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. He is best remembered for his creation of the master criminal Dr Fu Manchu.
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.
The Fu Manchu stories, and other writing, made Rohmer one of the most successful and well-paid authors of the 1920s and 1930s.