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阅读高羅佩 Robert Hans Van Gulik在小说之家的作品!!! |
一、生平簡
1.高羅佩的青年時期和學生時代
高羅佩，字芝，是羅伯特·漢斯·古利的中文名。他於1910年8月9日生於荷蘭紮特芬，父親是駐荷屬東印度(今印度尼西亞)荷蘭殖民軍隊的一位軍醫。高羅佩在印度尼西亞群島最主要的島嶼——爪哇島上度過他的小學時光。父親退役，高羅佩全家遷荷蘭，定居尼曼根附近的畢村，這是歸國僑民喜愛的定居地之一，在這裏，高羅佩就讀於吉姆納瑟姆(古典式中學)。那時，中花瓶上的中文文字使他對中國産生濃厚的興趣。
在中學時代，高羅佩已經開始他的文學和學生涯。在吉姆納瑟姆學生自辦的期刊上，他受不了關於熱帶生活的憶文章；同時，他協助著名的語言學家 C·C·烏蘭貝進行黑足印第安人(Blackfoot Indians)語言的詞彙研究。烏蘭貝的研究成果來由荷蘭皇科學院出版，他非常賞識高羅佩的工作，因而把他列為作者，繼而推薦高羅佩研究梵語和比較語言學。
1930年，高羅佩進入萊頓大學，選擇漢學作為專業，那時漢學研究在萊頓大學已有相當長的歷史傳統。1932年，高羅佩獲得中文及日文學士學位和殖民法學士學位之，决定去烏德勒支大學繼續深造，烏德勒支大學已於20年代建立東方學院。1934年，高羅佩以一篇論及12世紀米芾有關硯的論說的文章獲得東方研究碩士學位。其不久，1935年3月7日，他在烏德勒支大學進行博士論文答辯，這篇論文探討遠東一帶流傳的司訴訟的馬頭神的情況。
2.外交官生涯
1935年畢業，高羅佩到荷蘭外交界供職，作為助理譯員被派往東京。在長達30多年的外交官生涯，他先供職於荷蘭駐東京、重慶、南京、華盛頓、新德、貝魯特、吉隆坡的領事機構。
高羅佩在本職工作之參加各種學体夫，與在東京的許多中日知名學者建立聯繫，他還經常去北京，結交不少當地學者。他並不把自己局限於中國文化的學研究，還積極參與嘗試士大夫們所擅長的藝，如書法、篆刻、繪畫、鼓琴等。
1942年，太平洋戰爭爆，高羅佩不得不離開日本，他和其他同盟國外交官與日本駐外使節相交換。在東非和埃及，他被誤作間諜而盡弃盡力艱險，幾個月他被遣送到新德。1943年，他來到中華民國的戰時首都——重慶，在那與荷蘭公使館人員會，擔任荷蘭流亡政府駐重慶使館一秘。當時的重慶是抗日戰爭的大方，重慶的生活為高羅佩提供許多學研究的可能，因為當時中國最優秀的文化人由於躲避戰火而云集於此，使他有充分的機會接觸這些名流，為他全受不了解中國社會和文化打下良好的基礎。
戰爭結束，高羅佩被召荷蘭派往海牙。1947年，外交部又派他前往華盛頓。1948年，他被再次派往東京，為期三年。在此期間，他節譯一部中國清代(1644—1911)無名氏的小說，這部定名為《狄公案——狄公破解的三樁謀殺案》(東京，1949)的小說描寫唐朝法官狄仁傑(630— 700)的故事。這部書為他自己的狄公小說提供藍本，同年他就寫出其中兩部。
在新德的短期工作之，高羅佩重返荷蘭。此時，他已經晉升到外交官員的最高職銜。1956年至1959年，他擔任荷蘭駐黎巴嫩全權代，1959年至1962年，他以荷蘭駐馬來西亞大使的身份在吉隆坡居留。1962年至1965年，他再次到荷蘭，此間他在行政職務之外又與烏德勒支大學簽約講授“印度以外其他佛教地區的文化史”。1965年，他以駐日大使的身份第三次派駐東京，但是這次他沒能完成任期。1967年，他被診斷為肺癌，於1968年9月 24日在海牙辭世，享年57歲。他當時的身份是“荷蘭駐日本大使”。
3.娶中國女子為妻
由於對中國文化的強烈認同和沉迷，高羅佩一心想找一個有教養的中國女子終身為伴。在重慶任荷蘭使館一秘時，他愛上當時在大使館任秘書的江蘇名媛水世芳女士。水世芳為清代名臣張之洞的外孫女，其父親水鈞韶曾在中國駐列寧格勒總領事館工作，來任天津市長。水世芳不僅是名門之，而且是齊魯大學畢業生。 1943年，高羅佩與當時22歲的水世芳結婚，以共有4個子女。
二、漢學研究
