A of Two Times: and the Refurbishment of

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, ’s best-selling author of . 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 . My analysis locates Akunin in the history of international in order to appraise his contribution not only to the genre but also to modern Russian . 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 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 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 , 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 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 ,

University of

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 ………………………………....68

Chapter 3: The Celebrity Detective as Post-Soviet Hero………………………………...117

Chapter 4: Investigating the Case: 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 . A number of have successfully moved between detective -fiction and mainstream novels.” Talking About Detective Fiction fiction, non “ is not art?” P.D. James,

A cursory glance at recent bestselling books in the , 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 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 () Brown

é ()

fiction)(detective scored ), 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 ’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 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 : 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

pleasurable One 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 ‘,’ 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 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, , 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 in and1998 conscientious with th

seriesinvestigator that not Erast only Petrovich has come Fandorin, to satisfy he offered the Russian reading public a but also belongs to a literature for the newconsumers’ middle class demand—a mixture for entertainment, of pulp

(fictionsrednelobnaia and highbrow proza ).aspirations, or what one might call middlebrow fiction because during the SovietThe era detective ‘crime’ genreofficially was did relatively not exist; new therefore for Russia, it was

virtually impossible for a fictional police investigator, especially a private detective, to investigate a murder. of homegrown potboilers that 4

swept the Russian book market in the 1990s, including romances, nicheaction among novels, more detective discerning stories, readers and translations eager for more of foreign highbrow pulp fiction,prose. Akunin created a has famously said that he launched his Fandorin series because he was ashamed that his wife had to hide the novels she was reading in the Moscow metro behind a brown paper dust cover. His current status as the most popular best-selling

fromwriter his in contemporariRussia can be attributed to several factors. Above all, he stands out

es in crime fiction through his savvy references,—in a genre both consideredovert and hidden, lowbrow. to classical Russian and foreign literature

Akunin’s professional trajectory and literary significance

Grigorii Shalvovich Chkhartishvili

Georgia to a Georgian soldier and a teacherwas of bornRussian on 20literature. May 1956 Before in Zestafoni, he was

Aftertwo years developing old his anfamily interest moved in to Moscow, while attendingwhere Chkhartishvili Kabuki was raised.

theatre in Moscow,

Japanesehe decided history to study and Japanese language culture. from the In Institute1979, he ofgraduated Asia and withAfrica a degreeat Moscow in

State University. worked for the respectedOriginally literary a translator journal of Innostranaia Japanese literature, literatura Chkhartishvili [Foreign

Literature

], eventually becoming deputy editor in charge of Oriental [sic] literature, where he translated works from Japanese and English by such authors

5

Malcolmas ,Bradbury. Kenji Maruyama, Kobo Abe, Takeshi Kaiko, T. C. Boyle, and

-

During the 1990s, Chkhartishvili, like many of his contemporaries in post

Soviet Russia, went through an existentialPisatel’ crisis (Klioutchkinei samoubiistvo 5; [The Norris 67). and In

Suicideorder to deal with his problem, he wrote

], which was published in 1999ing by the prestigious academic press Novoe suicidesliteraturnoe in various obozrenie literary (NLO). works. Target Since Chkhartishvilia wide , found the itbook emotionally examines

difficult to write the book start work on a detective novel as a

form of amusement and therapy., he decided The firstto volume in what would become the

Azazel’ [translated into English as The Winter Queen

Erast Fandorin series, up-and-coming publisher hich has(2003)] since was found released commercial in 1998 success by the by publishing both highbrowZakharov, and lowbrow w

ofworks, ’ and has becomeput oneout ofthe Russia’s next three most Fandorin powerful novels presses. After the Turetskiisuccess gambit [The, Zakharov Turkish Gambit Leviafan [translated into English, all asin Murder1998 ( on the

Leviathan Smert’], Akhillesa [The Death of ]). Success came

(2004)], and Chkhartishvili went from a

completequickly, and unknown the cultural to a bestsel contextling easily author explains and cultural why celebrity in just one year.

The highly stylized novels and their intertextual allusions attract those readers

seeking ‘chAllan

can follow Fandorin’sging’ literature adventures and as perspective he tries to bring on Russian a sense history, of justice while to pre others-

6

revolutionary Russia. Azazel’ has sold fifteen million copies in Russia alone. So far,

Hesitant about being identified as an author of a lowbrow genre and eager to avoid potential criticism from his journalist

Chkhartishvili published his detective series under theand pseudonym academic peers,Boris

Akunin. The surname ‘Akunin’ has at its root two Japanese hieroglyphs—‘aku’ 5

Ruand ‘nin,’ which may be translated as ‘evil person’ or ‘evil soul.’ For— theB. Akunin educated—

ssian reader, the first name’s initial together with- the surname -century

Russianevokes associations rebel and anarchist. with Mikhail Adoption Bakunin of such (1814 a pseudonym76), a nineteenth is symptomatic of

the author’s attraction to allus

In addition to the Adventuresions, which of Erast abound Fandorin in his fiction.

published three Sister Pelagiia books depicting a crimeseries,-solving Akunin nun in has provincial

Russia at the turn of the twentieth century; and a

trilogy of novels about Fandorin’ a modernthe Nicholas-day British Fandorin historian. series,

Akunin has also launched projectss grandson,in which he attempts to write novels in

various genres Detskaia kniga (The Children’s Book tackles

children’s literature;: for instance, Shpionskii roman (A Spy Novel is a spy2005) narrative set

during World War II; Fantastika (Fantasy is structured2005) as a fantasy novel;

and Kvest (Quest is written like a computer2005) game. Akunin also has written

2008) .

5a series of cinematic , each of which represent a different Chkhartishvili revealed his identity as Akunin only after the first books in the Fandorin series were publishe hereafter I refer to Chkhartishvili as Akunin. d and were well received among critics. For the sake of consistency,

7

historicalFurthermore, adventure he recently novels admitted and a trilogy that he of is fantasy also the stories author published of a several under the

pseudonyms Anatolii Brusnikin and Anna Borisova. 6 Chkhartishvili- Kladbishchenskie istoriiIn 2004,(Cemetery Akunin, Histories writing) as

collection of shortAkunin, stories released and a in the style of the detective thriller. , a

Akunin’s creative activities are n

ot confined to fiction, for he has

hisbranched novels outhave into been other made media: into withTV series his input, and feature several films; celluloid he has adaptations an interactive of

e past few years; and

hewebsite has become and several a fixture fan sites,on both which popular have and sprung intellectual up over Russian th talk shows.

Astoundingly prolific, over the pastabout fifteen 30 years Akunin boasts an output of

“Lsome 50 books, which have sold notmillion only hascopies cemented worldwide his place (Thornhill, in

unch With the FT” N. pag). His success turned both the author and his

literarycontemporary creation Russian into bona literature, fide celebrities but also has every novel in the series a long-

awaited event. , with

6 Akunin admitted on his LiveJournal blog on 11 January 2012 that he created the figure of Anna Borisovna because he did not want to disappo claims that readers have accused him of deception whenint he readers tries to who, alter when the ‘rules they seeof the game’his name and on write a novel, a different expect kindthat theof genre book noveis a detective or adventure narrative. Akunin feminine point of view and to look at the worldl. ‘throughFurthermore, women’s in discussing eyes’ (‘ the Borisovna novels, Akunin said that he wanted to attempt a novel written from a смотреть на orderмир женскими to continue глазами’). the pretense. He even went as far as to create a digitized photo of Anna Borisovna by merging a photo of himself with that of his wife, Erika Ernestovna, in

8

Recen

genre to focustly, more however, intently Akunin on history. has begun In 2012 to move he published away from Aristonomiia the popular an ideological novel that considers , on a historical series that exploresthe the Russian history Revolution, of the Russian and hestate. is now These working more recent endeavors seem to be an indication that Akunin is trying to reinvent

prominenthimself as a voice ‘serious’ in the author mass andpublic influential protests cultural against figure.Russian Indeed, President his wasVladimir a

Putin in late 2012 and early 2013. He has also spoken out in defense of jailed

rockersRussian Pussypolitical Riot. prisoners, such as the oligarch Mikhail Khordokovskii and punk

Akunin’s astonishing success has made him one of the most highly recognized contemporary authors. Azazel’, he has received critical praise for his Ever since his first novel,

He won the Anti- booksfor his and novel translations, Koronatsiia both (Coronatio in Russian) inand 2000 abroad.; 7 The Winter Queen was placed on the short list for the British Crime Writers’

Association Dagger Award in Fiction in 2003; in 2007, he received the Noma

price for his translation intonment Russian awarded of the Akunin Japanese the authordistinguished Yukio Mishima; Order of inthe

Rising2009, the Sun; Japanese and the goverRussian version of GQ

named him Writer of the Year in 2012.

