Robert van GulikRobert Hans van Gulik (August 9, 1910 – September 24, 1967) was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat, musician (of the guqin) and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries. Van Gulik grew up in Indonesia where he was tutored in Mandarin. He joined the Dutch Foreign Service in 1935 and was stationed in various countries: Japan, China, India and Lebanon during the 1958 Civil War there. From 1965 until his death of cancer in 1967 he was ambassador to Japan.
He is best known for his Judge Dee stories, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An, which itself was loosely based on the adventures of a historical figure, the Confucian magistrate Judge Ti, Di or Dee.
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Judge DeeJudge 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 T’ang court. During the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) in China, a “folk novel” was written set in former times, but filled with anachronisms. Van Gulik found in Dee Goong An an original tale dealing with two cases simultaneously, and, which was unusual among Chinese mystery tales, a plot that for the most part lacked an overbearing supernatural element which could alienate Western readers. He translated it into English.
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| August 9 was Robert van Gulik's 100th birthday | |
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