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As with many authors, it helps to read them through the lens of their time. Based on the state of scientific and geographic knowledge in 1912, the first Tarzan novel is grounded in some quite clever speculative fiction. At the time paleontology and evolutionary science were searching for a 'missing link.' Much of the first Tarzan novel explores what it would be like if such creatures were to exist. The great apes in Burroughs' novel are not chimps, like in the movies. They have a distinct culture and a rudimentary language.
(In a similar vein, Burroughs' John Carter stories are grounded in speculation about the nature of Mars based on 1910 science. What could an earth native do in a low-gravity environment? How would life adapt to a world with little water and no plants?)
So there is some interesting thought underlying Burroughs' pulp stories. Even so, they are undoubtedly pulp. (He DID need to sell these stories, after all.) And as sequel piled on sequel, there was more pulp and fewer ideas. Still, the first Tarzan and John Carter novels stand up well after a century. And they're worth exploring for their influence on subsequent storytellers. No Superman without John Carter.
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