7 A literary award established by Nezavisimaia gazeta Booker Prize. in 1995 in response to Britain’s

9

Akunin’s significance for contemporary

ket

During perestroika and the turbulent 1990s, the Russian book mar

was flooded with all kinds of literature imaginable, from translations- of -

13;bestsellers Borenstein to the 1- most sordid popular novels (Nepomnyashchy 161 68; Olcott 1

ough23). his Surprisingly, novels do notAkunin include managed the formulaic to find success ingredients in such of a

market, even th

lowbrowhis popular , which often teem with sex, violence, and profanity.

In fact, novels stand out partly becaused in an old they-fashioned contain littlelanguage sex, infrequentreminiscent of nineteenthphysical aggression,-century Russian and are prosecrafte (Aron Russia’s Revolution hatever

, 140). Yet, w

his intellectual credentials may be, Akunin is, kas is one to write critic popularputs it, a books “commercial and

project” (Sorokin 267) and ‘brand,’ whose tas

(make money. I contend that Akunin has all the requisite ingredients for success:

1) he is a professional who has the backing of Zakharov, one department; of Russia’s largest(2) as a

publishing houses, with a highly influential public language relations and literature

literary critic, translator, and expert in Japanese —a knowledge he, Akunin uses

tois familiargood effect with with Russian, the reading European, public; and and Japanese (3) he culturehas been able to place his fictional protagonist in an era for which today nurture a profound nostalgia.

In the wake of the relatively peaceful breakup of the , Russia coupledplunged withinto anfinancial uncertain near era- characterized by lawlessness and confusion, which, 10 collapse, fueled a social crisis that has yet to be

resolved more than twenty years later. Akunin’s evocation of the past serves to

draw parallels with the present. His historical novels show that widespread abuses of power are as prevalent today as they were ‘then.’ Investigating how

contemporaryAkunin employs Russian history society and postmodernElena Baraban techniques (“A Country to offer Resembling his critique Russia”) of

contends that Akunin’s pre-revolutionary, Russia is a “projection of Russia’s

and that Akunin brings past and present together in his novels to

present”highlight (403)themes that are relevant to modern-day Russians. Agreeing with

Baraban that Akunin chose as his time period an era that suggests many

associations with today— -

the emergence—Lev Danilkin of liberalism, (“Ubit apo decision sobstvennomu to follow a pro

Western path, and a rise in crime

becausezhelaniiu” it includesN. pag.) further the Golden posits Age that of Akunin picked the nineteenth century

Russian literature, a period from which he

characterscould draw in on the a rich Fandorin literary series tradition. are reminiscent Indeed, many of those scenes, found motifs, in Aleksandr and

andPushkin, Lev Tolstoi Mikhail— Lermontov,all the ‘great Nikolai writers ’,’ from Fedorthe earlier Dostoevski part ofi, thatIvan era. Turgenev,

part of the reader’s enjoyment stems from recognizing these intertexts andArguably, from

the comfort of knowing that the reader is entering a familiar fictional world.

Popular fiction, with its established formula and familiar plots, furnishes such

reassurancePopular during genres times are of attractive political, because economic, they and provide social immediateunrest.

gratification in their excitement and 11 escapism. On another level, part of the

appeal of detective fiction lies in the intellectual game the author plays with the

ts add to the genre by ‘elevating’ it to a level that manyreader, readers and Akunin’s find ch Allanintertexging. Andrei Ranchin (“Romany B. Akunina i klassicheskaia traditsiia contends that by keeping plot and literary

” N. pag.) pleasureallusions inseparate, the adventure Akunin plots appeals of the to manynarratives kinds or of engage readers, in who solving can the either find i ntertextual puzzles layering the texts. I am interested in exploring the question of what Akunin brings to the genre. How does he take a formulaic genre, build on yetit, ‘tweak’ capable it, of and cornering present ana finished international product readership? that is specific and unique to Russia,

The dissertation

Akunin’s status on the Russian cultural scene is that of a popular figure

credited with erudition, originality, ertationand excellent constitutes prose. the Though first fulla handful-length of study articles on the author exist, my diss ace in what has become the genre of choicehis Fandorin in post series,-Soviet which Russia. holds a unique pl not only because Akunin has madeSuch significant a study is contributionswarranted and to overdue, contemporary I believe,

-Soviet hero who is able to

Russiantranscend literature, national butborders because and he appeal has created to a broad a post international audience.

o is singularlyMy dissertation ‘un-Russian’ argues inasmuch that Fandorin as he combines is a synthetic protagonist, one wh

threeOne : may legitimately British 12 , Russian intellectual, and Japanese samurai.

claim that he is a representative of the global society of the twenty-first century—a world that is f

amiliar to contemporary Russian readers, no longer separated from the West as a consequence of the . The aim of my study contemporaryis threefold: (1) detective to contextualize fiction so Akunin’s as to identify works their in both distinctive classical features; and (2) to

account for the widespread appeal of his novels, analyzing the plot, setting, and sleuthcharacters, has captured especially the Fandorin, attention to of determine so many at what home precisely and abroad; about a the dashing

nd, (3) theirthrough relevance literary to analysis, modern to Russian determine society. the values embodied by Fandorin and

My study consists of four chapters and a Conclusion. Chapter 1 locates

Akunin in the history of international detective fiction so as to appraise his

situates him in the history of Russian contributiondetective novels. to the The genre, current and popularity also of the crime novel is due partly to

sinpeople’sce readers psychological derive intellectual fascination and with emotional crime and stimulation also to the from aesthetic a pop factor,genre that by definition provides entertainment yet affords the opportunity to exercise one’s gray cells detective novel. reflecAs a genre closely tied to legal and social structures,trends the of the era

in which it is written. tsAlthough the dominant for ideological social, moral, reasons and the political detective genre was

not nearly as popular in the Soviet Union as in the West (though

had numerous fans among the intelligentsia

), its current widespread appeal is 13

partly indebted to Akunin and his ability to refurbish the genre in a post-Soviet environment.

Relying on the work of such detective fiction theorists as ,Heta

Stephen , John Cawelti, Marty Roth, Martin Priestman, John Scaggs, developmentPyrhönen, and of Charles the genre Rzepka, as it changed this chapter from first the tracesclassical the tradition international epitomized

andby the Agatha mystery Christie stories to theof Edgar infinitely Allan more Poe, variedArthur international Conan Doyle, crime Dorothy fiction Sayers, of today. The second part of the chapter tracks the development of the genre in

-

Russia, starting in the middle of the nineteenth century to its near disappearance during the Soviet era. Finally, the chapter ends with an andassessment early 2 of several homegrown detective authors who emerged in theDar’ia 1990s

Dontsova 000s, including Aleksandra Marinina, Polina Dashkova, and territory. , who provide a context for Akunin’s contribution to the genre on home

Chapter 2 examines the manipulation of time and place in the Fandorin novels with the aid of Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope—the relationship between chronos/time and topos is useful for any discussion of insofar/place. as Bakhtin’s time and notionplace are critical to the commission ofdetective a crime andfiction, to its investigation. ince Akunin’s novels

Moreover, s fictionalare set in world an earlier in which era, heevents needs occur. to elaborate Though aplace historical is easily chronotope particularized for the in the

Allanges is to establish a convincing

Fandorin novels, one of Akunin’s main ch 14

sense of the end of the nineteenth century. To create what Henry James called “a

an established practice of the detective

habitable background,” Akunin relies on

locations.genre: loading Although the mysteries Akunin references with specific current references events to and dates, pressing times, issues and of the

age, his historical era is not entirely rooted in historical fact. The author shapes,

‘manufactures’molds, and inverts or ‘repack the timeages’ period history for hisand own the periodpurposes. In a sense, Akunin cre that he wants to portray, containsating anelements illusion from of reality the author’s that is similar own world. to the actual historical era, but also

Chapter 3 analyzes how Akunin illuminates his detective hero as a potential exemplar for modern Russian society and casts his values as important ethical guidelines for the contemporary world. Various historical eras have

behavioralembraced a mores range ofof aheroes who represent the dominant moral, ethical, and the heroic Great Man arosespecific from age: the Georg spirit Wilhelm of the times Friedrich and personified Hegel believed the soulthat of ; Thomas Carlyle wrote about the importance of individuals in history; and Joseph Campbell highlighted a number of heroic stories that illustrate what heroes represent to and in different societies and cultures. Other commentators— — oppose the notion of individuals as

and, certainly, Marxists individuals move heroes, arguing that social forces rather than exploits of a few individualthe processes has ofgiven history. way Into thean appreciationmodern era, theof ordinary image of heroes the heroic, whose superior exploits

provide an ideal towards which one can aspire. Until the appearance of Fandorin, 15

