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Judge Dee

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Judge Dee (or Judge Di) is the hero of Robert van Gulik's "Judge Dee" series. These fictional novels deal with cases in ancient China, all solved by the upright Judge Dee (note: in ancient Chinese crime stories, judges are often in the role of the detective.)

The Judge Dee character is based on the historical figure Ti Jen-chieh (c. 630–c. 700), magistrate and statesman of the Tang court. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) in China, a "folk novel" was written set in former times, but filled with anachronisms. Van Gulik noted, not only was this original tale dealing with two cases simultaneously, but that this was one of the few Chinese mystery tales which mostly lacked an overbearing supernatural element which would displease Western readers, and so translated it into English.

This gave him the idea of writing his own novels, set with the similar Ming anachronisms, but using the historical character, as though they were true Chinese sequels. Van Gulik was careful in writing the main novels to deal with cases where Dee was newly appointed to a city, thereby isolating him from the existing lifestyle and enabling him to maintain an objective role in the books.

Initially Dee is assisted only by his faithful clerk, Hoong. However, in the earliest set of tales he "acquires" two assistants, in the form of "men of the greenwood" (Chinese outlaws) and a little later a third, a confidence-man, also joins him. Judge Dee ends his career being promoted to the position of senior Metropolitan Judge in the capital, and his assistants obtain official ranks in the Army.

Van Gullik wrote series of newspaper comics about Judge Dee in 1964-1967, adding up to a total of 19 adventures. The first 4 were regular balloon strips, but the later 15 had the more typically Dutch textblock under the pictures.

A French writer, Frédéric Lenormand, has recently written a series of new Judge Dee mysteries, not yet translated into English: The Tchou-an Castle (2003), Mrs Dee Investigates (2004), and Death of a Chinese Cook (2005).

Bibliography of \"Judge Dee\" novels

(All publication dates of the Judge Dee novels are based on the UK publication.)

The Judge Dee Mysteries in the order in which they were published

The Judge Dee Stories in the order in which they were set

Judge Dee at Work contains a "Judge Dee Chronology" telling of Dee's various posts, stories -- either books or short stories -- set during that posting, and giving information about the stories. The chronology lists the works in this order:

Poets and Murder and Necklace and Calabash, which are not listed in the chronology were both set when Dee was magistrate of the district of Poo-yang where The Chinese Bell Murders was set.

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
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