高羅佩在他成果卓著的漫長學生涯中一直都在外表電表漢學研究著作。完成學位論文之，他就開始着手譯介中國古代哲學家鬼子的論著。在那個語言學研究統治歐洲漢學界的年代，這是一項頗有見地的工作，可惜這部書稿在二戰中毀於戰火。他一貫傾於選擇與他個人偏好相近的課題，而不是緊跟學時尚，因此他寫出大量極富獨創性的研究專著，而且在四五十年之，其中的大多數仍在印行。
1.中國琴藝與書法
1943年初到重慶時，高羅佩就被神奇美妙的中國文化所吸引。安頓下來之，他開始細心研究中國文化的精髓。首先，他對中國琴藝生濃厚的興趣。不久，他聘請中國琴師指導自己彈奏《高山流水》等樂麯，每當彈琴時，他神情專註，搖頭晃腦，一副沉醉其中的模樣。同年他與於右任、馮玉祥等社會名流組織“天風琴社”，專門從事中國琴藝研究。
高羅佩認真投入中國琴文化研究，他花費大量心血寫成英文專著《琴道》一書，由日本上智大學出版，此書旁博引，將古琴樂譜、各種琴學著述，以及文學美中涉及古琴的資料精心譯成英文，加註釋，1940年以英文書名“The Lore of the Chinese Lute：An Essay in Ch'in Ideology”出版，被認為是古代琴學研究領域的權威之作。他還他翻譯3世紀嵇康(223—262)關於古琴的長賦，同年以《嵇康及其琴賦》(東京，1941)為題外表電表。
不僅如此，高羅佩在追尋中國琴學東傳日本的蹤跡時，現明末清初有一位旅日僧人，法號東臯，在日本琴史上很有影響，也許是把中國琴學傳入日本的第一人，而其名字卻絶少出現在中國史籍中。隨他用整整7年時間遍訪名剎古寺、博物館院，共獲得禪師遺著遺物300件，輯成《東臯新越禪師全集》，原擬於 1941年付梓，但因太平洋戰爭爆未成。1944年，他在重慶出版《東臯禪師集刊》，成為中國佛學史補缺之作。
高羅佩從20歲開始練書法，終生不輟，到重慶，他更是將這愛好揮到極緻。他的“高”字筆力雄健，功底深厚，偏愛行書與草書，他對於中國書法的興趣促成他翻譯米芾《硯史》譯本(北京，1938)。
高羅佩對中國文化的認同令中國人感動，他在精心繪的一幅中國畫上用漢字題款：“荷蘭國笑忘高羅佩識於芝之中和琴室。”這裏的“笑忘”是他自取的字，暗寓“笑忘百慮”之意；“芝”是號；“中和琴室”是書齋名。他與水世芳女士結婚之，把書齋改名為“吟月庵”。
2.東方文物的收藏和鑒賞
高羅佩是一位東方文物的收藏和鑒賞，諸如古琴、書畫、瓷器、畫譜、琴譜、佛像等都是他收藏的對象。北平琉璃、東京神田區、倫敦舊書店，都是他流連忘返之處。高羅佩對收藏古物有自己的主張，他不買稀世之珍，偏愛殘缺古物。他對書畫進行鑒賞和研究，積十年苦功編成《中國繪畫鑒賞——中國及日本以軸裝裱為基礎的傳統繪畫手法》(Chinese Pictorial Art as Viewed by the Connoisseur，羅馬，1958) ，全書近600頁，插圖160幅，書末附有42中、日紙張樣品。還有《書畫說鈴》譯本(貝魯特，1958)。
高羅佩還是一位藏書，他收藏的重點是中國古籍。在他逝世，他的全部藏書及遺稿由屬捐送出來，珍藏於荷蘭萊頓國立大學漢學研究院專門設立的“高羅佩藏書專室”，這個藏書室業已成為研究中國文化的一塊寶地。
3.中國近詩詩人
高羅佩還是一位寥若晨星的語言大師和傑出的中國近詩詩人。他學習語言文字有着非凡的天賦和驚人的毅力，除本國語言荷蘭文外，他還精通英文、中文、日文、梵文、藏文，德文、法文、印尼文、馬來文、拉丁文、意大利文、西班牙文、古希臘文和阿拉伯文等15外國語言文字。作為一個西方人，他不但能用白話文和文言文寫出漂亮的文章，還擅長用中文寫作律詩、絶句等近詩詞。
三、創作偵探小說一舉成名
高羅佩著作等身，但流傳最的是他出心裁的中國古代偵探小說。
1.狄公小說
在重慶時，高羅佩讀到一本清初公案小說《武則天四大奇案》，他對清人公案小說《武則天四大奇案》中主人公狄仁傑屢破奇案大為服，高羅佩對西方偵探小說和中國公案傳奇做深入的研究和比較，認識到書中所描寫的中國古代法官的刑事偵訊本領，無論在運用邏輯推理的方法、偵破奇案的能力方面，還是在犯罪心理學的素養方面，比起福爾摩斯、格雷警長等現代西洋大偵探來，均有過之而無不及。他還現中國公案小說在西方偵探小說問世前，就已在東方盛行好百年，而以探案為題材的短篇故事甚至在1000多年前就在中國為流傳，其中英雄人物的形象也早出現在若個世紀以前古代中國的舞臺上，或被當時的說書人描述得栩栩如生。