R

Russiansussian literature had only lackeda handful exemplary of homegrown role models, personae and worthycontemporary of possible young

emulation. This issue became even more acute after the disintegration of the

Soviet Union left entire generations searching for moral archetypes during a

confusing,This desperate chapter discusses era. Fandorin’s image as conceived by Akunin and

focuses on externalization in the construction of his portrait. It speculates about

the relationship of Fandorin to his

creator, my contention being that, in a sense,

Fandorin may be considered the third part of Akunin’s triple identity:

AkuninChkhartishvili and his is literary the master protagonist behind theboth concept, live a fictive while life his that authorial has catapulted persona

them to celebrity status for reasons that I explore.

plots in Akunin’s novels adhere to or deviate from

the Chapter 4 gauges how

established formulas of detectiveindividual fiction. For developmentthe most part, secondary. plot is dominant While

Akunin’sin the detective plots are genre, straightforward with and -

series of linked episodes rather than fully developedpacked, storylines. they tend Beginning to comprise with a

Aristotle’s definition of plot (mythos) as the

even more significant than character (ethos most important element of , structural function of plot in the detective novel.), this The chapter Russian discusses Formalist the Vladimir

Propp argues that what the characters do (i.e. how they move the a

ction, their thanplacement their individuality. in the text, and Tzvetan their place Todorov in a sequencedraws on ofFormalist actions) terminology is more important to

16

storylook at of the the role crime temporality (fabula) and plays the in investigation detective fiction, (siuzhet distinguishing). I engage these between the

-Fandorin

plot.theories and others, to arrive at a tentative paradigm of the Akunin

The Conclusion revisits the major points of my four chapters before

assessing Akunin’s current standing in Russian culture and his plans for the

. It also maps out my intentions regarding future work on Akunin’s

Fandorin series.

My dissertation contributes to and expands the field by addressing three

key kind of hero for a post-Soviet age?

questionswith what: First, values how isdoes Fandorin Akunin a endownew Fandorin ofSecond, those values for contemporary Russian society what, what does is the Fandorin’s significance focus on personal responsibility say about a Russia, and struggling to form some kind of civil society to bring Akunin? Third, millions what of devoted stylistic fans?features As recentof the Fandorindemonstrations novels havein Moscow helped

accountaillustrate, the middle class has started to demand political stability,

bility, and justice. Thus Akunin’s Fandorin series perhaps not only forsatisfies the new consumers’ middle class demand—a mixture for entertainment, of pulp fiction but and also highbrow belongs to elements a literature that tackles serious issues and suggests a way of combating and surviving in a corrupt and maimed world. I believe that my dissertation

n short, I , as the first comprehensive study to analyze more than two Fandorin novels, will add to the

17

nin’s originality in

contemporaryscholarship on RussianAkunin, detectivein the process and crime pinpointing fiction. Aku

My choice of dissertation topic was dictated by personal tastes. In the

sincewords I ofpicked W. H. up Auden, my first I have Sherlock been anHolmes admitted mystery “addict” in primary of detective school fiction and was ever

transported back in time to a foggy where criminals who disappeared

into the mist were hunted down and exposed by the brilliant British sleuth. I

devoured as many of the so-called great detective novels as I could in my

childhood and continued to do so afterwards, finding the genre a pleasant way to

end a long day of work. Ever since, detective fiction has been a “guiltyves flooding pleasure” the

for me, and now, with international detective and crime narrati

market, it seems there is almost an unending source from which one can derive

satisfaction and escape the tedium of the everyday world.Russian When detective I started novel to read,was

essentiallyand later study, missing Russian from literature,comprehensive I noticed Slavic that department the reading lists and

bookstore shelves. Thus, when I heard the buzz around Akunin’s first novel in

couldthe late be. 1990s, Once I rwas curious to see what the Russian contribution to the genre

ead the first novel, I was ‘hooked’ and propelled along with other readers through the subsequent installments. In the wake of Akunin’s astonishing critical and commercial success,for the I had most expected part that an has onslaught not happened. of new

RussianIt will be detective interesting novels to see to whether appear, yetAkunin (and those who copy him) has

managed to refurbish the detective genre in Russia in such a way to lend it

18

greater respectability. Perhaps my scholarly investigation will provide some

answers, however provisional.

19

Chapter 1 Revision or Revolution?: Boris Akunin and the Detective Genre “Why does the mystery novel enjoy such enduring appeal? There is no simple answer.” Books to Die For

“…thereJohn can Connollybe no doubt and that Declan the Burke,detective story produces a reassuring relief from the tensions and responsibilities of

daily life; it is particularly populartical in theories times of or unrest, good intentionsanxiety and seem uncertainty, able to solve when or society alleviate.” can be faced with problems which no Talkingmoney, Aboutpoli Detective Fiction

P.D. James,

publishingAvid houses readers rushing across tothe keep globe up are with flocking soaring to demand. detective The fiction, interest leaving has

enthusiasm

forspread a multitude to other ofmedia televis as well, judging by the success of and public

ed police procedurals, traditional detectivereality mysteries, court

PBS Masterpiece Mystery performances, BBC TV productions,and reports of

, feature films, graphic novels, tabloid murderuestion stories, of why the crime

novelpolitical and corruption. its sub-genres These are developments so popular today. beg the Human q beings have been 8

8 In her book Talking About Detective Fiction hypothesizes why murder is such an attractive crime. She writes that “the central mystery of a detective story need not i , British crime writer P.D. James

nvolve20 a violent death, but murder remains the unique crime and it carries an atavistic weight of repugnance, fascination and fear” (11).

“manfascinated … has by some crime basic stories trait for that a very … manifests long time, itself and in perhaps a fascination one reason with tales is that of

Adventure

forcrime” the (Cawelti,products in the above52).-mentioned Elements list. of this The trait aesthetic can be factorseen in also the plays demand a 9 y treats crime as entertainment and as a means of

intellecturole, sinceal the and detective emotional stor stimulation. Interest in crime fiction and its impact on

society is not a recent development; novels by ‘canonical’ authors such as

Honoré

Balzac, Victor Huge, Alexandre Dumas, Fedor Dostoevskii, Charles

Dickens, Lev Tolstoi, and Thomas Ha rdy earlier explored the metaphysical,

moral, and social aspects of crime.

enduringAnyone appeal attempting of the mystery to answer novel Connolly should take and several Burke’s factors question into on the

el provides a social commentary on

consideration. For instance, the detective nov

pointsimportant to the issues desire of theharbored day, highlights by civilized the societies disparity for between some form law andof order. justice, and

Perhaps most importantly, crime fiction explores human nature and, through

that process, attempts to find an explanation for why we do the things that we

do. In a society beset by violent crime, unrest, and instability, the detective story

tprovideshereby removing reassurance the throughthreat of the danger capture and and confirming punishment hopes of that the perpetrator,we live in a

These days even more ‘serious’ writers are jumping onto the detective bandwagon. 9 theIrish deaths of recentJohn Banville, arrivals. who won the Man Booker Prize in 2005, has started a series featuring Quirke, a consultant pathologist in21 the city morgue, who investigates

sincemoral the and genre’s just universe. penchant The for mystery a recurring novel hero also means provides that a thesense reader of familiarity, can return

repeatedly to foll

in the knowledgeow that a thefavorite hero protagonist (almost always) on another will capture exciting the adventure, criminal and secure

emerge triumphant. The puzzle element is another attractive feature; readers of

detective fiction derive satisfaction because humans solve the mystery through

rational deduction/intellect, not by luck or divine intervention. Unlike lived

experience in the modern world, the detective story assuresdapt to changingthe reader that all

will be well. However, the genre has been forced to a

betweencircumstances good andover evil decades, has begun and into today’sblur moral troubled boundaries; times, the evil distinction is no longer

predictably eradicated according to a formulaic ending.

and pessimistic conclusions in works by such authors asYet Henning despite Ma ambiguous

and nkell, Jo globalNesbo, popularity Stieg Larsson, of the John detective Connolly, novel Ian is Rankin, a testament Stuart to readers’ Neville longing, the enduring to experience in mediated form a violent world that is often far removed from their own safe and d form. omestic environment or that reflects theirs, but in more extreme

Attacked for decades by the Soviet government for its popular nature and failure to conform to Marxist-Leninist ideolo 10 the detective genre made a

gy,

10 The Soviets claimed that the detective novel was harmful to society because it ‘taught’ criminals how to commit crimes and was anathema in a country that was ‘rooting out’

