tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984067990467963645.post8280512865782510766..comments2024-03-21T22:22:59.425-07:00Comments on Vintage Pop Fictions: The Trail of Fu Manchudfordoomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02306293859869179118noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984067990467963645.post-14316402517292730832021-01-07T11:35:59.833-08:002021-01-07T11:35:59.833-08:00The other item of note about Rohmer's Fu Manch...The other item of note about Rohmer's Fu Manchu stories, and I'd guess his others, is his handling of menace -- a sense of impending doom, of exotic death by night. Benzadmiralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16762681617545684805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984067990467963645.post-20602925711412431152015-06-24T10:47:32.341-07:002015-06-24T10:47:32.341-07:00A new glimpse of Dr. Fu Manchu is offered by SF wr...A new glimpse of Dr. Fu Manchu is offered by SF writer David McDaniel in his 1967 "Man from U.N.C.L.E." paperback original, "The Rainbow Affair." The lead characters, agents Solo and Illya, are on the hunt for an ingenious bank robber in England. During the story they encounter practically every fictional British sleuth, thriller hero, and villain from classic sensational fiction. The fun is that no names are given -- the reader is left to figure out who is who using the clear details McDaniel gives us. Fu Manchu is being wooed by U.N.C.L.E.'s nemesis, Thrush, and while Solo and Illya never meet him, we see him in full color in two or three scenes. Neatly done.Benzadmiralhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16762681617545684805noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6984067990467963645.post-46616918480036386252014-12-14T19:33:38.984-08:002014-12-14T19:33:38.984-08:00Nowadays to presume an inevitable clash of civiliz...Nowadays to presume an inevitable clash of civilizations, as you suggest Rohmer does, is enough to earn Rohmer the racist tag. The irony of the totalitarian-vs-individualist dichotomy you propose is that someone like Fu Manchu is arguably the ultimate individualist in the limitless prerogative he claims for his genius. That being said, your idea helps explain Nayland Smith's tendency to depend on men he seemingly pulls off the street to save the day. The only Fu Manchus I've read are Mask and Drums, which are terrific and terrible respectively, but Mask is good enough for me to want to try more.Samuel Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00934870299522899944noreply@blogger.com