A Study On Robert Van Gulik’s Judge Dee Mysteries

Judge Dee Mysteries is a series of novels and short stories written by Dutch Sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik(1910-1967). It is not only a commercial success but also a cultural one for being popular among both western and Chinese readers(including common readers and scholars) because of van Gulik’s fascinating depiction. The “Tang empire” in Judge Dee Mysteries is a mixture of real social and historical condition of China and Gulik’s fictional creation which was referred to as one of the most significant sources for westerners to know what ancient China used to look like, and also a brand new medium for Chinese to know their own culture. Chinese and western cultural elements, as well as traditional and modern thoughts are skillfully blended in the text. Therefore, readers can easily accept the difference of the two civilizations, and become interested in further study on Chinese history.On the basis of previous research results, my dissertation discusses how van Gulik rewrites traditional crime and judicial literature(“Gong An”) and merges Chinese and western literature and culture in his literary works, and inquires the special value of Robert van Gulik’s strategy of cultural transmission.The dissertation is divided into three chapters.The first chapter focuses on how van Gulik portrays the leading character and his assistants. We can find a large number of factors admired by the author and van Gulik’s own personality in these five characters. “Dee Jen-djieh” in this series is a multi-faces hero: he is an avatar of traditional Chinese scholar, and a perfect model of government officer. A full range of emotions makes him more than a incarnation. Each assistant has distinctive skills and experiences, and they help Judge Dee solve cases like a western detective.The second chapter focuses on various female characters and matters about women in Judge Dee Mysteries. By description of cases or daily life related with women, van Gulik introduces Chinese culture and customs about sex, marriage, prostitution and so on. While catering to western imagination of “the East”, He gives thorough thoughts to women’s destinies in the traditional patriarchal society as well.The third chapter focuses on the issue of law and justice in the series. On the one hand, under the premise of that the true colors of ancient China can be substantially kept, Robert van Gulik tries to seek a common ground of different legal concepts; on the other hand, he deletes those elements that cannot be understand or appreciated by western readers(like the torture and supernatural plots), and explore the possibility of transcendence over the old patterns.