Full Details
Thomas Burke
| Full Name: | Sydney Thomas Burke |
| Born: | November 29, 1886 Eltham, Kent, England, UK |
| Died: | September 22, 1945 Bloomsbury, England, UK |
| Occupation: | Writer |
| Nationality: | British |
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Biography
Thomas Burke was a British author. He was born in Eltham, London.
His first successful publication was Limehouse Nights (1916), a collection of stories centred on life in the poverty-stricken Limehouse district of London. Many of Burke's books feature the Chinese character Quong Lee as narrator.
"The Lamplit Hour", an incidental poem from Limehouse Nights, was set to music in the United States by Arthur Penn in 1919. That same year, American film director D. W. Griffith used another tale from the collection, "The Chink and the Child" as the basis of his screenplay for the movie Broken Blossoms. Griffith based his film Dream Street (1921) on Burke's "Gina of Chinatown" and "Song of the Lamp".
Burke continued to develop his descriptions of London life throughout his later literary works. He gradually expanded his range with novels such as The Sun in Splendor, which was published in 1926. He also continued to publish essays on the London environment, including pieces such as "The Real East End" and "London in My Times".
His short story "The Hands of Ottermole" was later voted the best mystery of all time by critics in 1949.
Works in the WWEnd Database
Non Series Works |
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