I have had this old hardcover edition of THE MARK OF ZORRO for several years and was finally motivated to read it by another review at Goodreads. Of course, Zorro is an iconic figure in both television and movies. I remember watching the old Disney TV series when I was growing up in the 1950's. Mark of Zorro was also made into a couple of movies including a great version from 1940 starring Tyrone Power.
The character Zorro was created by Johnston McCulley and first appeared in 1919 as The Curse of Capistrano which was serialized in five installments in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly.
The five-part prose story was then republished as a novel entitled The Mark of Zorro by Grosset & Dunlap in 1924.
This was really a great action adventure novel that takes place in old California during the era of Mexican rule. Zorro, of course, is out to settle injustices heaped upon "the friars of the missions and the natives who were treated worse than dogs by corrupt officials and politicians. Even men of noble blood were robbed because they were not friendly to the ruling powers..." The novel is also a love story with Zorro and his alter-ego Don Diego Vega out to woo the beautiful Lolita Pulido who is part of a noble family in disfavor of the governor. The novel is very familiar to anyone who has seen the movies or TV series. Zorro has a deaf and mute servant named Bernardo and he opposes the villainous Captain Ramon and Sgt. Gonzales.
This was definitely a novel of its time. Zorro is a pulp hero whose adventures are in line with other novels of the time including those written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Zane Grey, and others. Very enjoyable for what it is. One thing the novel lacked was a good origin story for Zorro. The last part of the novel tells how he trained himself to fight and to right injustices while taking on an effeminate persona for Don Diego. In the movies, he had actually gone to Spain where he learned his skills. McCulley actually wrote some sequels to The Mark of Zorro where he might have expanded on this. I did read Isabel Allende's novel Zorro a few years ago which does expand on Zorro's origins and is a great expansion on the Zorro story. I would recommend it along with Mark of Zorro.
The character Zorro was created by Johnston McCulley and first appeared in 1919 as The Curse of Capistrano which was serialized in five installments in the pulp magazine All-Story Weekly.
The five-part prose story was then republished as a novel entitled The Mark of Zorro by Grosset & Dunlap in 1924.
This was really a great action adventure novel that takes place in old California during the era of Mexican rule. Zorro, of course, is out to settle injustices heaped upon "the friars of the missions and the natives who were treated worse than dogs by corrupt officials and politicians. Even men of noble blood were robbed because they were not friendly to the ruling powers..." The novel is also a love story with Zorro and his alter-ego Don Diego Vega out to woo the beautiful Lolita Pulido who is part of a noble family in disfavor of the governor. The novel is very familiar to anyone who has seen the movies or TV series. Zorro has a deaf and mute servant named Bernardo and he opposes the villainous Captain Ramon and Sgt. Gonzales.
This was definitely a novel of its time. Zorro is a pulp hero whose adventures are in line with other novels of the time including those written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Zane Grey, and others. Very enjoyable for what it is. One thing the novel lacked was a good origin story for Zorro. The last part of the novel tells how he trained himself to fight and to right injustices while taking on an effeminate persona for Don Diego. In the movies, he had actually gone to Spain where he learned his skills. McCulley actually wrote some sequels to The Mark of Zorro where he might have expanded on this. I did read Isabel Allende's novel Zorro a few years ago which does expand on Zorro's origins and is a great expansion on the Zorro story. I would recommend it along with Mark of Zorro.
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