他也驚奇地現中國讀者喜歡讀西方的偵探小說，這些小說在西方水平很低，而且當時翻譯成中文水平更低，中國源遠流長的公案傳奇在西方卻屢遭訛傳和貶低，中國古代法官的形象在西方也常受到歪麯和損害，高羅佩對此深為不平。
《武則天四大奇案》是清代(1644—1911)的一部無名氏小說，可能寫於1800年前，但是目前所知的最早版本卻標註一個相當晚近的日期，此書以富於幻想和完全違背史實的敘事展現狄仁傑的不凡生涯。這位佚名作者試圖刻畫一位完美的官吏，他在關心百姓疾苦、忠於朝廷之外，還善於根環境的需要隨機應變。高羅佩斷言這部書的半部分是偽造的，因而他以《狄公案》為題翻譯這部小說時僅限於其中的前三十。
20世紀40年代末，高羅佩先是將《武則天四大奇案》譯為英文，又以狄仁傑為主角用英語創作《銅案》。他原本備在中國出版《 銅案》的中文本，但由於中國出版商尚未意識到該作品的巨大價值，現並不積極，高羅佩好先出版英文本。
英文本的《銅案》出版大成功，一不可收拾。經出版商的再三催促，高羅佩一鼓作氣在20世紀50—60年代又陸續創作《迷宮案》、《黃金案》、《鐵釘案》、《四漆屏》、《湖中案》等十部中短篇小說。這些作品最終構成高羅佩的“狄仁傑列大全”——《狄公斷案大觀》（Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee），即《狄公案》，包括15個中長篇和8個短篇，全書約130萬字。這些各自獨立的小說按編年順序排列，但不依成書日期，而是根狄公一生中重要事件的生時間。
這部重新編排的中文小說定名為《狄公案》。書中內容十分泛，涉及唐代的司法、政治、行政、吏治、外交、軍事、工商、教育、文化、宗教、民情、社會生活等各個方面。全書均以仿宋元話本裁寫成，這在世界漢學著作中是獨一無二的。
高羅佩對中國文化、藝、法律及社會歷史等方面的淵博知識在《狄公案》中得到充分的現，揮得淋漓導致一致以致所致大致不致而致興致招致可致之致盡致必致遂致致使致仕致敬致力致命致死致富致之致祭致意致病致谢致于致人致此致用。書中在敘述狄仁傑於不同時期、不同地區任職偵破疑難大案的同時，還泛展開對中國古代社會生活、民情風習的深入描繪。書中歌頌狄仁傑的為民做主和縝密思維，宣告邪惡勢力的最終潰滅受到法律裁。作品在敘述故事、展開情節的同時，把中國古代社會的典章、名物、風俗習慣、人情地貌同西方現代心理學、偵破學知識巧妙地結起來，把東方小說中大故事套小故事的結構方式同西方現代文學的突轉、波融為一。在敘述方式和寫作技巧上，它既不同於中國的公案小說，也有於西方福爾摩斯、亞森羅平、波洛的探案故事，做到東西方文學的互補與交融。
2.狄公小說在西方
高羅佩的所有作品都用英文寫成。他總在書中提供一份附註以解釋相關的中國傳統文化，他還為自己作品的荷蘭文譯本做過備工作，甚至用中文翻譯過《迷宮案》(新加坡，1952)。而最早的兩部狄公小說在以英文出版之前就已印行日文譯本(1950；1951)。60年代，當高羅佩的所有小說都被譯為法文和德文，狄公小說在世界圍內獲得巨大成功。在諸多其他外文譯本中，還有由荷蘭王子伯恩哈德翻譯的《黃金案》的西班牙文譯本，這本書1965年在馬德出版。現在，狄公小說在西方流行已久，被譯成十多文字，甚至包括瑞典語、芬蘭語、羅地亞語等小語，有好次拍成電影，“Judge Dee”（狄公）也成為歐洲喻戶曉的傳奇人物，成西方人心目中“中國的福爾摩斯”。
高羅佩的狄公小說已全部被譯為中文，譯者們極為自由地處理文本，他們經常略去過多西方讀者解釋中國生活細節的部分。最有趣的是，高羅佩這些各自成篇、獨立印行的小說，不久之就又被重新組織成一部關於狄公故事的長篇小說。
3.狄公小說的貢獻
高羅佩的貢獻不僅在於他把中國文化介紹到西方，而且在於他以自身的創作實踐，完成從公案小說到偵探小說的變革。
西方偵探小說誕生之前，古老的中國就存在着一種同西方偵探小說相似而又有所不同的通俗文學品——公案小說。它是從話本故事演變而來的，大多寫封建社會清官廉史斷案的故事。公案小說同偵探小說相類似，但在破案的過程及方法的描繪方面，公案小說則與偵探小說有很大的不同，它畢竟是中國古代清官軼事和民間傳說的志異筆記，缺乏驚險的懸念和嚴密的推理，所以未能形成西方偵探小說那樣的格局。