22 crime, yet the government allowed the publication of crime novels because they sold

tremendous comeback in the 1990s after the breakup of the Soviet Union. A

proliferation of daily crime, daylight mafia killings on Russian streets,uption economic were

reflectedcollapse, escalatingin the newly uncertainty resurgent about detective the future,stories andin Russia. rampant This corr trend has

continued since the first post-Soviet decade. According to a Publishers Weekly

-selling authorsreport on in the Russia Russian wrote book detective market, fiction. in 201011 Fiction seven ofremains the top the ten most best popular

authorsgenre, specifically such as Boris detective Akunin stories and Dar and’i fantasy penned upby andhugely coming successful talents

like Dmitrii Glukhovskii.12 Although accessibilitya Dontsova, to and an array of new leisure

activities in post-Soviet Russia has made Russians no longer the indefatigable

readers lauded by Western inte

remains strong and detective novelsllectuals enjoy during enormous the Soviet popularity era, readership with current

book buyers.13

well with readers hungry for excitement and brought in much-needed revenue (Miasnikov). 11 -in-Russia. 12 See “Publishing in Russia 2011” (p. 16), found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/52605756/Publishing ( -publishing-genres-authors- agentsSee “Russian- Publishing 101: Popular Genres, Authors, Agents and Advances” today.http://publishingperspectives.com/2011/08/russian 13 advances/) for a discussion of the top genres, authors, and booksellers in Russia

‘Entertainment literature’ accounted for 34.4% of the Russian book market in 2012, hbut the market is declining. Several factors are behind the drop in sales: Russians are fromreading e- fewer books, the average price of books has increased, and many bookstores-2011 in Russia.ave gone See bankrupt “Knizhnyi (due rynok to fallingRossii posales,-prez higherhnemu rents, v krizise” increased taxes, and competition ( books). Tellingly, the number of published) and “Knizhnyi titles fell rynok19.5% Rossii from 2008– - -- 2012http://bookvall.ru/art_knigoizd_ru_1.php-.html). 2012: spasenie utopaiushchikh?” (http://www.unkniga.ru/bookrinok/knigniy23 rinok/614

The detective novel: continuity and change

Murder is one of the most horrific and violent acts a person can commit;

therefore it is not surprising that detective and crime narratives present the

readerSince c rimewith isa numberan offense of religious,against societysocial,the moral, criminal and metaphysical destabilizes the dilemmas. social

,

order, violating its paranoiaestablished practices, tend laws, to prevail and values. until theIn the perpetrator classic detective is

identifiedparadigm, unease, , and fear

predating andthe crime.punished, The therebydetective returning represents society society to morein his or less the state

the existing/her quest order to bring

the criminalAdventure to justice, thus reaffirming the validity of

(Cawelti, 105). As a genre closely tied to legal and social structures,

erathe detectivein wh novel reflects the dominant the social, mystery moral, novel and is oftenpolitical used trends as a form of the

ich it is written. Accordingly,such authors as ( Twist

of social- criticism,Little Dorrit especially by- Our Mutual Friend - ) social(1837 injustices39), as factors, (1855 directly57) ,related to criminal behavior(1864 65) , who depicts recen , and more

Swedishtly bysociety Stieg. Larsson, whose trilogy exposes the underbelly of

Early narratives romanticized crime via such heroic characters as Robin

Hood and Juraj Janosik. These ‘criminals’ were portrayed as victims of a 14

14 A character in many Slovak and Polish , films, and folk songs, Janosik achieved fame through his infamous exploits, which include robbing the rich and distributing the 24

corrupt regime or personal enmity

the common people from exploitation, rebels by the and unscrupulous ‘noble’ outlaws, fighting to protect

authorities. However,

emphasiswith the rise was of placed scientific on understaapproachesnding to crimethe reasons in the fornineteenth century, greater

social background and psychological causes. criminal behavior, i.e. its

The classic British detective story or ‘whodunit’ took shape in the period

between the two world wars and established the basic formulaic schema for the

genre—a c

losed circle of suspects, often in an isolated setting; with the to appearance of a body, a mystery- 2emerges,In “The and Guilty the detective Vicarage must be calledhis essay in resolveon detective the crime fiction (Anderson (the title of24 which5). is derived from Agatha” Christie’s(1948), Murder in

the Vicarage W.H. Auden argues that a

successful detective(1930), storyMiss Marple’sshould present first case), a crime that is committed in an idyllic

rural setting. The victim must be innocent and everyone must come under

suspicion. I the corpse is out of place and causes alarm amongn this the uniqueupper-middle, tranquil-class setting, denizens. Though suspects proliferate identity of the criminal is concealed until the end. Almost always an o , the the criminal eventually and inevitably utsider,

The detective’s job is to restore “theis statecaught, of gracepublically in which exposed, the aesthetic and punished. and eth must be an exceptional individual of extraordinaryical are one” astuteness (Auden 154); and havethus s/hea rare eye for detail and inconsistencies.

- —a famous

wasproceeds executed to the by poor. the authorities He is based for on his the crimes. historical Juraj Janosik (1688 1713) and a symbol of resistance to oppression from the Hungarian nobility, who

25

Auden contends that readers crave detective narratives because such stories satisfy personal about restoring the Garden of Eden and returning society to a state of by removing evil from the world.

It was against this historical backgroundinnocence, ofthere more than sixty years ago that Auden confessed his guilty pleasure

: for him, “the readingen envisions of detective a rigorous stories framework is an foraddiction detective like tobacco or alcohol” (146). Aud awaiting an instrumentnarratives, of rooted divine in retribution a Miltonian toparadise restore justice.lost, with a society

Yet the Auden’s genre’s specific, civilized, English rural setting no longer corresponds to exponential expansion today, which encompasses a range of settings, detective heroes,Detective , social theory groups, has changed and crimes. significantly since Auden’s idyllic formula set in the British countryside and political developments in the wake of World War II have forced, as rapid people social to try to come to terms with new realities. The rural village setting has expanded geographically— is a

—and the reader can now bevillage transported sleuth, while to locations Poirot is across an international the entire globe traveler without leaving the safe confines of the armchair. The three general categories of detective fiction—the

Herculetraditional P analytical detective story (C.- Auguste Dupin, ,

oirot, Lord Wimsey), the hard boiled detective novel (,

Bourne),—are Lew interconnected Archer), and thewith spy “much thriller crossing (James back Bond, and George forth acrossSmiley, the Jason few borders that remain” today (Ro

th xii). The elastic genre is constantly evolving: 26

contemporary authors of detective fiction have achieved huge international

success by creating a fictional world vastly different from that of Edgar Allan

or Agatha Christie. The justice of pre-World War II

Poe, , al often eludesdetective punishment narratives and is not the that protagonist of today’s not crime only novels, can fail where to restore the crimin balance to

own actions. Examples society, but also may be morally questionable in his/her include Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander,DCS James JoLangton Nesbo’s in Harry Lynda Hole, La Plante’s John Anna

Connolly’s Charlie Parker series, in Prime Suspect. With the advent of the

AmericanTravis series, hard and-boile DCI Jane Tennison evil are not so clearlyd defined detective and and differentiated; the cynical Cold War spy thriller, often find good and themselves pawns “in a game much deeper than the one they think they are

int and film include the hard- boiledinvolved variety in” (Denning (Raymond 138). Chandler’s Examples Philip in both Marlowe pr and Jake Gittes in Roman

Polanski’s Chinatown eventually realizes that[1974]); the justice and hethe is spy, fighting often to alcoholic maintain and may disillusioned, not be any who better than what he is fighting against (Alec Leamus and George Smiley in John le

Carre’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Many contemporary writers provide[1963] a social and commentary that reveals how[1974]). moral and religious values have changed

and eroded:- Maj Sjowall and Per

Wahloo’s Martin Beck navigates in the 1960s , plagued with the problems of a welfare state; Joamines Nesbo depictshow Sweden a Norwegian is coping society with thetroubled influx byof its

Nazi past; Henning Mankell ex 27

immigrants from southeastern and Africa after the fall of the Iron

society;; WalterJohn Connolly Mosley’s and Easy Stuart Rawlings Neville confronts probe a lackrac of ethical norms in today’s

- -bornial Turkish inequality protagonist in Los Angeles in the 1940s 1960s; and Jakob Arjouni’s German prejudiceKemal Kayankaya in modern explores . issues of immigration, nationalism, and religious

rime fiction continues to employ the

While the world has changed, c devices, codes, and conventions established by earlier works, and in reading investigationthese narratives, of retracing the literary “a chronological critic, like the chain detective, of cause is engaged and effect in anin order to make abilitysense of the of genre the present, to modify and with the the literary times texts is perhaps that it produces”one of its most (Scaggs enduring 3). The

form of social history. Bringing the detective story out oftraits, its traditional since it provides setting a of rural not only ‘demythologizes’ Auden’s

also makes contemporary narratives more relevant to reader‘graceful’s’ own fantasy, lives but. Crime and violent acts are and will be a part of society.

