Farmer's official website.

Footnotes

External links

* {{Philip José Farmer 1970 American novels 1970 science fiction novels Novels by Philip José Farmer Doubleday (publisher) books Works based on Tarzan Novels based on works by Edgar Rice Burroughs