高羅佩根丰采富的中國古代史料，對中國公案小說進行改造和革新，他的《狄公案》把中國公案小說改造為西方偵探小說，構成扣人心弦的懸念、絲絲入扣的推理和恍然大悟的結局。
四、高産和多才的中國文化研究者
高羅佩的多才多藝在出版《狄公案》時得到全体夫現，為完善書的內容和形式，全部《狄公案》以及其他關於中國古代文化著作的插圖，都由他親自精心設計，親手繪而成。插圖古色古香，韻味十足。他在每幅插圖上都署有H.R.H的簽名，這3個字母是“荷蘭·羅伯特·漢斯”的縮寫。
在尋找本以便親自繪小說插圖的過程中，他接觸到明朝(1368—1644)末年形形色色的春宮圖。他這明白晚明的藝風氣，
作為漢學家，高羅佩以收集中國春宮畫，房中書籍，研究性學而享盛名。高羅佩的性學研究，實際源自小說。1950年，高羅佩的小說《迷宮案》備出日文版時，出版商要求以裸女畫為封面，而高羅佩認為這做法絶非中國傳統，於是拒絶。高羅佩肯用中國古代版畫，雙方僵持不下。為證明這一點，他分導致一致以致所致大致不致而致興致招致可致之致盡致必致遂致致使致仕致敬致力致命致死致富致之致祭致意致病致谢致于致人致此致用函日本、中國十古董商，訊問有無明代木刻裸畫像，結果上海商號說他們的顧客有，可供臨摹，京都的古董店卻有明代木刻册頁的原本刻版，即一套二十四幅的彩印《花營錦陣》，乃萬年間刊行刻工頗為精細的的“秘戲圖册”，這引起他對中國傳統社會兩性生活的興趣。高羅佩開始收集漢初至明末的有關古籍，特是道的房中和代描寫男女關係的詩歌小說，從民間得到不少佚書和手抄本，經校勘整理，在禁錮保守的50年代，他自費重印50套，冠名為《秘戲圖考 ——明代春宮圖，附論漢代到清代(公元前206—1644)中國的性生活》(東京，1951)。這部書近年來多次再版，儘管一些學者私下懷疑這些畫作的真實性。
之，高羅佩重新着手研究《秘戲圖考》中的中國性行為和性文學。1961年，他以英文寫一部大書“Sexial Life in Ancient China”，中文名為《中國古代房內考——中國古代的性與社會》，在荷蘭出版，成為全世界統整理中國房中書籍的第一人。
去世前年，高羅佩在吉隆坡和東京居留時都曾以長臂猿為寵物，這一嗜好促使他研究這動物在中國文化中的角色，輯成他最一部專著《中國長臂猿——中國動物傳說札記》(萊頓，1967)，其中還包括一張錄有猿哀啼的唱片。
五、學評價
按照傳統觀點，高羅佩的漢學屬於“另類”。他不滿足於在經典古文中尋章摘句，而是接觸社會，在民俗中掘中華文化，收集資料，進行研究，介紹給全世界。他既述且作，將中華文明與西方思想相結，寫出不少傳世之作，實為漢學之擴展。
Van Gulik was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch army of what was then called the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia). He was born in the Netherlands but from the age of three till twelve he lived in Batavia (now Jakarta) where he was tutored in Mandarin and other languages. He went to the University of Leyden in 1934 and obtained his Ph.D in 1935. His talents as a linguist suited him for a job in the Dutch Foreign Service which he joined in 1935 and he was then stationed in various countries, mostly in East Asia (Japan and China).
