The Mad King

Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote this tale of confused identity and royal intrigue in 1914 and 1915 as World War I was getting ready to happen: it means to be an homage to Anthony Hopes Prisoner of Zenda. But of course it isnt Hope writing but Burroughs: the events that led to the war inform the book and it speaks to the real events happening as Burroughs wrote. That makes it a very different story from Hopes almost-whimsical novel. Part of the reason Burroughs left such a lasting mark on the world is because he was engaged in the events that surrounded him; the news troubled him deeply and personally. As well it might! He was writing as he always did on fantastical topics; but it is the fantastic nature of the twentieth century that is the real text of the mans career.