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The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery (Gulik, Robert Hans, Judge Dee Mystery.) PDF

337 Pages·2007·12.12 MB·english
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Preview The Chinese Maze Murders: A Judge Dee Mystery (Gulik, Robert Hans, Judge Dee Mystery.)

THE CHINESE MAZE MURDERS Judge Dee Mysteries Available from Chicago: The Chinese Maze Murders Judge Dee at Work The Emperor’s Pearl The Haunted Monastery The Lacquer Screen The Monkey and the Tiger Murder in Canton Necklace and Calabash The Phantom of the Temple Poets and Murder The Red Pavilion The Willow Pattern THE CHINESE MAZE MURDERS A Chinese detective story suggested by three original ancient Chinese plots by ROBERT VAN GULIK With nineteenplates drawnbytheauthorin Chinesestyle THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS the case of the murder in the sealed room the case of the hidden testament the case of the girl with the severed head TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637 TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London Copyright©1957byN.V.UitgeverijW.vanHoeve TheHague-Netherlands Allrightsreserved.Originallypublished1956 UniversityofChicagoPressEdition1997 PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica 09 08 07 6 5 4 3 ISBN-13:978-0-226-84878-5(paper) ISBN-10:0-226-84878-7(paper) LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Gulik,RobertHansvan,1910–1967. TheChinesemazemurders:aChinesedetectivestorysuggestedby threeoriginalancientChineseplots/byRobertVanGulik;with nineteenplatesdrawnbytheauthorinChinesestyle. p. cm. “AJudgeDeemystery.” ISBN0-226-84878-7(alk.paper) 1.DeeJen-Djieh(Fictitiouscharacter)—Fiction. 2.Judges— China—Fiction. I.Title. PR9130.9.G8C54 1997 (cid:2) 823.914—dc21 97-1028 CIP (cid:4)∞ Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimum requirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandardfor InformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrinted LibraryMaterials,ANSIZ39.48-1992. FOREWORD AFTER the appearance of my translation of the old Chinese detective novel 'Dee Goong An'* I was asked to search for other Chinese novels of that kind. However, such books are now rather scarce and moreover it proved difficult to find one that appeals equally to modern Chinese and Western taste. As a matter of fact, 'Dee Goong An' is an exception. As a rule style and contents of ancient Chinese crime and mystery stories differ so much from modern ones that they are ofslight interest to the present-day Oriental reader, and even less to the Westerner. On the other hand old Chinese crime stories contain many clever plots and much material relating to the detec tion of crime. I thought, therefore, that it would be an interesting experiment to write a Chinese-style detective story myself, utilizing plots found in Chinese stories from bygone times. I engaged upon this experiment mainly in order to prove to present-day Chinese and Japanese authors that it is possible to write a detective-novel in traditional Chinese style that yet appeals to the modern Oriental reader. I thought this all the more worth while since at present the • Dee Goong An, threemurdercasessolvedbyJudge Dee. An old Chinese de tective novel translated from the original Chinese with an introduction and notes, by R. H. van Gulik, Litt.D.; one illustrated vol. publ. Tokyo 1949. v book-market in China and Japan is flooded with bad translations of third-rate foreign thrillers, while their own ancient crime novels are practically forgotten. When I had completed my English manuscript of 'The Chinese Maze Murders', it was translated into Japanese by Professor Ogaeri Yukio, and published in 195 by the Kodan-sha in I Tokyo, under the title Meiro-no-satsujin,with a preface by the well known Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Rampo. Then I myself prepared a Chinese version, which was published in Ig53 by the Nanyang Press in Singapore, under the title Ti-jen-chieh-chi-anB.oth editions were favour ably received in the Chinese and Japanese press. Encourag ed by this success I wrote two more 'Judge Dee' novels, 'The Chinese Bell Murders' and 'The Chinese Lake Mur ders', of which a Chinese and Japanese version is now in preparation. Having thus attained my main object, it occurred to me that also Western readers might perhaps be interested in this new type ofcrime novel. Therefore I decided to publish my English text of'The Chinese Maze Murders', an additi onal motive being that the Chinese element has been intro duced sooften by Western writers ofdetective stories that I thought that the reader might be interested in seeing how it looks in genuine Chinese garb. For information on the background of the present novel and the Chinese sources utilized the reader is referred to my Postscript at the end of the book. Here it may suffice to say that I borrowed three plots from ancient Chinese sources, rewriting them as one continuous story centering round the famous ancient Chinese master-detective Judge Dee. I retained the typical features ofold Chinese detective novels, such as the prologue which gives some idea of the main events of the story itself, the chapter headings in two parallel lines, the peculiar Chinese device of letting the VI detective solve a number of cases simultaneously, etc., and in general tried to preserve as much as possible Chinese style and atmosphere. The scene of my story is laid in Lan-fang, an imaginary border town ofChina during the seventh century A.D. The reader willfind aChinese map ofthat city on page xiv ofthe present publication. The plates were drawn by me in the style of book-illustrations of the Ming Dynasty. All the credit of what may be found satisfactory in this novel must go to the ancient Chinese writers who evolved the plots. All its shortcomings must be blamed on the present author. The Hague, spring 1956 ROBERT VAN GULIK VII DRAMATIS PERSONAE It should be noted that in Chinese the surname, here printed in capitals, precedes the personal name. Main Characters: DEE Jen-djieh, newly appointed magistrate of Lan fang, a town district on the Northwest border of the Chinese Empire. Referred to as 'Judge Dee', or 'the judge'. HOONG Liang, Judge Dee's confidential adviser and sergeant over the constables of the tribunal. Referred to as 'Sergeant Hoong', or 'the ser geant'. MAJoong) h li ~ the tree trusted eutenants of TAO Gan' · ~ Judge Dee CHIAO 1at Personsconnectedwith' The Murderin theSealedRoom': DING Hoo-gwo, a General living retired in Lan-fang. Found murdered in his own library. DING Yec, aJunior Candidate of Literature, his only son. Referred toas'Candidate Ding', or 'Young Ding'. Woo Feng, son of Commander Woo of the Board of Military Affairs in the capital. A Junior Can didate of Literature and amateur painter. VIII Personsconnectedwith 'The Hidden Testament': Yoo Shou-chien, an ex-Governor who died while living retired in Lan-Fang. Mrs. Yoo, neeMEl, the Governor's young second wife. Mrs. LEE,a painter, friend of Mrs. Yoo. Yoo Kee, the Governor's eldest son by his first wife. 'ioo Shan, infant son of Mrs. Yoo. Personsconnectedwith 'The Girlwith theSeveredHead': FANG, a blacksmith. Later appointed headman of the constables of the tribunal, and hence referred to as 'Headman Fang' or 'the headman'. White Orchid, his eldest daughter. Dark Orchid, his second daughter. His son. Others: CHIEN Mow, the local tyrant who usurped power in Lan-fang. LIU Wan-fang, his eldest counsellor. Corporal LING, a deserter from the regular army, reinstated by Judge Dee. Orolakchee, an Uigur chieftain. His real name is Prince Ooljin. His false name 'Orolakchee' means agentor representative. The Hunter, accomplice of Orolakchee. Tulbee, an Uigur girl. OccursinChapterXIX only: Master Crane Robe, an old recluse. IX

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