Tales of East and West : Thirteen Little Masterpieces of Death and Fear and Terror
by Sax Rohmer
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This was a decent collection of Rohmer's fiction, although a few of the stories have been reprinted in other volumes (if you own the Wrath of Fu Manchu, you've already seen several of the tales). However, the opening story "the Black Mandarin" is an excellent Paul Harley tale (perhaps the best Harley story?); a second Harley tale, "At the Palace da Nostra" even ties him to Gaston Max! Plus, the ever-lovable Nayland Smith turns up with Shan Greville in tow for "Turkish Yataghan." This is a must-have for Rohmer enthusiasts... no one else will understand this.
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189+ Works 6,113 Members
Sax Rohmer was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he adopted the name Sarsfield, the name of a famous Irish general admired by Rohmer's mother. He married Rose Elizabeth Knox in 1909 and, at his wife's insistence, began using the name Sax Rohmer for his fiction, eventually employing the pseudonym as his actual name. Rohmer was show more basically a self-taught scholar. He started writing as a journalist; his beat was the Limehouse underworld in London. Rohmer had a difficult time breaking into the professional fiction markets, but once he did, he became a household name for exotic adventure both in England and in America. Although his writing brought Rohmer success and money, he was never much of a businessman, and most of his wealth was squandered because of his extravagance and through financial mismanagement. Rohmer eventually moved to New York City. One of Rohmer's great intellectual interests was the occult and supernatural, and these elements frequently appeared as motifs in his fiction. His most famous creation was the evil oriental mastermind, Dr. Fu Manchu, first presented in the novel The Mystery of Fu Manchu in 1913 (later retitled The Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu for its American publication, also in 1913). Most espionage or adventure fiction exploits the social paranoias of its time, and Rohmer himself effectively tapped the Westerner's fear of the stereotyped "yellow peril" threat---the negatively perceived belief that Orientals will conquer the world. The Fu Manchu adventures were patterned, in part, after Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories. Rohmer's protagonists in these adventures, Sir Denis Nayland Smith and his companion Dr. Petrie, look very much like Doyle's Holmes and Watson, but, whereas Doyle centered his narratives on the heroes and specifically on the elaborate process of detection, Rohmer focused his attention on the villain and on slam-bang action. Fu Manchu was a master of both Western science and Eastern mysticism, and his efforts at world domination caused no end of problems for Smith and Petrie. In Fu Manchu, Rohmer had created the most famous villain in popular fiction (although Rohmer maintained that Fu Manchu was based on an actual Limehouse criminal). Despite Rohmer's use of outrageous racial stereotyping, many of his novels hold up well today and provide superior examples of how to create narrative pacing and suspense. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Doubleday Crime Club (1933.28)
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Tales of East and West : Thirteen Little Masterpieces of Death and Fear and Terror
- Original title
- Tales of East and West : Thirteen Little Masterpieces of Death and Fear and Terror
- Alternate titles
- Tales of East and West
- Original publication date
- 1932
- People/Characters
- Paul Harley; Inspector Wessex; Malcolm Knox; Sir Denis Nayland Smith; Shan Greville; Gaston Max (show all 8); Omar Ali Khan; Dr. Petrie
- Important places
- Limehouse, London, England, UK; Madeira, Portugal; Funchal, Portugal; Cairo, Egypt; London, England, UK; Port Said, Egypt (show all 14); Burma; Atlantis; Venice, Veneto, Italy; Murano, Venice, Veneto, Italy; Aleppo, Syria; Dartmoor, Devon, England, UK; Hyde Park, London, England, UK; Kensington Gardens, London, England, UK
- First words
- With increasing irritation I listened to the sound of someone belabouring the knocker of the top set, immediately above me.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"Jesu! we are lost!" came a hoarse whisper. "The Red Prince!"
- Disambiguation notice
- Please note the UK (Cassell 1932) and US editions (The Crime Club 1933) have differing contents.
UK contents:
Tales of the East:
The Black Mandarin
Father of Thieves*
The Turkish Yataghan
Spirit of the B... (show all)lack Hawk
Fires of Baal*
Tales of the West:
Mark of the Monkey*
The Squirrel Man*
The Cardinal's Stair
Torture
The M'Villin*
US contents:
Tales of the East:
The Black Mandarin
The Valley of the Just +
The Turquise Necklace +
The Curse of a Thousand Kisses +
Spirit of the Black Hawk
The Turkish Yataghan
Light of Atlantis #
Tales of the West:
The Haunting of Low Fennel +
At the Palace da Nostra #
The Master of Hollow Grange +
The Cardinal's Stair
The Riddle of Ragstaff +
Torture
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Statistics
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- Popularity
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- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.25)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
- ASINs
- 2
