Tag: decembarsoom

(originally posted here) The Last Half of the Book (Chapters 19-28) What a wild group of chapters (and a wild few weeks for me—sorry for the delay, dear readers). The book seems to veer in three or four directions from the midsection to the end, as if Burroughs was unsure what he wanted to do…

(originally posted here) Chapters 12-18 Is it just me, or does it feel like this book still hasn’t really started? I have certainly enjoyed all of the exposition we’ve received in the last seven chapters—the impenetrable wooing customs that Dejah Thoris expects and John Carter understands about as well as us, Sola’s parentage, the political…

(originally posted here) For such an upstanding southern gentleman, I couldn’t help notice that maybe John Carter is just a little bit racist. He keeps excusing some of the barbaric activities of the Green Men of Mars by saying, in essence, that they’re just not smart. And they only love killing. And they’re irredeemable barbarians.…

(originally posted here and here) What an introduction! Edgar Rice Burroughs goes for the classic Literary Agent Hypothesis framing story (“I found this story and here I am publishing it for you”) and basically says that John Carter is immortal. Pretty ostentatious way to start the story! I love cowboy comics. I’m a longtime fan of Jonah Hex, Bat…

Reading Schedule (originally posted here) We’re starting on a Thursday, but the reading week will be Monday through Saturday with a recap here on Sunday afternoons. Thursday, December 1 – Sunday, December 4: Introduction through the end of chapter 4 December 5-11: Chapters 5-11 December 12-18: Chapters: 12-18 December 19-25: Chapters 19-24 (that includes a day…