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A Hero of Two Times: Erast Fandorin and the Refurbishment of Genre

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A Hero of Two Times: Erast Fandorin and the Refurbishment of Genre Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Robert Alan Mulcahy, M.A. Graduate Program in Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Helena Goscilo, Advisor John Davidson Yana Hashamova Jessie Labov Copyright by Robert Alan Mulcahy 2013 Abstract This study investigates the popular Adventures of Erast Fandorin series of Boris Akunin, Russia’s best-selling author of detective fiction. With the aid of Mikhail Bakhtin’s concepts of the chronotope and the zone of maximal contact, it addresses questions of genre (in a transnational context), serialization, and the role of zlobodnevnye voprosy (‘current issues’) in historical fiction. My analysis locates Akunin in the history of international detective fiction in order to appraise his contribution not only to the genre but also to modern Russian literature. To account for Akunin’s influential status in his home country, I hypothesize the reasons for the extraordinary success of his works and the cult around the protagonist of the series, as well as the significance of Fandorin’s values for contemporary Russian society. ii Acknowledgements During the entire course of this project I have been tremendously fortunate to have had the intellectual guidance and moral support of my advisor, Dr. Helena Goscilo, whose enormous patience and enduring trust in me helped to ensure that this thesis was eventually written. I would like to profoundly thank Dr. Goscilo for the time and effort she has invested and for the results of our collaboration. Our frequent meetings helped me to broaden my horizons, focus my thoughts, and refine my ideas. My prose, she tells me, has improved immeasurably. I also would like to thank my committee members—Dr. Yana Hashamova, Dr. Jessie Labov, and Dr. John Davidson for agreeing to be part of this project. I appreciate the time that they have sacrificed in reading the thesis. Lastly, I must express my gratitude to Boris Akunin and his inspiration to create such a memorable detective hero, without whom this dissertation would not have existed. iii Vita December 1992 …………………………………… B.A. German and Russian, University of Northern Iowa November 1995 …………………………………. M.A. Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto 2009 to present…………………………………… Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures, The Ohio State University Fields of Study Major Field: Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures iv Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………………..iii Vita ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….iv Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………...1 Chapter 1: Revision or Revolution?: Boris Akunin and the Detective Genre…..…20 Chapter 2: The Fandorin Chronotope: Time and Setting………………………………....68 Chapter 3: The Celebrity Detective as Post-Soviet Hero………………………………...117 Chapter 4: Investigating the Case: Plot and Devious Plotters…………………….......155 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….……………199 References……………………………………………………………………………………………….…210 Appendix: Plot Summaries…………………………………………………………………………..221 v Introduction Triple Identity: A Marketable Formula Uniting Russia’s Past and Present “ .”1 Grigorii Chkhartishvili Я не бальзамировщик трупов, а продавец в розницу — “С точки зрения литератора детективный жанр это попытка соединить2 две несоединимые вещи: психологическую Boris достоверность Akunin с неожиданным финалом.” “To accept a mediocre form and make something like literature out of it is in itself rather an accomplishment.” Raymond Chandler3 “Today there is undoubtedly an increased interest in detective fiction […] It is apparent that publishers and readers are continuing to look for well-written mysteries which afford the expected satisfaction of a credit plot but can legitimately be enjoyed as serious novels. A number of novelists have successfully moved between detective -fiction and mainstream novels.” Talking About Detective Fiction fiction, non “Genre fiction is not art?” P.D. James, A cursory glance at recent bestselling books in the United States, Great Britain, and Russia reveals that titles by authors who write genre fiction 1 retail seller.” From a March 2002 interview with Chkhartishvili (< >). 2 “I’m not an embalmer of corpses, but a incongruent http://www.arba.ru/art/849/3 3 F“From the literary viewpoint, the detective genre is an Raymondattempt to Chandler unite two Speaking . things: psychological believability with an unexpected finale.” rom a letter to Helga Greene, dated 25 May 1956. See Eds. Dorothy Gardiner and Katherine Sorley1 Walker. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997: 94. continue to dominateisham those(legal lists. thrillers For instance, Nicholas Sparks (romantic toppedfiction), The John New Gr York Times bestseller), listand on George 22 April R.R. 2013; Martin Dan (fantasy) Brown é (crime fiction) fiction)(detective scored thriller), near Johnthe top Le Carrof Amazon.uk’s bestse, andlling Harlan books Cobenfor the (crime week of 22 April 2013; and Maks Frai (fantasy), Boris Akunin (detective fiction), and Stephen King (fantasy/horror) were among the bestselling authors on the “Moskva” ranking, one of Moscow’s largest booksellers. Yet despite commercial notand beingpopular ‘real success, art’ literary and cultural critics have decried genre fiction Peter for 4 (Theodor Adorno, Harold Bloom, Arthur Krystal). theSwirski nexus sums of m up this sentiment as follows: “Numerically, at least, genre fiction— oris odern culture, but this very popularity means that it is not art so goes the tacit consensus” (5). After all, he continues, “if genre literature were art, it would not appeal to so many people” (Swirskid moral5). values of readers The social beliefs, aesthetic preferences, an invariably change from generation to generation, with each new era reassessing televisionits priorities. to popular Popular music genres and ranging video from games fiction, reflect magazines, these shifting cinema, cultural and and social priorities, inevitably affecting other cultural products in a dialogical highbrowmanner. In literature. practice, popularMikhail Bakhtin’sgenres frequently concept ofinfluence dialogism and posits intersect that withone more 4 See Adorno’s and Max Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment 2012 issue of The New Yorker. (1944) and Arthur Krystal’s article “Easy Writers: Guilty Pleasure2 Without Guilt,” published in the 28 May literary work (and, by extension, all language and thought) is in constant whatdialogue will with follow. multiple Intrepid preceding readers works,are drawn ideas, to andall kinds utterances, of literature and anticipates and are not e bookshelves of many bibliophiles are filled with worksafraid tothat mix encompass genres. Indeed, a wide th range of genres. Part of the appeal of popular thatliterature you are is itsreading familiarity: for the “Popular first time. literature It always never seems seems like something the kind of you literature are reading for the second or third—or millionth—time” (Fielder 200). Readers are drawn to popular fiction because they know that they will embark on an exciting en towards the actionadventure-packed and climaxreach a through predictable a series conclusion, of riveting but episodes will be driv that will prove to be pleasurableOne of and the entertaining, more popular albeit genres possibly over the surprising past century and unnerving. and a half has been detective or c rime fiction, perhaps because it engages a basic human desire for justice, right conduct, and preservation of the status quo. As a testament to its verytimeless long appeal, time. Early the detective examp story in some form or otherOedipus has been Rex aroundHamlet for a Macbeth Crime andles Punishment include biblical stories, Allan Poe, with the, , and later, . Yet it was Edgar publication of “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”ormulas. (1841) who Centered set the on standard a murder for the ‘whodunit,’ one of the genre’s fundamental f or crime solved by the detective protagonist (and, by extension, the reader) through investigation, deduction, the gathering of clues, and scientificized thinking, 3 the detective/crime novel relies on an organized structure, recogn allan humanconventions, desire ch to solveging an puzzles,enigma. andThe agenre logical satisfies resolution a basic that need answers for justice an innate and order in society inasmuch as the perpetrator is usually discovered and ultimately pays for the crime, thus providing reassurance that evil will not remain unpunished. Like many popular genres,- the detective novel attracts readers through its formulaic structure, fast by pacedthe current plots, international unexpected twists popularity and turns, and exciting denouements. Judging of bestselling detective and crime fiction authors such as Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, Stieg Larsson, P.D. James, Ruth Rendall, John Grisham, its appeal Michael and Connolly, continues toand entice Mary readers Higgins who Clark, want the todetective escape fromgenre the has proverbial not lost trials and tribulations of their daily lives. When Grigorii Chkhartishvili (b. 1956), writing undere publication the pseudonym of his firstBoris detective Akunin, burstnovel ontofeaturing the literary the handsome stage
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