著者

孫 軍悦 Sun Junyue

出版者

名古屋大学大学院文学研究科附属日本近現代文化研究センター

雑誌

JunCture : 超域的日本文化研究 (ISSN:18844766)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.3, pp.182-194, 2012-03-06

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This paper examines how the concept of the detective novel, introduced to China by Japan, changed under the unique historical circumstances in China following the Cultural Revolution, and what type of function this served in Chinese society with its new "economic reforms." Owing to the ambiguity in the meaning of the Chinese characters for the concept of "reason," detective novels became associated with logic and law. With their strong connections to the newly-founded field of research in forensic reasoning, detective novels were theorized anew as "science" and "law" literature, prompting the legalization of the detective story genre, which had previously been criticized as "typical bourgeois literature." Consequently, the publication of translated detective novels became a point of conflict between the forces promoting democracy and a constitutional government and those steeped in socialist ideology. A new literary genre of "legal literature" was born in the midst of this struggle, which still retains various functions in present Chinese society.