American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is known for his science fiction and adventure novels, most especially those featuring Tarzan, a feral child raised by apes in the jungles of Africa. After his death in 1950, Burroughs's many creations have continued to offer inspiration to numerous other writers working in a variety of formats, including film, television, and comic books.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, born September 1, 1875, in Chicago, worked a number of unsuccessful jobs in such varied professions as cattle ranching, the Cavalry, gold dredging and sales, among others, before seeking a career in writing in 1911, while employed as an agent for a pencil sharpener company. His first novel was serialized as in in 1911, and later published in novel form as in 1917. Burroughs is perhaps best known for creating Tarzan, a feral child raised by apes in the jungles of Africa, who first appeared in Burroughs's and went on to feature in twenty-six subsequent novels. In addition to the Tarzan series, Burroughs also wrote a twelve-volume series of science fiction novels set on Mars, as wells as others set on Venus, the Moon, and in Pellucidar, a fictional realm at the center of the earth, along with a number of contemporary dramas, westerns, and historical novels. Burroughs continued to publish extensively throughout his life, also serving as a war correspondent during World War II. He died, of a heart attack, in 1950.

Both during and after his life, Burroughs's creations have provided inspiration for a vast number of comic books, films, television, and other media. Burroughs created extensive imaginary worlds for his novels, populated by a vast array of peoples, species, and technologies, which would be further explored and elaborated through subsequent installments in his series, which in turn afforded ample opportunity for subsequent writers to expand upon his creations in the decades since his death.

. Ed. Henry Hardy Heins. Revised ed. West Kingston, Rhode Island: Donald M. Grant, 1964.Hollow, John, "Edgar Rice Burroughs." . Ed. David Cowart and Thomas L. Wymer. Detroit: Gale Research, 1981. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 8. Reproduced in Literature Resource Center. Accessed 7 January 2011. Porges, Irwin. . Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1975. . 2nd ed. Iola, WI : Krause Publications, 2003.