Dr. Dimitri Drettas
Internationales Kolleg für Geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung "Schicksal, Freiheit und Prognose. Bewältigungsstrategien in Ostasien und Europa"
- E-Mail: Dimitri.Drettas@fau.de
Home Institution: École Pratique des Hautes Études, Centre de Recherche sur les civilisations de l'Asie orientale (France)
IKGF Visiting Fellow Dec. 2009 - Nov. 2010
(Last change of profile by end of stay.)
IKGF Research Project:
Dr. Dimitri Drettas, born on July 12, 1975, in Paris (France), is a research fellow at the IKGF and a post-doctoral member of the Research Center for East Asian Civilisations (UMR 8155 - Centre de recherche sur les civilisations de l'Asie orientale). He received his PhD in Chinese Studies with the "mention Très Honorable avec les félicitations du jury à l’unanimité" (Summa cum laude) from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris) in 2007 (advisor: Prof. Marc Kalinowski) and holds a qualification for the function of "Maître de conférences" in Chinese Language and Literature (section 15 du CNU).
Aside from a Master's Degree (2000) and a Bachelor’s Degree (1997) in Chinese Studies, both delivered by the University of Paris VII – Denis-Diderot, he also holds a D.E.A. (Diplôme d'études Approfondies) in "East Asian Humanities" (Asie orientale et Sciences humaines) from the same University (2001) and a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy from the University of Paris I – Panthéon-Sorbonne (1998). In 1997, he successfully passed the written section (admissibilité) of the public entrance examinations in Humanities Studies (section Lettres) for the école Normale Supérieure of Paris (rue d'Ulm). His Baccalauréat (série C: "Mathématiques et Sciences physiques") was obtained in 1993.
His successive stays in East Asia were funded by the following grants and scholarships:
- French Chinese exchange Scholarship: studies in Chinese Philosophy (MA level) at the Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) University (Department of Philosophy) in Guangzhou (Guangdong Province), China (Sept.1, 1998 – Jul. 30, 2000).
- Research Grant of the Center for Chinese Studies (漢學研究中心): doctoral research at the CCS section of the National Library in Taipei, Taiwan (Mar. 1, 2004 – Jul. 2, 2004).
- Research Grant of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient (French School of Asian Studies): post-doctoral research as a visiting scholar attached to the EFEO's Beijing Center (Apr. 23, 2009 – Oct. 22, 2009).
In addition to various technical and editorial tasks for the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the INALCO (National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilisations) completed between 2002 and 2008, he has worked at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Département des manuscrits, division orientale) as a scientific controller for the digitization project of the Pelliot collection of Dunhuang manuscripts (Mar. 1, 2003 – Feb. 29, 2004).
Research topics: Chinese intellectual history – Oneiromancy and dream theories – The elaboration and propagation of fangshu 方術 ("receipts and techniques")-related knowledge – Household encyclopedias (riyong leishu 日用類書, "daily-use encyclopedias") under the Yuan and Ming dynasties.
Languages other than French and English: Modern Greek, Chinese, German (read, written, spoken); Italian (read, spoken); Japanese (read).
Ancient Languages: Ancient Chinese, Ancient Greek, Latin.
Publications:
Dimitri Drettas is currently revising and updating his doctoral dissertation, Le rêve mis en ordre. Les traités onirologiques des Ming à l'épreuve des traditions divinatoire, médicale et religieuse du rêve en Chine, in view of its publication by the Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises (Collège de France). He has also completed the translation of Prof. Anne Cheng's book, Histoire de la pensée chinoise (Paris, Seuil, 1997), into Greek, under the title Ἱστορία τῆς σινικῆς σκέψης (780 p.). The book, due to be published in Athens, introduces an original system for the notation of Chinese in Greek.
Book Chapters
2003: « Oniromancie », in Marc Kalinowski (ed.), Divination et société dans la Chine médiévale - étude des manuscrits de Dunhuang de la Bibliothèque nationale de France et de la British Library, Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, pp. 369-404 (with Jean-Pierre Drège).
Review Articles
2002: Liu Wenying 劉文英, Meng de mixin yu meng de tansuo 夢的迷信與夢的探索 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2000, 371 p.), Bulletin de l'école française d'Extrême-Orient, Vol. 88, 2001, pp. 444-445.
2010: Wandering Spirits. Chen Shiyuan's Encyclopedia of Dreams, translated with an Introduction by Richard E. Strassberg. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2008, xvi + 289 p., T'oung Pao, Vol. 94, 2009 (upcoming).
Translation
1995: "Η Βάπτιση του Χριστού", in Ο Γκρέκο στην Ιταλία και η Ιταλική τέχνη (El Greco in Italy and Italian Art), Athens: Ethniki Pinakothiki (National Gallery), 1995, pp. 238-241. Translation (from French into Greek) of Ettore Merkel's article "Le Baptême du Christ de Lambert Sustris".