Contemporary writers have recognized thiswere, fact and, have engaged the reader in

As P.D. James contends difficult social and moral issues for quite some time. ,

awareCrime fictionof scientific today advances is more realistic in the detection in its treatment of of murder, more

crime, more sensitive to

the environment in which it is set, more sexually explicit and closer than

it has ever been to mainstream fiction. (180)

28

theThough genre the have fascination altered. Twithoday crime’s writers narratives are ‘tweaking’ remains thesteady, formula several and aspects of

introducing

dramatically different from the C. Auguste Dupin,

Sherlock Holmes, , or Lord Wimsey models. Thus we have

alcoholic and emotionally troubled detectives (Kurt Wallander, Harry Hole, Jane

Tennison, ), those who sleep with suspects (Raylan Givens), use

drugs or are addicted to painkillers (Harry Hole, James Langdon), fix evidence

cheatand set on up their suspects spo (, , James Langdon), and

to navigate the complicateduses/romantic modern interests world (Hole, as best Givens). they can. All of them are forced

Snagging the reader: the serialized narrative

In contrastpic past” to andthe ,a fully with-formed what hero Mikhail completely Bakhtin separatedcharacterizes from as the its

“finalized, e

inpresent the zone era, of the maximal detective contact. genre is While a narrative the reader of elasticity knows whatand continuity, will happen located to 15 the mythic or comic-book hero

and how he will vanquish the enemy (Hercules will perform all twelve labors, from slaying the lion to capturing Cerberus,

Superman will defeat Lex Luther, will push back the and invaders, by extension

Spiderman will overcome the giant lizard), the modern novel,

Eliot Borenstein defines continuity as “the implicit recognition that events in one episode15 can have repercussions in the episodes that take place after. When continuity is plot entanglements and references to prior events”(103). at work, episodes are not entirely autonomous but interconnected, allowing for intricate

29

the crime novel, captures the reader’s interest through the “unpredictable

continuesnature of what to page will through happen” the that book marks because the genre “the event (Eco 109).has not The happened reader before

the story; it happens while it is being told”; thus the reader is propelled forward

—precisely the

humanby a strong curiosity desire that to findsaves out ’s what will happen life innext One (Eco Thousand 109) and One Nights.

The reader’s satisfaction stems from the unexpected twists and turns along the

journey, for a major feature of a serial narrative is that it puts off the conclusion

as long Whileas possible. the detective Cawelti mystery posits: seems to reach an end with the detective’s

solution of t

he crime and the apparent restoration of order, the serial

character of mystery texts assures us that in the next story or novel, the

The appealdetective of revisiting will encounter a familiar still and another recurring crime. character (347) and following his or

her next adventure is one of the reasons readers keep returning to a favorite

series, lured into consumption of the subsequent installment.

bi- Once publishers realized that continuing narratives published in weekly, serializationmonthly, or became monthly a popular installme practicents were in anthe excellent early to mid source-nineteenth of revenue, century.

middleMarketing- techniques and subject matter targeted the relativelyiterature new they segment liked of

class readers,- who were prepared to pay for the l

(Sutherland 41 42). Authors who published in installments could build 30 and provide surprise endings, while often incorporating current events into the

ands. narrative, and handing- the reader fiction that was fresh from the writer’s h

From the 1840s 1860s in England, four new innovations appeared that “openedalthy classesan enlarged of the supply population of fresh,” (Sutherland quality fiction 20). toThese literate, included but not “ necessarily we

‘Levia part publication, the

(Sutherlandthan’ circulating 20- library, the collective reissue, and magazine serialization”

21). Different forms worked better for different authors: a

“amaster more of discursive suspense write such ras— Dickensa George worked Eliot— couldwell within find such a shorter shorter format, boundaries while

impossibly constricting and a threat Russianto artistic Messenger dignity” (Todd(Russki 90).i vestnik In Russia, the themonthly most ‘thickpopular journals,’ form of such serialization as the - ), were

from the 1840s 1880s, in part because the whichlength meantof installments that the authorswas longer had (ranging “more latitude from thirty— to one hundred pages),

in length off thethe novel”part, in than frequency of their [the novels’] appearance, and in duration o completedthose who wrotein one insubscription shorter segments year; thus (Todd readers 90). Most could installment look forward novels to were following favorite characters and plots on a regular basis and knew that the narratives would be resolved within a certain publication cycle. The ‘thick’ literary journal remained a popular and prestigious publication throughout the

-Soviet

Sovietmarket era, conditions. but the circulation of these journals declined in new, post

Today the United States’ influence on the serialization market is

31 immense, and serialization extends far beyond the bounds of popular literature

projects.to include The movie media sequels industry’s and prequels, investment hit television(one that i shows,s directly and tied Internet to the money-

making potential) in drawn-out stories encompasses such genres as the soap

, situational , comic books, TV series and ,ialized

formatminiseries, to the and extent web thatserials. was While standard writers practice no longer in the publish middle novels of the innineteenth ser

century (Dickens, Dostoevskii, Doyle, Victor Hugo, , Henry

StephenJames, Boles Kingław rel easedPrus), Theseveral Plant authors in separate have epublished-book versions novels in in 2000; installments: Ronan

Bennett’s Zugzwang was published in weekly installments in Britain’s The

Observer ’s Gentlemen of the Road was serialized in the New Yorkin 2006; Times and Magazine

undergoing a resurgence in thein current 2007. Not age surprisingly, of e-books and serialization online websites; is

Positron, on the Internet siteMargaret Byliner. Atwood is publishing episodes of a new novel, d with the 16 The serialization market has expanded dramatically, an

viewersadvent of will the never cable tireseries of tuningand the in DVD to see boxed the nextset, it installment seems that of readers their favorite and

show or their favorite character. 17

See ( -atwoods-brave-new- world16 -of-online-publishing). http://www.npr.org/2012/12/27/167637658/margaret when17 to stop. Such phenomenally successful TV series as Lost ER The Guiding Light The SopranosThe secret, however,Friends were of serials canceled is to after keep long the interestruns because of the viewersreader/viewer simply lostand know interest in rehashed plots and a lack of new ideas. , , , , and 32

Formulaic pulp fiction became popular in Russia in the late nineteenth

century and included such forms as the lubok

tale, the newspaper-xx). F aceserial,-paced the

Russian detective story, and the women’s novel (Brooks xix escthrillers captured the public’s attention with their exciting chases, dangerous- revolutionaryapades, thrilling serialized plots, literature and final was punishment popular becauseof the criminal. the reader Pre could return

havingto a ‘recurring to have character,’read the previous delving into a new adventure without necessarily -

The serial novel tapered off duringstory the ideologicallyor the following oppressive one (Borenstein years of 105Josef6).

featuringStalin and a Leonid recurring Brezhnev, hero. In but his a popular few authors spy ser emerged with a series of novels-

ies, Iulian Semenov (1931 93) whodepicts infiltrated the adventures the Third of Reichthe Russian and passed double on agent information Stirlitz (Maksimto the Soviet M. Isaev), government. d 18 Russia experiencedThe serial a boom regained in imported popularity serialized near fiction the end in of the perestroika, post- an

largely in the form of translated popular fiction and foreign-made TV Sovietshows. era,

Homegrown detektivy

featuring Anastasiia , such as Aleksandraboeviki Marinina’s wildly successfulepitomized series by

Viktor Dotsenko’s BeKamenskaia,shenyi and (action novels),

(Mad Dog) series, soared to popularity in the 1990s.

No longer driven by the picaresque or bandit hero, these new potboilers focus on

18 Semnadtsat’ mgnovenii vesny twelveIndeed,- Semenov’s series featuring Isaev was so successful in the Soviet Union in the 1970srunawa thaty hit one in Russiaof the novels,and across Eastern Europe. (1969), was made into a episode TV miniseries (1973; directed33 by Tat’iana Lioznova) that became a

her who attempts

tothe restore investigator, order insuperhuman a turbulent action era. o, and crusader for justice

The changing paradigm of the detective hero

-

protagonistSince is heroes almost continue always theto hold key tosociety a successful in thrall, series. an appealing What constitutes detective a

years.charismatic The Golden or intriguing Age of deinvestigator, however, has changed in the past 150

who “employs a particular method”tective fiction ushered in the methodicalexercise of detective, his “little

grey cells”) (for example, Poirot’s

The skills ofthat the methodicalincludes observation detective andare aan combination awareness of causalityacute attention (Scaggs to 39).

Often an unmarried

detail, rational deduction, and analysis of the collected facts.

loner and slightly eccentric (Holmes, Poirot), the detective is not interested in

establishing personal relationships, preferring to spend his time honing his

Geocerebralrges Simenon’sacumen. There Commissaire are several Maigret exceptions is happily to this married; early detective G.K. Chesterton’s prototype:

Father Brown establishes a rapport with all kinds of people; Dorothy Sayers’s

Peter Wimsey and marry and have three children; and Miss Marple

has a wide network of village friends.

