The Bride of Fu-Manchu

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by Sax Rohmer


  There are fourteen Fu-Manchu novels, and the character has been featured in radio, television, comic strips, and comic books. He first appeared in film in 1923, and has been portrayed by such actors as Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee, John Carradine, Peter Sellers, and Nicolas Cage.

  Rohmer died in 1959, a victim of an outbreak of the type A influenza known as the Asian flu.

  APPRECIATING DOCTOR FU-MANCHU

  BY LESLIE S. KLINGER

  The “yellow peril”—that stereotypical threat of Asian conquest— seized the public imagination in the late nineteenth century, in political diatribes and in fiction. While several authors exploited this fear, the work of Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward, better known as Sax Rohmer, stood out.

  Dr. Fu-Manchu was born in Rohmer’s short story “The Zayat Kiss,” which first appeared in a British magazine in 1912. Nine more stories quickly appeared and, in 1913, the tales were collected as The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu (The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu in America). The Doctor appeared in two more series before the end of the Great War, collected as The Devil Doctor (The Return of Dr. Fu-Manchu) and The Si-Fan Mysteries (The Hand of Fu-Manchu).

  After a fourteen-year absence, the Doctor reappeared in 1931, in The Daughter of Fu-Manchu. There were nine more novels, continuing until Rohmer’s death in 1959, when Emperor Fu-Manchu was published. Four stories, which had previously appeared only in magazines, were published in 1973 as The Wrath of Fu-Manchu.

  The Fu-Manchu stories also have been the basis of numerous motion pictures, most famously the 1932 MGM film The Mask of Fu Manchu, featuring Boris Karloff as the Doctor.

  In the early stories, Fu-Manchu and his cohorts are the “yellow menace,” whose aim is to establish domination of the Asian races. In the 1930s Fu-Manchu foments political dissension among the working classes. By the 1940s, as the wars in Europe and Asia threaten terrible destruction, Fu-Manchu works to depose other world leaders and defeat the Communists in Russia and China.

  Rohmer undoubtedly read the works of Conan Doyle, and there is a strong resemblance between Nayland Smith and Holmes. There are also marked parallels between the four doctors, Petrie and Watson as the narrator-comrades, and Dr. Fu-Manchu and Professor Moriarty as the arch-villains.

  The emphasis is on fast-paced action set in exotic locations, evocatively described in luxuriant detail, with countless thrills occurring to the unrelenting ticking of a tightly wound clock. Strong romantic elements and sensually described, sexually attractive women appear throughout the tales, but ultimately it is the fantastic nature of the adventures that appeal.

  This is the continuing appeal of Dr. Fu-Manchu, for despite his occasional tactic of alliance with the West, he unrelentingly pursued his own agenda of world domination. In the long run, Rohmer’s depiction of Fu-Manchu rose above the fears and prejudices that may have created him to become a picture of a timeless and implacable creature of menace.

  A complete version of this essay can be found in The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, also available from Titan Books

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS:

  THE COMPLETE FU-MANCHU SERIES

  Sax Rohmer

  Available now:

  THE MYSTERY OF DR. FU-MANCHU

  THE RETURN OF DR. FU-MANCHU

  THE HAND OF DR. FU-MANCHU

  DAUGHTER OF FU-MANCHU

  THE MASK OF FU-MANCHU

  Coming soon:

  THE TRAIL OF FU-MANCHU

  PRESIDENT FU-MANCHU

  THE DRUMS OF FU-MANCHU

  THE ISLAND OF FU-MANCHU

  THE SHADOW OF FU-MANCHU

  RE-ENTER FU-MANCHU

  EMPEROR FU-MANCHU

  THE WRATH OF FU-MANCHU AND OTHER STORIES

  WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS:

  THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s timeless creation returns in a series of handsomely designed detective stories.

  The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes encapsulate the most varied and thrilling cases of the world’s greatest detective.

  THE ECTOPLASMIC MAN

  by Daniel Stashower

  THE WAR OF THE WORLDS

  by Manly Wade Wellman & Wade Wellman

  THE SCROLL OF THE DEAD

  by David Stuart Davies

  THE STALWART COMPANIONS

  by H. Paul Jeffers

  THE VEILED DETECTIVE

  by David Stuart Davies

  THE MAN FROM HELL

  by Barrie Roberts

  SÉANCE FOR A VAMPIRE

  by Fred Saberhagen

  THE SEVENTH BULLET

  by Daniel D. Victor

  THE WHITECHAPEL HORRORS

  by Edward B. Hanna

  DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HOLMES

  by Loren D. Estleman

  THE ANGEL OF THE OPERA

  by Sam Siciliano

  THE GIANT RAT OF SUMATRA

  by Richard L. Boyer

  THE PEERLESS PEER

  by Philip José Farmer

  THE STAR OF INDIA

  by Carole Buggé

  THE WEB WEAVER

  by Sam Siciliano

  THE TITANIC TRAGEDY

  by William Seil

  SHERLOCK HOLMES VS. DRACULA

  by Loren D. Estleman

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS:

  THE HARRY HOUDINI MYSTERIES

  Daniel Stashower

  THE DIME MUSEUM MURDERS

  THE FLOATING LADY MURDER

  THE HOUDINI SPECTER

  In turn-of-the-century New York, the Great Houdini’s confidence in his own abilities is matched only by the indifference of the paying public. Now the young performer has the opportunity to make a name for himself by attempting the most amazing feats of his fledgling career—solving what seem to be impenetrable crimes. With the reluctant help of his brother Dash, Houdini must unravel murders, debunk frauds and escape from danger that is no illusion...

  A thrilling series from the author of The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: The Ectoplasmic Man.

  WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS:

  PROFESSOR MORIARTY: THE HOUND OF THE D’URBERVILLES

  Kim Newman

  Imagine the twisted evil twins of Holmes and Watson and you have the dangerous duo of Professor James Moriarty—wily, snake-like, fiercely intelligent, terrifyingly unpredictable—and Colonel Sebastian ‘Basher’ Moran— violent, politically incorrect, debauched. Together they run London crime, owning police and criminals alike.

  A one-stop shop for all things illegal, from murder to high-class heists, Moriarty and Moran have a stream of nefarious visitors to their Conduit Street rooms, from the Christian zealots of the American West, to the bloodthirsty Si Fan and Les Vampires of Paris, as well as a certain Miss Irene Adler...

  “The Hound of the d’Urbervilles is a clever, funny mash-up of a whole range of literary sources... It is extravagantly gruesome, gothic and grotesque...” The Independent

  “It’s witty, often hilarious stuff.” Financial Times

  WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM

  ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS:

  SHERLOCK HOLMES

  Guy Adams

  THE BREATH OF GOD

  A body is found crushed to death in the London snow. There are no footprints anywhere near it. It is almost as if the man was killed by the air itself. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson find themselves travelling to Scotland to meet with the one person they have been told can help: Aleister Crowley.

  THE ARMY OF DR MOREAU

  Dead bodies are found on the streets of London with wounds that can only be explained as the work of ferocious creatures not native to the city. Sherlock Holmes is visited by his brother, Mycroft, who is only too aware that the bodies are the calling card of one Dr Moreau.

  “Invariably, when the author has this much fun, the reader benefits.” New York Journal of Books

  “Succeeds both as a literary jeu d’esprit and detective sto
ry, with a broad streak of irreverent humour.” Financial Times

  WWW.TITANBOOKS.COM

 

 

 


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