This section contains 5,135 words (approx. 18 pages at 300 words per page) |
Dictionary of Literary Biography on Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward
Sax Rohmer, one of the most popular and influential thriller writers of the first half of the twentieth century, owes his continued renown principally to the international popularity of the character of Dr. Fu Manchu, whom he created in 1911.
Born Arthur Henry Ward in Birmingham, England, Rohmer was the son of Irish parents, William and Margaret Mary Furey Ward. The family moved to South London when Rohmer was two or three. There are no records of his formal schooling, which ended in 1901, the same year his mother, an alcoholic, died. At about this time he took the middle name Sarsfield, and, having failed a civil-service examination, he went to work briefly as a bank clerk. After leaving that job he made his first attempt at writing short stories, which were rejected by all the popular magazines, while toiling at several minor business positions. His short tenure as a...
This section contains 5,135 words (approx. 18 pages at 300 words per page) |