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Sax Rohmer | |
|---|---|
| Born | Arthur Henry Ward 15 February 1883 Birmingham, England, UK |
| Died | 1 June 1959 (aged 76) White Plains, New York, U.S. |
| Pen name | Sax Rohmer; Michael Furey; Arthur Sarsfield Ward |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | British |
| Period | 20th century |
Sax Rohmer was Arthur Henry Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959). He was an English novelist born in Birmingham to Irish parents.[1] He is best remembered for his creation of the master criminal Dr Fu Manchu.[2]
After ghostwriting the autobiography of Little Tich, a music hall entertainer, Ward issued the first Fu Manchu novel. This was The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, serialised from October 1912 to June 1913.
It was an immediate success. It had police official Denis Nayland Smith and Dr. Petrie facing a worldwide conspiracy led by a mastermind. It reflected the "yellow peril" scares of the times. The phrase yellow peril (sometimes yellow terror or yellow spectre), was coined by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, in the 1890s.[3]
The Fu Manchu stories, and other writing, made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Van Ash, Cay & Rohmer, Elizabeth Sax 1972. Master of villainy: a biography of Sax Rohmer. Bowling Green University Press, Ohio. ISBN 0-87972-032-8
- ↑ "Rohmer, Sax" by Jack Adrian in David Pringle, St. James Guide to Horror, Ghost & Gothic Writers. London: St. James Press, 1998; ISBN 1558622063 (pp. 482–484).
- ↑ Leung, Wing Fai (16 August 2014). "Perceptions of the East – Yellow Peril: an archive of anti-asian fear". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 January 2015.