Gullivar of Mars (Bison Frontiers of Imagination Series)

Rating:
Summary: Arnold's precursor to ERB's John Carter of Mars
Review: There might not be any substantive proof that Edgar Rice Burroughs read "Gullivar of Mars" before he started writing his own classic Barsoom series, but if you have read "A Princess of Mars" and "The Gods of Mars" then you would have to conclude ERB did read this 1905 Edwin L. Arnold novel. Of course, Arnold owes a debt to H. G. Wells and "The Time Machine" as well, not to mention Jonathan Swift, but it is the connection with ERB that has managed to keep this book in print, and deservedly so as far as I am concerned.

The basic story of "Gullivar of Mars" is that Lt. Gullivar Jones magically ends up on Mars and travels around the Red Planet trying to rescue the beautiful Princess Heru. The villain is the evil Ar-Hap, who is trying to conquer Seth, the city of the beautiful Hither folk. Originally published in 1905 as "Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation," at the time the comparisons to Swift's satire would have been clear, while from our vantage point the parallels to Burroughs are glaringly obvious. However, Gullivar Jones is nowhere near being a hero in the mold of John Carter. He certainly tries a lot, but like the original Gullivar he does not have much luck.

Keep in mind that this novel was written in 1905 and that Arnold would have been quite familiar with the utopian tradition represented by not only Swift, but Samuel Butler's "Erewhon," Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward: 2000-1887," and other late 19th-century works where a traveler to a distant place (or time) experiences a strange new world. There are more adventure elements in Arnold's story, to be sure, but there is also a stronger sense of satire than you would find in most Burroughs pulp fiction yarns (with a few notable exceptions mostly to be found in his Venus series). With the Hither folk as lazy but sensual people, who have forgotten the knowledge and the slaves that built their advances socieites, Arnold certainly seems to be making a political point. The Hither seem like nice folk, but this is not a good society. Meanwhile, the "bad" guys, the Thither people, exhibit much more human compassion towards the strange visitor from another planet. Then there is Gulliver, who has no doubts about his superiority to both races and who actually claims part of Mars for the U.S.

Still, this novel will also remind you of a serial, where the hero has a series of adventures, one after another. Of those it is the idea of the River of Death that really stands out (the dead are floated down the river, which has some interesting effects the more up river Gullivar travels). This would be a fairly interesting science fiction adventure on its own terms, but the obvious connections with the Burroughs novels makes this the most interesting non-ERB novel ERB fans could read. This edition in the Bison Frontiers of Imagination Series offers a introduction by Richard Lupoff and an afterword by Gary Hoppenstand, which put "Gullivar of Mars" in its appropriate literary contexts with regards to both the genre and the times.

Rating:
Summary: Arnold's precursor to ERB's John Carter of Mars
Review: There might not be any substantive proof that Edgar Rice Burroughs read "Gullivar of Mars" before he started writing his own classic Barsoom series, but if you have read "A Princess of Mars" and "The Gods of Mars" then you would have to conclude ERB did read this 1905 Edwin L. Arnold novel. Of course, Arnold owes a debt to H. G. Wells and "The Time Machine" as well, not to mention Jonathan Swift, but it is the connection with ERB that has managed to keep this book in print, and deservedly so as far as I am concerned.

The basic story of "Gullivar of Mars" is that Lt. Gullivar Jones magically ends up on Mars and travels around the Red Planet trying to rescue the beautiful Princess Heru. The villain is the evil Ar-Hap, who is trying to conquer Seth, the city of the beautiful Hither folk. Originally published in 1905 as "Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation," at the time the comparisons to Swift's satire would have been clear, while from our vantage point the parallels to Burroughs are glaringly obvious. However, Gullivar Jones is nowhere near being a hero in the mold of John Carter. He certainly tries a lot, but like the original Gullivar he does not have much luck.

Keep in mind that this novel was written in 1905 and that Arnold would have been quite familiar with the utopian tradition represented by not only Swift, but Samuel Butler's "Erewhon," Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward: 2000-1887," and other late 19th-century works where a traveler to a distant place (or time) experiences a strange new world. There are more adventure elements in Arnold's story, to be sure, but there is also a stronger sense of satire than you would find in most Burroughs pulp fiction yarns (with a few notable exceptions mostly to be found in his Venus series). With the Hither folk as lazy but sensual people, who have forgotten the knowledge and the slaves that built their advances socieites, Arnold certainly seems to be making a political point. The Hither seem like nice folk, but this is not a good society. Meanwhile, the "bad" guys, the Thither people, exhibit much more human compassion towards the strange visitor from another planet. Then there is Gulliver, who has no doubts about his superiority to both races and who actually claims part of Mars for the U.S.

Still, this novel will also remind you of a serial, where the hero has a series of adventures, one after another. Of those it is the idea of the River of Death that really stands out (the dead are floated down the river, which has some interesting effects the more up river Gullivar travels). This would be a fairly interesting science fiction adventure on its own terms, but the obvious connections with the Burroughs novels makes this the most interesting non-ERB novel ERB fans could read. This edition in the Bison Frontiers of Imagination Series offers a introduction by Richard Lupoff and an afterword by Gary Hoppenstand, which put "Gullivar of Mars" in its appropriate literary contexts with regards to both the genre and the times.