''Lord Tyger'' is an American

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

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

. Originally released in 1970, the book is a

metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction which emphasises its own narrative structure in a way that continually 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 it ...

of one of Farmer's favorite subjects,

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

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal 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 adv ...

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 The black helicopter is a symbol of an alleged conspiratorial military takeover of the United States in the American militia movement, and has also been associated with UFOs, especially in the UK, men in black, and similar conspiracies. Over ...

(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 deconstruction 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, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...

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 among those who did not enjoy the plot or deconstructionist aspects of the book, most 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 Seymour Chwast (born August 18, 1931) is an American graphic designer, illustrator, and type designer. Biography Chwast was born in the Bronx, New York City and in 1949 graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn where he was intro ...

. It was reprinted as a paperback by Signet 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

as a

Panther Panther may refer to: Large cats *Pantherinae, the cat subfamily that contains the genera ''Panthera'' and ''Neofelis'' **'' Panthera'', the cat genus that contains tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards. *** Jaguar (''Panthera onca''), found in So ...

paperback in 1974, featuring cover art by

Richard Clifton-Dey Richard Clifton-Dey (29 May 1930 – 5 April 1997) was a British artist. Born in Yorkshire, he was known mostly for Western and science fiction subjects. As in many cases of artwork produced for book covers, most of Clifton-Dey's artwork is not ...

. 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 muscle Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as mu ...

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

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) 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 fo ...

paperback. The

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

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