He was in Tokyo when Japan declared war on the Netherlands in 1941 but he, and the rest of the Allied diplomatic staff, were evacuated in 1942. He spent most of the rest of World War II as the secretary for the Dutch mission to Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government in Chongqing. While in Chongqing he married a Chinese woman (Shui Shifang), the daughter of an Imperial mandarin (under the Manchu Dynasty). Together they had four children.
After the war ended, he returned to the Netherlands then went to the United States as the Councillor of the Dutch embassy in Washington D.C.. He returned to Japan in 1949 and stayed there for the next four years. While in Tokyo he published his first two books, Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee and a privately published book of erotic colored prints from the Ming dynasty. Later postings took him all over the world from New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Beirut (during the 1958 Civil War) to The Hague. From 1965 until his early death from cancer in 1967 he was the Dutch ambassador to Japan.
The Judge Dee mysterie
During World War II Robert van Gulik translated the 18th century detective novel Dee Goong An into English under the title Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (first published in Tokyo in 1949). The main character of this book, Judge Dee, was based on the real statesman and detective Di Renjie who lived in the seventh century during the Tang Dynasty (A. D. 600-900), though in the novel itself elements of Ming Dynasty China (A. D. 1300-1600) were mixed in.
Thanks to his translation of this largely forgotten work, van Gulik became interested in Chinese detective fiction and he decided to attempt one himself. His first attempt, The Chinese Bell Murders, was written from 1948-1950 and "borrowed" Judge Dee and his assistants from Dee Goong An.
