The Use of Chinese Supernatural Elements in van Gulik＇s Series Judge Dee Mysteries

上世纪中期,博学的荷兰汉学家罗伯特·汉斯·凡·古立克(高罗佩)深为中国古典公案小说所吸引,并受其人物、情节和结构的启发,写下了一系列探案小说(1959-1967),旨在引导西方读者认识一种在西方几乎不为人知的文学类型。在他看来,由于与西方侦探小说的鲜明惯例存在诸多差异,传统写法的中国公案小说无法吸引西方读者。凡·古立克概括了中西侦探小说的5大显著区别,并创作了自己的系列探案小说,试图尽可能地忠实于公案小说传统,但为了不使西方读者感到疏离,又对一些习见的中式特征(如超自然因素)做了省略或修改。本文通过比较作为这位荷兰汉学家研究起点的中国小说《狄公案》(成书于约1890年)和凡·古立克自己创作的狄公探案传奇,考察他是如何在不违背以现实主义为主的西方经典侦探小说形式的同时,加入了中国的超自然因素。

In the middle of the last century the erudite Dutch sinologist Robert Hans van Gulik, strongly fascinated by Chinese traditional crime literature （gong＇an xiaoshuo）, wrote a series of detective novels （ 1959 - 1967 ） inspired by Chinese gong＇an xiaoshuo Characters, plots and structures. His aim was to direct a Western audience toward a kind of literature almost unknown in the West. In his opinion, Chinese gong＇an xiaoshuo, in their traditional form, could not attract a Western audience because of the discrepancies with the well-marked conventions of Western detective stories. Van Gulik outlined five significant discrepancies between Chinese and Western detective stories, then wrote his own series, attempting to be as faithful to the gong＇an xiaoshuo tradition as possible but omitting or modifying some of the conventional Chinese features （such as the supernatural elements） in order to not alienate the Western reader. By comparing the Chinese novel Di Gong＇an （circa 1890）, which was the starting point of the Dutch sinologist＇s study, and van Gulik＇s own Judge Dee mysteries, this essay will investigate how van Gulik could include Chinese supernatural elements without betraying the classical Western detective form with its large component of realism.