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3 internautes sur 3 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile :
5.0étoiles sur 5
A Unique Detective Novel, Nov. 18 2007
During the later years of the Second World War, Robert Van Gulik translated an interesting and a unique detective novel entitled "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An)," which was written by an anonymous author in the eighteenth century. The novel drives the readers to experience three mystery crime cases of Judge Dee, an important district magistrate in the ancient Chinese culture during the seventh century. There are three crimes that were solved during the course of the detective novel, which were the case of "The Double Murder at Dawn," the case of "The Strange Corpse," and the case of "The Poisoned Bride." The investigations of the cases in the book were carried out by Judge Dee himself; he later solved those crimes throughout the novel.
There are thirty chapters in the novel with the addition of the "Translator's Preface," which the translator pointed out the difference between the Western and Chinese novels, described the five main characteristics of Chinese detective stories, gave a historical background of a Chinese detective novel, "Dee Goong An," and its three mystery cases, and he discussed the history of a pre-modern Chinese judicial system and a real-life Judge Dee of seventh century. In addition to the book, there is a short "Interlude" section between the fifteenth and the sixteenth chapters where it is written as a single scene of a theatrical play in which the readers have to use their minds to figure out which characters of the novel that the actors represented based on their psychological analysis (p. VI-VII). Throughout Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, one can understand a pre-modern Chinese judicial system in the seventh century by looking at how did Judge Dee approached three murder cases, how did he solve these cases, and what were the outcomes.
"Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee" explores three murder cases of Judge Dee in the seventh century China. In the novel, Judge Dee solved the murder cases independently from one another during the corresponding time period. But the cases did not come to the judge at the same time. The first case called "The Double Murder At Dawn" came to Judge Dee just before the convening tribunal when an old man by the name of Koong Wan-deh approached the judge with a case of the murders of two silk merchants. Judge Dee approached this first case with a careful investigation as he had followed the strict Chinese code. However, there were rising complications because the judge could not quickly solve the case because he did not find a real criminal. The second case, "The Strange Corpse," did not come to Judge Dee because the murder had occurred a year earlier. He came across it when he was disguised as a physician in a home of the widow with her "dumb" daughter and her mother-in-law. Because of the little girl who had "lost the power of speech," Judge Dee became suspicious of the situation with the widow and her daughter, and he soon made it a case to investigate them (p. 34-41). Judge Dee approached this second case with a discreet and a careful investigation and the help of his trusted lieutenants. The final case called "The Poisoned Bride" came to Judge Dee after the murderer of the first case was caught. This case Judge Dee approached with careful and prudent attention because the murder occurred in a high status household during a wedding ceremony. In each of these three cases, Judge Dee used his complex tactics of harsh accusation, threats, and tortures as means to achieve the solution of his murder cases.
Unlike the judges of the modern era, the judges of the pre-modern China acted as detectives and investigators to solve the crimes. It is very rare for a judge of modern times to go out either in disguise or use his official status to find clues for the murder and to catch criminals. Then again, the novel of "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee" revealed the actions of the judge of ancient times. According to the translator Robert Van Gulik, "it was in his function of judge that the district magistrate displayed his talents as a detective" (p. IX). With three murder cases in the book, Judge Dee solved them like a skilled detective would, but he had an advantage to which he had resources in his investigations, not available for the modern-day detective, which included a small number of trusted lieutenants and constables, the use of torture, the influence of the local authorities, and the guidance of dreams and ghosts.
The outcome of these three cases had doomed the lives of the criminals and favored the career of Judge Dee, which was evident in the final chapter of the novel. Obviously in the end, Judge Dee was very pleased with his judicial and detective work. While the duties of a judge and a detective were not yet separated, it would have appeared that they were the most important duties in a pre-modern Chinese judicial system during the seventh century.
By looking at how did Judge Dee approached three murder cases, how he solved these cases, and what were the outcomes in the Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, a pre-modern Chinese judicial system of the seventh century is understood. The novel drives the reader to understand how the detective-like duties of a pre-modern judge in seventh century China helped an important figure like Judge Dee to solve crimes in his district. As shown in the book, one can observe that the actions of the judge had interesting qualities in such a way that not any modern judge could do. The novel explored three murder cases of Judge Dee and the usefulness of his detective skills led him to solve the tricky as well as the dangerous crimes.
The murder cases of Judge Dee and his adventures in Robert Van Gulik's translation of "Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee" were a great read and an interesting perspective of judicial court and a pre-modern Chinese culture during the seventh century.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
A different approach to Judge Dee, Fév 23 2004
Was this the first of the Robert Van Gulik Judge Dee mysteries? It reads like a first novel. Or perhaps the sinologist wanted to present something closer to a real Chinese mystery. In this book the Judge's assistants seem one-dimensional; they do not work well together and there is no camaraderie; and the Judge himself is a bit stiff compared to other Judge Dee books.An aspect of this book that suggests it predates others is the inclusion of unecessary accounts of travelling when nothing much happens. Similar to cheap TV westerns that consume time by showing the hero riding left and then right across the screen this book wastes pages reporting on journeying from one town to another. In other books the author omits such detail unless some incident occurs during the travel. The author was fascinated by the traditional Chinese mystery story, but worried that western and contemporary sensibilities would not understand when characters began long discourses in arts or philosophy that thrilled the original scholarly audiences. However, perhaps to give a taste of the real thing, in this book the author interrupts the story midway with an "Interlude" or divertisement in which three actors perform in a traditional skit. The story is set in the 7th Century when the monarchy had absolute and divine power. However the punishment meted out in this book seems more severe and horrifying than in other Judge Dee stories. Interrogating suspects by such torture is not usually encountered by western readers. The ones in this book are extreme and gruesome. Other Judge Dee stories do not depict such vindictiveness. Despite its many awkward aspects this book contains the usual brilliant, bizarre and fascinating solutions to the featured mysteries that are the hallmark of the Judge Dee series. Perhaps this ought to be recommended for reading AFTER all the rest.
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4.0étoiles sur 5
Different type of mystery novel, Mai 12 2003
This is a reprint of a detective novel written in the 18th century that is set in 7th century China. Written by someone well versed in Chinese law, it outs three of Judge Dee's most famous cases together into one novel. Judge Dee was a district Magistrate, a combination prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner (if necessary). Magistrates had pretty wide authority to interrogate anyone, and use any method to get a confession, including beatings and torture. But, if a Magistrate executed someone who was later found to be innocent (for instance), the Magistrate was executed.In the first case, a pair of silk merchants spend the night at a hostel in a certain town. The next morning, just outside of town, one of them is found dead. The local Warden (the town policeman) immediately accuses the hostel owner of killing, then robbing, the merchant, something the hostel owner vigorously denies. The second case involves a young bride who is poisoned on her wedding night. In the third case, a young widow and her mother live alone. The widow's husband died a year previously under less than clear circumstances. Not only does the young widow lock herself in her room for half a day every day, she also gets very angry and belligerent toward her mother whenever any men come around; not just potential suitors, but any men. As Judge Dee investigates, and interroagtes both women, the circumstances of the husband's death get more and more mysterious. Chinese detective novels are very different than their western counterparts. The culprit is introduced in the beginning of the story, and the interest is in seeing how the crime is solved. They tend to get very detailed, especially concerning the method of torture and execution, so a length of several hundred pages is common. This novel is one of the shorter ones that are available. For mystery lovers who want to read a very different type of novel, this is worth checking out. Agatha Christie has little to fear from Chinese detective novels regarding competition, but it is still worth the reader's time.
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