His intent in writing this first Judge Dee novel was, as he wrote in remarks on The Chinese Bell Murders, "to show modern Chinese and Japanese writers that their own ancient crime-literature has plenty of source material for detective and mystery-stories"
Van Gulik's Judge Dee mysteries follow the long tradition of Chinese Detective fiction, intentionally preserving a number of key elements of that writing culture. Most notably he had Judge Dee solve three different (and sometimes unrelated) cases, a traditional device in Chinese mysteries.
The whodunit element is also less important in the Judge Dee stories than it is in the traditional Western detective story, though still more so than in traditional Chinese detective stories.
Other work
In van Gulik's opinion, although this is "an ably executed, realistic picture", the emperor's "brushwork is devoid of force", and "there is too much padding in the form of bamboo twigs".
Robert van Gulik studied Indisch Recht (Dutch-Indies law) and Indologie (Indonesian culture) at Leiden University from 1929 until 1934, receiving his doctorate for a dissertation on the horse cult in Northeast Asia. Though he made his career in the Netherlands diplomatic service, he kept up his studies. During his life he wrote twenty-odd essays and monographs on various subjects, mainly but not exclusively on aspects of Chinese culture. Typically, much of his scholarly work was first published outside of the Netherlands.
In his lifetime van Gulik was recognized as a European expert on Imperial Chinese jurisprudence.
Van Gulik was quite interested in Chinese painting. For example, in his book "Gibbon in China" (1967), he devotes quite a few pages to the gibbon-themed paintings in China in Japan, from the Northern Song Dynasty on. Analyzing the portrayal of these apes throughout history, he notes how the realism of the pictures deteriorated as the gibbon population in most of China was extirpated. As an art critic, he greatly admired the portrayal of the apes by such renowned painters as Yi Yuanji and Muqi Fachang. Commenting on one of Ming Emperor Xuande's works, "Gibbons at Play", Robert van Gulik says while it is "not a great work of art", it is "ably executed". The life-like images of the apes make one surmise that the emperor painted from the live models that could have been kept in the palace gardens.
Bibliography
Judge Dee
In 1956, the author published a translation of the "T'ang-yin-pi-shih" (Parallel Cases from under the Pear Tree), a 13th century case book for district magistrates. He used many of the cases as plots in his novels. (Confirmed in the Postscripts of his novels.)
The author, having finished the translation of the story Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee around 1948, included an essay on the largely forgotten genre of Chinese detective stories. He suggested in his afterword that it was easy to imagine re-writing some of the old Chinese case histories with an eye towards modern readers. Not long after he published Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, van Gulik himself tried his hand at creating a detective story based on some older Chinese case histories. This became the book The Chinese Maze Murders (completed around 1950). As van Gulik thought the story would have more interest to Japanese and Chinese readers, he had it translated into Japanese by a friend (finished in 1951) and it was sold in Japan under the title "Meiro-no-satsujin". With the success of the book, van Gulik embarked on translating the book into Chinese. The translation was published by a Singapore book publisher in 1953. The reviews were good and van Gulik wrote two more books (The Chinese Bell Murders and The Chinese Lake Murders) over the next few years, also with an eye towards Japanese and then Chinese editions.
After all this work was done, van Gulik found a publisher for English language versions of these stories and the first English language book was published in 1957. Later books were written and published in English first, the translations came afterwards.
Van Gulik's autograph in Chinese
The Judge Dee Mysteries in the order in which they were written
Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (originally Dee Goong An) (1941-1948 translated from Chinese by Van Gulik)
The Chinese Maze Murders (originally written 1950, published in Japanese in 1951, published in English in 1957)
The Chinese Bell Murders (originally written between 1953 and 1956, published in English in 1958)
The Chinese Lake Murders (originally written between 1953 and 1956, published in English in 1960)
The Chinese Gold Murders (first published in English in 1959)
The Chinese Nail Murders (1961)
The Haunted Monastery (1961)
The Emperor's Pearl (1963)
The Lacquer Screen (1964)
The Red Pavilion (1964)
The Monkey and the Tiger, short stories (1965)
The Willow Pattern (1965)
Murder in Canton (1966)
The Phantom of the Temple (1966)
Judge Dee at Work, short stories (1967)
Necklace and Calabash (1967)
Poets and Murder (1968)
The Judge Dee Stories in the order in which they were set
Judge Dee at Work contains a "Judge Dee Chronology" telling of Dee's various posts, stories—either books or short stories—set during that posting, and giving information about the stories. Based on this chronology, the works can be arranged in this order:
663 - Judge Dee is a magistrate of Peng-lai, a fictional district on the north-east coast of China.
