In 2004 Japanese author Ashibe Taku published his novel Murder in the Red Chamber, in which he adapted Cao Xueqin’s eighteenth-century Chinese classic Dream of the Red Chamber as a compelling murder mystery. In 2008 I would take on the challenge of translating Ashibe’s novel into English. This required me to draw on a wealth of primary and secondary materials. Not only did I have to familiarize myself with the novel’s peculiarities, but also with those of its Chinese source. Over these layers of text I fashioned yet another from my own engagements with Western detective fiction. In order to reconcile these disparate cultural understandings of detection and law, I assumed the role of detective myself in navigating at least two cultural milieus at any given time. Consequently, I found myself empathizing with Ashibe’s characters in an entirely new way. This thesis is a case study that investigates two questions: (1) What does it mean when the translator’s method mimics—in the target text—that of the author of the source text? (2) How have murder mystery paradigms been displaced and/or embedded in my chosen text through this process of cross-cultural rewriting? In exploring these questions I have developed a kinship with Ashibe, for we are both rewriters seeking to flesh out the evidence laid before us into admissible testimony. Whether or not I “solved the case” of this translation matters less than the adding of another layer in another language with the intent of enriching the whole.

(anglicky): In this thesis, two representative works of two post-war schools of Japanese detective fiction are analysed based on the knowledge of modern narratology. Two mentioned schools are so called social school of detective fiction (shakaiha 社会派), which appeared at the beginning of 60ties, and new authentic school of detective fiction (shin honkakuha 新本格派), which appeared at the beginning of 80ties. This thesis focuses on a theoretical understanding of the term "detective fiction", it describes the development of the detective genre in post-war Japan while focusing on the debates on "authentic" and "inauthentic" detective fiction and describes typical features of two previously mentioned schools. The by using a theoretical apparat suitable for analysing works of very schematic detective genre, two works - Points and lines (Ten to sen 点と線, 1958) written by Matsumoto Seichō 松本清張 (1909-1992) and Tokyo Zodiac Murders (Senseijutu satsujin jiken 占星術殺人事件, 1981) written by Shimada Sōji 島田荘司 (1948 - ) - are analysed. Analyses focus on composition schemes of both works and on the example translated from original works, existence or absence of elements typical for both schools are demonstrated while a different usage of these elements is showed.