 Dust-jacket illustration ofTarzan and the Jewels of Opar | |
| Author | Edgar Rice Burroughs |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | J. Allen St. John |
| Language | English |
| Series | Tarzan series |
| Genre | Adventure |
| Publisher | A. C. McClurg |
Publication date | 1916 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 350 |
| Preceded by | The Son of Tarzan |
| Followed by | Jungle Tales of Tarzan |
| Text | Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar atWikisource |
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar is a novel by American writerEdgar Rice Burroughs, the fifth in hisseries of twenty-four books about the title characterTarzan. The story first appeared in the November and December issues ofAll-Story Cavalier Weekly in 1916, and the first book publication was by McClurg in 1918.[1]
Tarzan returns toOpar, the source of thegold where a lost colony of fabledAtlantis is located, in order to make good on some financial reverses he has recently suffered. While Atlantis itself sank beneath the waves thousands of years ago, the workers of Opar continued to mine all of the gold, which means there is a rather huge stockpile but which is now lost to the memory of the Oparians and only Tarzan knows its secret location.
A greedy, outlawedBelgian army officer, Albert Werper, in the employ of a criminalArab, secretly follows Tarzan to Opar. There, Tarzan loses his memory after being struck on the head by a falling rock in the treasure room during an earthquake. On encounteringLa, the high priestess who is the servant of the Flaming God of Opar, and who is also very beautiful, Tarzan once again rejects her love which enrages her and she tries to have him killed; she had fallen in love with the apeman during their first encounter and La and her high priests are not going to allow Tarzan to escape their sacrificial knives this time.
In the meanwhile, Jane has been kidnapped by the Arab and wonders what is keeping her husband from once again coming to her rescue. A now amnesiac Tarzan and Werper escape from Opar, bearing away the sacrificial knife of Opar which La and some retainers set out to recover. There is intrigue and counter intrigue the rest of the way.
Burroughs' novel served as a partial basis (along withThe Return of Tarzan) of the silent film serialThe Adventures of Tarzan (1921); subsequently it was the basis for the silent filmTarzan the Tiger (1929) and a partial basis for the more recent filmThe Legend of Tarzan (2016).
The book has been adapted intocomic form on a number of occasions. Notable adaptations include those ofGold Key Comics inTarzan nos. 159-161, dated May–September 1967 (script byGaylord DuBois, art byRuss Manning), andMarvel inTarzan, Lord of the Jungle nos. 1-6, 8 and 10-11, dated June–November 1977 and January, March–April 1978.
Talinum paniculatum is a native plant from West Indies and Central America and has common names of Fameflower andJewels-of-Opar.[2]
Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar public domain audiobook atLibriVox| Preceded by | Tarzan series Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar | Succeeded by |