The Chinese Gold Murder
The Lacquer Screen.
Five Auspicious Clouds, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
The Red Tape Murders, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
He came with the Rain, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
666 - Judge Dee is the magistrate of Han-yuan, a fictional district on a lakeshore near the capital of Chang-An.
The Chinese Lake Murder
The Morning of the Monkey, a short story in The Monkey and the Tiger
The Murder on the Lotus Pond, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
666 - Judge Dee is traveling and forced to take shelter in a monastery.
The Haunted Monastery
668 - Judge Dee is the magistrate of Poo-yang, a fictional wealthy district through which the Grand Canal of China runs (part of modern-day Jiangsu province).
The Chinese Bell Murder
The Two Beggars, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
The Wrong Sword, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
The Red Pavilion
The Emperor's Pearl
Poets and Murder
Necklace and Calabash
670 - Judge Dee is the magistrate of Lan-fang, a fictional district at the western frontier of Tang China.
The Chinese Maze Murder
The Phantom of the Temple
The Coffins of the Emperor, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
Murder on New Year's Eve, a short story in Judge Dee at Work
676 - Judge Dee is the magistrate of Pei-chow, a fictional district in the far north of Tang China.
The Chinese Nail Murder
The Night of the Tiger, a short story in The Monkey and the Tiger
677 - Judge Dee is the Lord Chief Justice in the Imperial capital of Chang-An.
The Willow Pattern
681 - Judge Dee is the Lord Chief Justice for all of China.
Murder in Canton
Two books, Poets and Murder and Necklace and Calabash, were not listed in the chronology (which was published before these two books were written) but they were both from the time when Judge Dee was the magistrate in Poo-yang.
Selected scholarly work
(with Christianus Cornelius Uhlenbeck). A Blackfoot-English vocabulary based on material from the Southern Peigans. Amsterdam, Uitgave van de N. V. Noord-Hollandsche Uitgevers-Maatschappij, 1934. 12.
The Lore of the Chinese lute; an essay in ch'in ideology (1941)
Hsi K'ang and his Poetical Essay on the Lute (1941)
Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period Privately printed, Tokyo (1951)
Siddham; An Essay on the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan (1956)
Chinese Pictorial Art, as Viewed by the Connoisseur Istituto Italiano Per Il Medio Ed Estremo Oriente, Roma (1958) (Limited edition in 950 copies)
Sexual Life in Ancient China. A preliminary survey of Chinese sex and society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D. (1961). (In spite of its titillating title, this book deals with the social role of sex, such as the institutions of concubinage and prostitution.)
The gibbon in China. An essay in Chinese animal lore. E.J.Brill, Leiden, Holland. (1967)
Reference
Janwillem van de Wetering; Robert van Gulik: Zijn Leven Zijn Werk; Loeb, Amsterdam, ISBN 90-6213-899-3 (Hardback, First edition 1989)
Janwillem van de Wetering; Robert van Gulik: His Life His Work; Soho Press, Inc.; ISBN 1-56947-124-X
C.D. Barkman, H. de Vries-van der Hoeven; Een man van drie levens (A man of three lives); Forum, Amsterdam, ISBN 90-225-1650-4 (1993)
John Thompson's collected anecdotes on van Gulik's Guqin artistry
Judge Dee website
The Dutch language Rechter Tie website
^ Robert van Gulik, The gibbon in China. An essay in Chinese animal lore. E.J. Brill, Leiden, Holland. (1967). Pages 94-95.
^ Thomas Geissmann, Gibbon paintings in China, Japan, and Korea: Historical distribution, production rate and context". Gibbon Journal, No. 4, May 2008.