Zeuschner, Robert 1941–

views updated

Zeuschner, Robert 1941–

PERSONAL:

Born 1941; married; wife's name Lindy. Education: University of Hawaii at Manoa, Ph.D. Hobbies and other interests: Japanese sumi-e scroll paintings, Chinese calligraphy, Japanese Zen gardening, collecting rare books, playing classical and acoustic blues guitar.

ADDRESSES:

Home— CA. Office— Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91106. E-mail— [email protected].

CAREER:

Academician. Pasadena City College, Pasadena, CA, professor of philosophy. Also lectured at University of California at Santa Barbara, Occidental College, University of Southern California, and University of California at Riverside.

WRITINGS:

Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography of American Periodical, Hardcover, Paperback, and Reprint Editions, foreword by Philip José Farmer, McFarland (Jefferson, NC), 1996.

Classical Ethics, East and West: Ethics from a Comparative Perspective, McGraw-Hill (Boston, MA), 2000.

Assistant editor of Burroughs Bulletin.

SIDELIGHTS:

Robert Zeuschner is an academician and philosopher. Born in 1941, he earned his Ph.D. in Asian and comparative philosophy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As a student, his research interests included Buddhist philosophy and ethics. Zeuschner has taught at a number of institutions across the United States. He lectured in philosophy at several institutes in Hawaii before moving to California. Once there he lectured in the departments of philosophy at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Occidental College in Los Angeles. He also lectured in the department of Asian studies at the University of Southern California and in the department of religion at the University of California at Riverside. Zeuschner eventually settled as a professor of philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California.

As an instructor of philosophy, he teaches various topics, including ethics, critical thinking, and logic. In addition to courses in philosophy, he teaches courses in world religions. Zeuschner contributes to academic journals and periodicals and has published translations of works from Japanese and Chinese. His interest in Buddhist traditions extends beyond academia to a large collection of Japanese sumi-e scroll paintings and Chinese calligraphy. Zeuschner is also interested in Japanese Zen gardening, a lifelong passion for collecting rare books, and playing classical and acoustic blues guitar music.

Zeuschner is widely considered an expert on the life and works of the American author Edgar Rice Burroughs, most famous for his literary creation Tarzan. Although Tarzan of the Apes brought Burroughs almost immediate success upon its publication in 1912, the author wrote scores of novels across a number of genres. Zeuschner serves as the assistant editor of the Burroughs Bulletin, the official magazine for the Burroughs Bibliophiles international literary group. In 1996 he was featured on the television program "Tarzan: The Legacy of Edgar Rice Burroughs," part of the A&E Biography series for the Arts and Entertainment network.

Zeuschner published his first book with McFarland Publishers in 1996. With a foreword by Philip José Farmer,Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography of American Periodical, Hardcover, Paperback, and Reprint Editions is considered one of the most authoritative publications on the works of Burroughs, with its collection dating up to 1995. Intended for scholars and collectors rather than for general reading, the book covers eighty of Burroughs's stories across 800 entries that list where the stories first appeared and their reprints. The collection also includes a thirteen-page biography of Burroughs as well as pictures and appendices. Library Journal contributor Neal Wyatt found among the appendices "a level-headed and helpful section on the values of first editions." Wyatt "highly recommended" Edgar Rice Burroughs.

In 2000 Zeuschner published a text book called Classical Ethics, East and West: Ethics from a Comparative Perspective.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, May, 1997, A. Ellis, review of Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Exhaustive Scholar's and Collector's Descriptive Bibliography of American Periodical, Hardcover, Paperback, and Reprint Editions, p. 1472.

Library Journal, January, 1997, Neal Wyatt, review of Edgar Rice Borroughs, p. 84.

Reference & Research Book News, May, 1997, review of Edgar Rice Burroughs, p. 136; August, 2007, review of Edgar Rice Burroughs.