Even the solitary or socially anomalous detective usually has a sidekick or

confidant with whom to discuss the aspects of the case—a confidant whom the

author presentsizing with the a superioritydegree of of the or detective humor, for- he functions as a of

sorts, emphas protagonist. Accordingly, the 34

foil’s intellect cannot match that of the detective and is lesser than that of the

processes.reader, to whom While hethe frequently detective mayreveals occasionally the detective’s venture actions far afield and thoughtto gather

evidence, much of the narrative is structured around internal movement and

emphasisaction, i.e., falls ratiocination. on how the In detective the traditional resolves analytical the crime detective story, the -

paced action or dangerous situations. Though solving an, rather intriguing than puzzleon high for

nonethelesspersonal satisfaction restores ismoral paramount order to for the the given detective, community. through Sherlock his skills Holmes s/he

epitomizes this type.

he detective or in the contemporary

crime orBy detective contrast, novel t resembles an anti-hero and recalls such characters as

-boiled detective

Raymondand constan Chandler’stly finds himselfPhilip Marlowe, in dangerous who situations.exemplifies He the is harda professional police

investigator instead of an amateur sleuth like Holmes Miss Marple

a development that reflects, the recent, ortrend Margery to

portrayAllingham’s events Albert as realistic Campion,ally as possible. Though a good cop and revered by his

colleagues, the investigator solves the case through hard work, persistence, and

a bit of luck; s/he lacks the brilliance and deductiveher powers skill nor of interest his/her in fulfilling

thepredecessors. daily tasks Typically, of a civil servant the investigator and finds has the neit demands of daily police work slow

and boring. Forced to deal with work-related problems (competition for a

stifling promotion, conflicts with colleagues, professional jealousies, 35

frustrated. Their short

temperbureaucracy, budgetgets cuts) them, today’s into trouble investigators with their are often as does their

penchantfrequently for acting against direct orders. There are numeroussuperiors, examples of these

‘loose 19 cannons,’ such as Harry Hole, John Rebus, Raylan Givens, Charlie Parker,

Jane Tennison, and James Langton. Yet crime authors generally present these suggesttraits as theadmirable investigators’ or at least focus appealing on more to significant the anticipated problems reader,. for they

Social, economic, and cultural changes since World War II account for the disappearance of the classical aristocratic, amateur detectivevitate who towards solved crimes an elitelargely detective as a pleasurable who is elevated leisure above activity. the Yet rank readers-and-file still citizen gra and who has

upperrefined- tastes; amid changing class structures, culture now substitutes for and class privilege. The astute is the epitome of the tall, dark,

(the handsomefact that he British is a published gentleman poet who only is addscourteous, to his respectful,appeal). Colin and Dexter’s intelligent

Inspector Morse embodies upper-middle-

class Englishness, is saddled with a number of prejudices, and loves classical music, especially opera. By contrast, his assistant, Lewis, is Welsh, lower class,A andTaste a familyfor Death man. The police detective Kate Miskin, who assists Dalglieshis ain huge opera buff and(1986) listens and to other novels, is a painter. Kurt Wallander

Maria Deputy Callas U.S. inMarshall his car, Raylan while GivensWallander’s appears father in Elmore is an Leonard’sartist who novels paints Pronto kitsch and19 Riding the Rap FX series Justified (2010-). (1993) (1995). Givens is the protagonist of the “Fire in the Hole” (2002), which is the basis for the 36

populationlandscapes. movement Shifting social have norms, made itbroader possible education, for the lower and widespreadclass to rise through

the ranks. DCI John Rebus is a departure from the traditional investigator in his

working class roots and identity as a Scotsman; despite having a father who is a

convictedThe felon, role ofRaylan the private Givens detective manages has to become changed a assuccessful well; today’s federal detective marshal. is

often a police investigator and, although s/he frequently disobeys direct orders workand is together impulsive with and an ruthless investigative in the pursuitteam that of theserves , as a s/hefoil to eventually the has to investigator’s rashness. The educated and cultural elite detective inspector often has to gain the trust of his team. In the BBC’s Whitechapel investigative team initially distrusts and mocks D series, the

I Joseph Chandler,-class background whose posh of education and quirky mannerisms with the middle his colleagues, and much of the initial conflict in the series stemss from team Chandler’s—Ann- interaction with his deputy DS Ray Miles. In Mankell, and Bjork Wallander’—provides much of the

Britt Hoglund, Svedberg, Martinsson, Nyberg, genuineappeal of trust the seriesamong precisely these colleagues because offrom the different tensions, social petty stratajealousies, and and educational backgrounds.

male colleaguesPredictably, that female they can investigators do their job have just a as difficult well as time any man;proving DCI to Jane their

Tennison face constant harassment

, DI Anna Travis, and and jealousy Linda Wallander on the job. all Reflecting today’s globalized, discrimination, bullying, 37

professionallysociety, the rise with of the people professional from all policesegments investigator of society who democratizes interacts the crime novel by overcoming class barriers and social pre departure from the leisurely pastime and deductivejudices, puzzle which that mysteriesis a marked

represent for Dupin, Holmes, Lord Wimsey, and Poirot.

The modern day detectivee detective is a will kind do of whatever maverick it or takes lone inranger, order doling to obtain out thejustice information as s/he sees necessary fit. Th to catch the criminal and will pursue a villain until he

is captured, punished, or killed. This means that the investigator is constantly doing things that are legally questionable, including beating up a suspect to quickly find out information, planting evidence, illegally breaking into homes partand enterprises,of the case— torturing the suspect, and claiming that everything is done as

actions unthinkable for Holmes, Poirot, and Miss Marple. Yet needs;Harry Hole Charlie has Parker no qualms cooperates about beating with criminals a suspect in to order gain to the capture information the villain; he

Anna Travis goes to the opera and dinner with a serial killer in order to pump him for evidence; and Raylan Givens lies to extract the information he needs—a choice that eventually leads to his suspension as a federal marshal. In Black and

Blue that he(1997), even beginsDCI Rebus to believe misrepresents his own lies.the truth so much in his search for justice

38

One of the most striking differences between the detective of today and

pre- 20 and

his problemsWorld War in IIdeveloping prototypes and is hissustaining isolation close and personalalienation relations from society, with others.

The breakdown in family relations during the late-twentieth and early twenty-

first century—

the 50 percent divorce rate, dysfunctional generational

communication, the huge number of children growing up without one parent,

declineinternational in parenting financial— crises, the spike in unemployment, and widespread

inform the crime genre today. Accordingly, maintaining

hepersonal is often relations estranged is problematicfrom them and for fromthe detective, his ex- and even if he has children,

wife, as well as from his life.parents, In those of whom rare instancesusually only when one the is stilldetective alive andmaintains criticizes a steady him and relat his way of

ionship, it difficultiesis usually with (the a ex divorced- or married woman, and both situations pose angry child). Raylanhusband, Givens’s the relationship threat of discovery with his ex by-wife the currentcauses her spouse, marriage an to fall apart; Harry Hole’s troubled relationship with Rakel pushes her son Oleg

maintainto drug use relationships and eventual with murder; his ailing and motherMichael and Dibdin’s his girlfriend. Aurelio Zen The struggles detective to repeatedly breaks off relations because he feels that his sexual partner is either threatened by his presence (the villain might go after the lover to hurt the

20 circumstances; detached and obsessive he is not very interested in people other than as subjectsSherlock for Holmes his experiments is melancholic or study. and a drug user, but not isolated through

39

relationship.detective) or he simply cannot commit to a sustained, by and large conventional,

The modern-day detective usually suffers from some degree of

depression, which is directly responsible for his unhealthy lifestyle. The

detective often smokes, eats poorly, is an alcoholic or a drug addict,ationship. lives alone, There

isdoes usually not get a tragic on well incident with his in hiscolleagues, past for andwhich cannot he feels stay responsible in a rel and that has

marked him to this day. Mankell’s Wallander shot a man and is constantly

plagued with guilt over this ; Arnaldur Indriadson’s Inspector Erlendur

Sveinsson is still scarred from losing his eight-year-old brother in a blizzard when he was a child; Adam Dalgliesh lost his wife in childbirth (and ever since has been cautious with relationships) and suffers from melancholy and bouts of depression. In keeping prematurely grey at thewith temples this paradigm,after his fiancée Akunin’s was Erast killed Fandorin by an assassin. went

The Private Patient

However, not all detectives remain loners: in in literature(2008), at

Cambridge;Dalgliesh eventually Alexander marries McCall Emma Smith’s Lavingham, Precious Ramotswe a lecturer marries Mr. J. L. B.

Matekoni, and the two establish a stable home life. While the brooding and showtortured that detective a type of dominates balance can contemporary be found between crime the fiction, brutality the notable of the work exceptions place and the security of the home.

