Judge Tue

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Judge Tue

Richter Di is the title character of a novel cycle by the Dutch writer Robert van Gulik . The reader has followed the career of the Chinese judge for almost 20 years - through 14 novels and 2 volumes of stories. During this time, Di rises from simple district official to president of the Supreme Court.

Richter Di (Chinese: 狄仁傑; written in the German novels Di Jen-dsiä; Pinyin : Dí Rénjié) is a Sherlock Holmes of ancient China - he solves his cases primarily by analyzing the facts. Time and again he astonishes not only the reader with his conclusions, but also his four assistants who accompany him on his life path: the old Hung Liang (洪亮 Pinyin: Hóng Liàng ), who was already his father's servant, Tschiao Tai (喬泰Pinyin: Qiáo Taì ) and Ma Jung (馬榮 Pinyin: Mǎ Róng ), two former robbers who have joined the judge, as well as Tao Gan (陶 干 Pinyin: Táo Gān ), once a gifted cheat and cheat, who is now his Putting skills at the service of the law.

In 1949 van Gulik first translated the classic detective novel by an anonymous author Dee Goong An ( Chinese : 狄公 案, Pinyin : dí gōng àn ; German Strange criminal cases of Judge Di , in the Chinese original Four extraordinarily strange cases in the reign of Empress Wu , Chinese : 武則天四大 奇案, Pinyin: Wǔ Zétiān sì dà qí àn ), which was probably written at the beginning or middle of the 19th century. Then he began to write his own Richter-Di stories, taking over the main character as well as the four assistants of the judge from the Chinese original.

In his works, van Gulik adapted many criminal cases from classical Chinese literature. He also adopted another element from the Chinese literary tradition: as in the classic Chinese crime novels, van Gulik had his protagonist work on three cases at the same time in almost every novel, which are not necessarily related.

Historical role model

The model for van Gulik's fictional character was Di Renjie (630–700), a historical figure from the Tang dynasty (618–906). In the second half of his career he was Minister of State. Di became known as an opponent of Empress Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian) . While his political career is well documented, little is known about his criminal cases. His two sons, Di Guang-se and Di Djing-hui, also became civil servants, and his grandson Di Djien-mo later became governor of the capital of the empire.

The Richter-Di series by Robert van Gulik

Novels

Translated by Robert van Gulik

  • Strange criminal cases by Judge Di. An old Chinese detective novel (1949); Edited and translated from Chinese by Robert van Gulik. Translated from the English by Gretel and Kurt Kuhn. In the original Chinese four extraordinarily strange cases in the reign of Empress Wu , Chinese: 武則天 四大 奇案, Pinyin: Wǔ Zétiān sì dà qí àn; English Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee . Zurich: The Scales, 1960; Paperback edition Frankfurt: Fischer-TB-Verlag, 1980; Paperback edition Zurich: Diogenes, 1998 (detebe 23014). ISBN 978-3257230147

Written by Robert van Gulik

  • Murder in the Labyrinth (1956); (English: The Chinese Maze Murders) : Judge Di as district judge in Lan-Fang on the border with the kingdom of the Ugurs.
  • Miracles in pu-yang? (1958); (English: The Chinese Bell Murders)
  • Ghost haunted in Peng-lai (1959); (English: The Chinese Gold Murders) : Judge Dis first position as district judge. First appearance of Tschiao Tai and Ma Jung.
  • Han-yuan Lake (1960); (The Chinese Lake Murders) : Judge Di faces a national threat. First appearance of Tao Gans.
  • Acid test in Pei-tscho (1961); (English: The Chinese Nail Murders) : Judge Di's last case as a simple district judge. Loss of Hung Liang.
  • Death in the Red Pavilion (1961); (The Red Pavilion)
  • Nocturnal spook in the monastery (1961); (The Haunted Monastery) : Happened during Judge D's tenure in Han-Yuan. The judge clears up mysterious events in a monastery with the help of Tao Gans.
  • The red lacquer screen (1962); (English: The Lacquer Screen) : Judge Di's second case, during a visit to his colleague Teng Kan's district.
  • The Emperor's Pearl (1963); (English: The Emperor's Pearl)
  • Model Murder (1965); (English: The Willow Pattern) : Judge Dis Fall as President of the Imperial Court and emergency governor of the capital during a plague epidemic.
  • Murder in Canton (1965); (English: Murder in Canton) : Judge Dis definitely last case. Loss of Tschiao Tais.
  • The Phantom in the Temple (1966); (English: The Phantom of the Temple) : Judge Di's second case during his tenure in Lan-Fang.
  • Necklace and calabash (1967); (English: Necklace and Calabash) : solved by Judge Di alone, his assistants are mentioned and only appear at the end.
  • Poets and Murderers (1968); (English: Poets and Murder) : Judge Di as a guest in the district of his colleague Lo Ping-Wan.

stories

  • The Monkey and the Tiger (1965); (English: The Monkey and the Tiger) : 2 stories, one during Judge Di's tenure in Lan-Fang, the other shortly after his tenure in Pei-Tscho on the way to the capital.
  • Judge Di at Work (1967); (English: Judge Dee at Work) : 4 stories from different stations during Richter Di's career.

All works are published by Diogenes . The years refer to the first publication of the original English version. Information according to information from Diogenes Verlag.

New works by Frédéric Lenormand

The French writer Frédéric Lenormand wrote the series Les Nouvelles Enquêtes du juge Ti ( New Investigations of Judge Di ). These books have been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Czech. The first volumes appeared in German in 2016.

  • Le château du lac Tchou-an (2004), German: Das Wasserschloss am Tchou-An-See (2016)
  • Petits meurtres entre moines (2004), German: When monks murder (2017)
  • Le palais des courtisanes (2004), German: The courtesan palace (2016)
  • La nuit des juges (2004), German: The Night of Judges (2016)
  • Madame Ti mène l'enquête (2005)
  • Mort d'un cuisinier chinois (2005)
  • L'Art délicat du deuil (2006)
  • Mort d'un maître de Go (2006)
  • Dix petits demons chinois (2007)
  • Médecine chinoises à l'usage des assassins (2007)
  • Guide de survie d'un juge en Chine (2008)
  • Panique sur la Grand Muraille (2008)
  • Le mystère du jardin chinois (2009)
  • Diplomacy in kimono (2009)
  • The vert et arsenic (2010)
  • Un Chinois ne ment jamais (2010)
  • Divorce à la chinoise (2011)
  • Meurtres sur le fleuve jaune (2011)
  • La Longue Marche du juge Ti (2012)
  • Le Bon, la Brute et le Juge Ti (2015)

More Richter-Di novels

Eleanor Cooney, with the collaboration of the sinologist Daniel Altieri, has written a novel about the historical opposing couple Wu, who rose from concubine to empress, and the judge Di, which was translated into German by Verena Koch and published by Goldmann:

E. Cooney; D. Altieri: The Iron Empress - A Richter-Di-Roman. ISBN 978-3-442-43197-7