In discussions of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu series of adventure stories, one thing often is said: the very name, “Fu Manchu” is bad. Linguistically improper. An impossible name.
Maybe someone could tell me why? Is there an English analogy I might understand? Is it something like “Pop Scottish” or “Oui French” or the like?
I sort of get that “Manchu” is an adjective, “Of Manchuria.” Is that something no one would ever actually use as a name? What about “Fu?” Is that also impossible? Or just unheard of and never used?
(This is more about language than the books, but the mods can move to Cafe Society if they differ or if the thread wanders in that way.)
“Fu” is certainly used as a family name in China, eg the snooker player Marco Fu whose Chinese name is Fu Ka-chun (and, inevitably, referred to as Cue-Man Fu ).
But in Fu Manchu, is Fu meant to be the family name or given name?
I don’t think Fu Manchu was supposed to be the character’s name. It was a title that people used because calling him by his actual name would be too familiar and a sign of disrespect.
Granted, Sax Rohmer (Arthur Ward) was the author who created the character and he seems to have regarded Fu Manchu as an actual name. The idea that it was a title came from later writers. (It’s officially canon in the Marvel comic universe where his real name is Zheng Zu.)
I first encountered this is van Ash’s book Ten Years Beyond baker Street, which both continued Sax Rohmer’s series, and combined it with Sherlock Holmes. (Not the only story to combine Sherlock Holmes with Fu Manchu. I know of at least two others that mix their universes.)
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