Since personal problems are not only widespread but also constantly

discussed in the media, they have become part of everyday baggage in the public 40

sphere

traits of. Thehimself reader that can the often media recognize relentlessly himself debates in the in protagonist, shows such oras atOprah least

The View

Winfrey, Dr. Phil, Jerry Springer, Ricki Lake, Rachel Ray, and in the U.S., and Jeremy Kyle, Trisha Goddard, and Vanessa Feltz in the U.K. Mankell’s

Wallander is a poor father, has a difficult relationship with his daughter Linda, and has to grapple with healthThe Troubled problems. Man Wallander has diabetes, is pudgy, drinks too much, and in (2009), the final book in-and the- off-again relationshipWallander series, with Rakelis revealed looks toas have though Alzheimer’s. it is finally Harry over inHole’s Phantom on most recent Hole novel; ’s Harry Bosch’s personal lif(2011),e is a mess the

detectivesand he has ora new police love investigators interest in almostcan have every both new a successful novel. By professional contrast, other career

- workinand a happy personal life: Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Reginald Wexford is a hard providesg, himconscientious with a satisfying police officehome at life; peace Donna with Leon’s his job Guido and hasBrunetti a wife is who happily married to Paola and they have two children. Brunetti’s intimate family life is contrasted with the corruption and cruelty that he deals with at work. These problems facing detective- makes them significant as partprotagonists of today’s have crime existed fiction for is centuries,the changes but in what

publiccommunication exposure viaand technology: discussion ofTV, personal the Internet, issues Twit maketer, the and protagonist the various more media’s interesting when he has to confront many of the problems that are part of today’s public discussion.

41

The detective’s sphere of activity and his tools

The setting of modern crime novels has shifted from English country

estates to large urban centers, which are depicted as cesspools overflowing with

fromcrime, the drugs, tensions and misery.of modern Crime is portrayed “as an everyday occurrence arising

life” (Scaggs 93), not Auden’s social aberration. The

detective’s role is to question the morality of, and try to come to terms with, a

world that allows the murder of children,e genrehuman is trafficking, constantly femaleexpanding slavery,

prostitution, , and serial killings. Th

geographically. Scandinavia is not alone in producing bestsellers, and the

international success of detective fiction now includes women (P.D. James, Ruth

Rendell, Val McDermid, Lynda La Plante, Alexandra Marinina, Donna Leon, Sara

Parentsky, Minette Walters), and a vast array of international- writers (Umberto

Eco, Roberto Bolano, Boris Akunin, Arturo Perez Reverte, and countless others) who portray a variety of exotic and novel locales, including Botswana, South

Africa, the Congo, Rwanda, Moscow, Hong Kong, Mexico, and New Mexico’s detectiveNavajo reservations. settings encompass In a nod tobo therderlands forgotten such liminal as Sicily regions of the world,

riminals have, Northern become , adept at

Malmo, northern Mexico, and Iceland, whose c mediamoving now undetected supplement across or adaptmoral printand geographic versions of boundaries. crime fiction. Moreover, Many novels other are now being adapted as made-for- hit

mini-series. Some detective novelstelevision even seem dramas, to have blockbuster been written movies, exclusively and

for the screen. Stuart Neville’s Inspector Lennon trilogy, which deals with a 42

post-

with visconflict confronting its past, is written like a ,

ually gripping scenes, cliffhangers, and shootouts.The TwelveTalks are currently

underway about bringing the first novel in the series, , to the screen. their professionalNot only investigators’ tools. Due location and behavior have changed, but so have

to recent scientificdetective ands nowtechnological have vast advancements, resources availablemost notably to th revolutionarye DNA testing, magnifying glassm, with unlike him the to less gather fortunate clues. Lisbeth Holmes, Salan whoder had is to a carrycomputer a genius

and can hack into any computer system to gain information,Sherlock (2010 extract- personal details, and plant evidence. In the BBC’s TV series ), Stephan

WatMoffatson and has Mark a blog Gatiss’ where contemporary he posts the results update of on Holmes’ the Holmes cases mysteries, and makes John

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Showtime’s recent hit series inquiries.Homeland In computers and technology are used to analyze clues and information in order to, capture the perpetrator or terrorist. Thanks to new modes of

collaborationcommunication between and accelerated law enforcement travel, international agencies has cooperation become an essential and component in pursuing and capturing criminals as global crime becomes the no

rm in today’s world: Kurt Wallander frequently relies on Interpol, HarryAbove Hole hasSuspicion undergone trainingDCI James with Langton the FBI incontacts Chicago, his and colleagues in Lynda in La the Plante’s FBI when he

is gathering(2004), evidenc e against serial murder suspect Alan Daniels.

43

Bureaucracy also plays a significant role nowadays in an investigator’s

work. The legal rights of individuals force the investigator to follow strict

guidelines for collecting evidence and for building a case to ensure that the

perpetrator is properly punished under the law. Unlike his earlier counterpart,

the modern detective has to balance a fine line between legal rights,

isbureaucracy, not punished and and internal society , remains which at risk. sometimes means that the perpetrator

Today’s criminals

commitment to ensureThe that detective’s the criminal tenacious, is broughtuncompromising, to justice lends even a special fanatical intensity to his or her relationship with the perpetrator e the detective personalizes the wrongs villains commit , becaus them against society, thus becoming obsessed with capturing

. However, the detective’s pursuit of the criminal often has unexpected resided in consequences. Unlike in earlier crime narratives, where the detective a superior sphere that made him impregnable, today’s detective is vulnerable to the criminal’s machinations. It is not uncommon for the criminal, often a outmurderer, of a to kill the detective’s partner or colleague, to murder another victim

desire to provelover that s/he is. Istilln Showtime’s in control, Dexter or, in the Dexter worst Morgan’s case, to killwife theRita detective’s is brutally wife, murdered , byor childthe Trinity killer; Harry Hole’s, girlfriend Rakel is , kidnapped, an after she emergd abusedes from bythe the shock serial of killer,her ordeal; the Snowman, and in Knots only and to leaveCrosses Harry

(1987), 44

kidnapsJohn Rebus’s and strangles former army a series buddy of youngGordon Reeve, in his quest for revenge,

Samantha (although she is saved just in girls,time). including Rebus’s teenage daughter

Though there is no doubt that the criminal has committed horrendous

21 For

crimes, s/he often isSal castander as a is victim a victim of theof society social and and legal was forciblysystem. committed to

instance,an insane Larsson’s asylum where for years she was subject to physical and sexual abuse

by her doctors. Larsson’s, narrative is an indictment of the Swedish welfare state

and the political corruption that would allow such terrible things to happen to a

teenager. The trilogy implies that for Salander to take revenge against those who

andharmed certainly her, knowing takes a clever that the form. lega Thel system contempor will notary help crime her, novel’s is understandable, penchant for

portraying the psychological development of the criminal reflects social concern

and fear about the factors that create such (perceived) .

detectivMoree fiction than often in the emphasizes late nineteenth the environmental and early twentieth and social century, conditions modern that

shape (and nurture)

depravity is a productthe of serialcircumstances killer, murderer, beyond etc.,his or suggesting her control; that therefore the villain’s

society has to shoulder some of the blame for the perpetrator’s psychological

21 Stieg Larsson created one of the more colorful ‘anti-heroes’ or ‘sympathetic criminals’ in recent years in Lisbeth Salander. She is a computer hacker whose main talent is

ven to the extent of torturing and tattooing a man who had raped digging up compromising information about people, and she goes to extremes to protect theher readerpersonal wants safety, her e to prevail. Auden would never have sanctioned an individual memberher. One couldof society say thatrising her to actions the occasion are as to vicious expel asthe those serpent perpetrated from the againstGarden her,of Eden. yet

45

state. That perspective offers a soci

but is foregrounded in worksal critique by absent from Poe, Doyle, and

James.Simenon, Christie, Sayers, Chandler, and P.D.

Given the ‘explanatory narrative’ of the criminal’s background, the

sympatheticdetective, in understandingtowards his adversary. its psychological In Peter Robinson’sramifications, Aftermath is occasionally

Inspector Banks is more understanding (2001),

towards Lucy Payne, who assists her

husband in the rape and murder of four teenage girls, after Banks uncovers her

past, which includes sexual abuse as a child. Youthful traumas,a serial broken killer’s homes, dark

drug use, and child prostitution- are frequently at the root of

tendencies: Matthias Lund Helgesen blames his mother, who he believesThe was a

Snowmanprostitute, for his dark- yearningsyear-old Dexter to kill Morganthe women witnessed he loves the in bloodyNesbo’s murder of

his m (2007); four

otherother; adults and who Stefan he believes Fredman, abused a schizophrenic his sister in Mankell’steenager, Sidetrackedkills his father and

(1995).

