Who learned a written language by studying from an English-language book he owned, but had no idea how to speak the language until he met others who did?

gtho4

Tarzan Having read––no devoured––all the Tarzan books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I tried to imagine the life of a boy growing up in the jungle, with only apes and wild beasts for friends to guide him. I built tree houses and made swings of vines. But I was discovering that Edgar Rice Burrough’s books were more than fantasy. They were a study of anthropology, of human nature. Edgar Rice Burrough has stayed with me all my life. "Tarzan of the Apes" sounds so simple, even juvenile, but as a young lad, it got my mind working. I had to hide the fact from my peers that I was reading Tarzan. Many looked upon him as a comic book hero. But for me, he took on a real meaning. Could a boy raised by apes ever learn to talk like a human? Tarzan did. How did that happen? The ship, which carried his mother and father, was shipwrecked on the coast of Africa. His father was Lord Greystoke, and his wife was expecting a child, thus they were carrying children’s books and learners. Lord Graystoke and his wife were the sole survivors, and he was able to salvage much of their belongs. As castaways, he built a cabin at the edge of the jungle. It was there that Tarzan was born. His mother died in childbirth, and his father was killed by great apes. Tarzan was carried off into the jungle and raised by the apes. When he was in his teens he discovered his father and mother’s cabin, and by studying the pictures in the books he taught himself to read and write. Was this possible, especially when he couldn’t speak? It was all so intriguing, and great food for thought. Today, I can’t look at a tree without thinking about a child swinging through its branches who could read and write but not talk. Roger Boulay, the curator at the Quai Branly Museum, is an anthropologist and a specialist in the art of Oceania. The exhibition looks at the origins and nature of Tarzan, as a character as well as a myth, and redefines the character as a modern hero fighting for the protection of nature. "Tarzan," he said, "is the fragile frontier between the primitive and the civilized." http://haroldstephens.wolfendenpublishing.com/?p=62 Jul 06 10, 9:46 AM

queproblema

Exactly! Aaaah-eeeeee-aaaaahh! I read "Tarzan of the Apes" as a child, too, and watched Johnny Weismuller on "Jungle Jim" reruns, never dreaming I would grow up to marry Tarzan. (Datsmeharse, eat your heart out.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Jim_%28TV_series%29 Jul 06 10, 5:17 PM