Narrative Methods Of Detective Novel In Wan Qing China

The first translation of the series novels of Sherlock Holmes appeared on the Current Affairs in1896. Since then, owning to its rich exotic colors and innovative forms, detective fiction was widely translated into China. The most popular one is the series novels of Sherlock Holmes. Being completely a new novel form to Chinese, detective fiction was rewritten and misread inevitably by the translators, the readers and critics in the gradual process of integration into Chinese culture.Compared with the great mass fervor of translation and introduction of novels, the amount of introduction of the background or author was much less. By the way, translation showed opposite characteristics to original one, which highlights the narrative mode of whodunit, creating suspense until the end of the novel; on the other hand, the translation revealed the answer at the beginning of novel to make the story more fluent and easy to understand.The reason lied behind this phenomenon should owe to a complex consisted of different attitudes of translators, editors, readers, critics in the particular historical circumstance. On the one hand, Translators and editors rewrote the novels in order to meet the expectation of readers and introduce modern western knowledge. Meanwhile, critics held the opinion that literature should play an important role in social change, which also influenced the rewriting of the novels. On the other hand, with the understanding of detective fiction deeper, critics showed two different critical views on reflecting the use of detective fiction:some critics held the opinion that detective fiction was only one mean to introducing Western culture; however, other critics who interested in storytelling, paid more attention on how to translate the novel in a more fluent way.