The genre’s social critique often identifies the breakdown of the family, the

welfarefoster system, system’ the as lack the fundamentalof parenting, causeand people of a criminal’s falling through psychological the ‘cracks problems in the

and motivations for violence.

Moreover, there are numerous incidences when

the villain, who, in a mirror reflection of the detective,or her own by moralmisguided code. and22 often horrific methods, tries to shape society to his

22 In Justified criminals who, Deputy are corruptin Federalg Marshallsociety. Although Raylan Givens Crowder works resorts with to his violence old friend and and main criminal adversary of the series, Boyd Crowder, to bring down even larger sometimes murder, he, in his misguided way, is rooting out evil in the county and is 46

Additionally, sometimes the criminal is revealed to be a colleague of the

whodetective turns or out inspector. to have takenIn the the Harry law Hole into series,his own Hole’s hands colleague regardless To ofm theWaaler, legal

dilemmas.ramifications, is very similar to Hole in many ways andHole shares eventually his moral kills

Waaler in selfUnder-defe circumstancesthough his that conscience mitigate continuesthe act, to trouble him. What is disturbing in this scenarionse, is the knowledge that the detective can be as corruptible as many sectors of society; i

honest.t is In no longer certain that the cedetective, at any

as the the representative detective may of not the have law, isto travel muchhis further quest to down deliver the justimorally

cost, path in he detective lives

inquestionable a liminal space whereorder moral to become and legal his boundaries adversary. Inar eshort, hazy t

crossed. and frequently

Where to now?: the implications of the ending

Although much has changed in detective fiction since the so-called Golden

Age has remained largely the same—the restoration of some kind of balance, the andending justice. Contemporary society has undergone radical transformation since the nineteenth century; yet there is still a social need for reassurance on the part of society and readers alike provide it , and much law enforcement larger than it agencies was before step the in to

. However, the threat today is order to society are also mo attempting to restore his own vision of God’s grace. Givens’ actions in his quest to bring rally and legally questionable. Needless to say, the series accepts the thin line between good and evil, right and wrong. 47

Second World War. I

n a ‘global world,’ international crime has proliferated.

Moreover, it is more difficult to find a closed circle of suspects, to because become the one

modern villain is able to blend in with the general population,

person among millions, with access to modern technology and extremelyan unease

anddangerous suspicion weapons. that make Paranoia the detective’s has crept jobinto even modern more society, chAllan creatingging recent develop , and,- taking orientated. ments in communications into account, also more reader

Crime fiction remains a public forum for debating the pressing issues of the day and for exploring the social origins of crime. If in earlier works the

“device of reducing the killer to something purely evil or animalistic restores an

ideal status quo, and is a corresponding validation of the social order that is narrativesspecifically lay not much responsible of the blame for social at the aberration” family’s do (Scaggs 100), recent crime

inevitably influences familyor paradigms. and, as a logical This complex correlative, relationshipat that of society, explains which why the individual (and individualistic) detective—the agent who restores balance to society—is often pitted against that very society.

Allan smolderingS/he can question just be andlow thech publicge theconsciousness. existing social23 order, raising issues that are

23 In an interview with the British newspaper he conscientiously uses the crime , Andrea Camilleri, author of the hugely successful Montalbano series, says t menovel back for to social the example commentary. of Maigret “In many again. crime There's novels, very the little events sense seem of the completely history of Francedetached in fromthe Maigret the economic, books. There political is no and social social fact context or an inevent which that they allows occur. the It story brings to

48

role in contemporaryNot only social crimedilemmas fiction but— alsoLarsson’s politics leftist social an increasing and political prominent views

are highlighted in his Millennium trilogy; Mankell has publically explained his

liberal views on issues ranging from Palestinian autonomy to the plight of

poverty and in Mozamb

to make strong statements aboutique; Putin’s Boris authoritarian Akunin has regime; used his Andrea public Camilleriposition

deals with recent Italian events, such as ’s transitiond the turbulent from thegovernment lira to the of

Silvioeuro, theBerlusconi. country’s problems with the mafia, an engages

Current Scandinavian detective fiction, for example,

such ‘hotbed’ issues as the region’s Nazi past, illegal immigration, xenophobia,

racism, political corruption,British social authors injustice, explore unemployment, the effects humof thean country’s trafficking,

widespread drug use, etc.

welfare state, immigration, changing class and social roles, and political -

collarproblems. U.S. detective fiction investigates the country’s racial past, white The

Bat crime, the role of women, recent immigration, and ethnic problems. In

aborigines(1997),; AlexanderJo Nesbo examines McCall Smith the racist delves attitudes into social towards issues Australian concerning women

in traditional vs. non-traditional

occupations, Christian- beliefSaharan vs. Africa.traditional Although

tbeliefs in Botswana, and AIDS and AIDS orphans in sub

he detective usually captures the villain, social and legal justice is not always commentary on my times. This also allowed me to show the progression and evolution inbe thedated. character In my books,of Montalbano I deliberately" decided to smuggle into a detective novel a critical -camilleri-montalbano-life- in-writing). (http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jul/06/andrea

49

restored. The investigation repeatedly reveals a pervasive evil and corruption in

society that is impossible to

extirpate, hence the frequency of narratives that

howindict the the Swedish upper echelons government of government. covered up Larson’sthe trilogy, of afor Sov instance,iet spy and depicts

Mankell’s The Troubled Man

et it is(2009) still the raises detective the phenomenon who takes responsibility of Swedish spies for

restoringduring the as Cold much War. of “God’sY grace” as possible. Despite the tragic endings of 24 many modern d failed attempts to right the

wrongs that a crime and detective novels, an

re committed, some kind of balance is eventually restored to her

lifesociety. In a reflection of current andreality, murder the individual victims are can female) continue mostly to live secure

in the(the knowledge majority ofthat rape, law attack, enforcement agencies are still able to provide

protectionThough from the criminals, theory of even detective if not allfiction evil canhas beevolved eradicated. since Auden wrote

the majority of basic assumptions haveabout remained the moral intact implications. While the of theworld genre, has seen drastic changes and everyday violence is becoming ever ustice is still handed, down in the end. S more widespread, j moral balance.ociety The still endings requires of detective some kind narratives of closure, may a waynot return to reestablish the individual to

sometimes24 do leave a flicker of hope. Lisbeth Salander is a case in point. Salander has beenNot a everything victim of legal is as institutions grim as many and crime suffered narratives unspeakable present, horrors and the at endingsthe hands of her lets tormenters, yet the series ends on a somewhat upbeat note, as she opens the door and Blomkvist back into her life. She, the ultimate victim of political intrigue and social injustice, has softened, changed, and is seemingly ready to reach out to someone. 50

Auden’s Great Good Place evil is dealt with in one way or ano a

modicum of justice is confirmed, but at the end. ther, and

time when widespread crime has flourishedThat in both sense violent of justice, and sub especially rosa at a

forms,

thepartly accounts for the success of Akunin’s Fandorin series, which has revised

the detectivestatus of the series detective has restored novel in prestige Russia. to Stymied a genre under commonly the communist relegated regime,to the

category of “boulevard literature” (

potboiler. бульварная литература), pulp fiction, or

Detective authors are garnering more acclaim as the genre is becoming

increasingly respectable and highbrow: crime fiction awards and honors have

been established (the Edgar Allan PoeKey award, Award) the and Crime the British Writers’ have Association bestowed

Dagger award, Scandinavia’s Glass

titles on several of their most renowned crimeRuth authors: Rendell P.D. was James made was a createdlife peer

Baroness James of Holland Park in 1991,. Akunin’sand mixture of low and highbrow

as Baroness Rendell of Babergh in 1997

topprose- has won him a huge following in Russia, making him one of the country’s

selling authors, the recipient of countless literary awards, and an

andauthoritative social activity. voice in Russian society, especially in light of his recent political 25 honored status in contemporaryYet Akunin does Russian not literature.seem satisfied Despite with his his impressive established range and

of fictional works and phenomenal commercial success, Akunin has indicated f25 -akunin- russiasSee Sally-dissident McGrane’s-detective article-novelist.html. “Boris Akunin: Russia’s Dissident Detective Novelist” ound at http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/boris

51

that he would like to move away from the detective genre and write more

Aristonomiia

the‘serious’ name novels. Akunin In-Chkhartish June 2012,vili; the with novel this five-hundredcame-page out, philosophical written under

last to have become a

writer.novel about the Russian Revolution, Akunin claims at 26 Akunin’s Regardlesscontribution of to his the critical detective doubts genre about in Russia the quality is significant; of his crime he hasfiction,

refurbished a genre that had declined to such an extent that the ‘respectable’

reader would not be caught dead reading it. By doing so, he has (re)introduced

millions of readers to ‘quality’ detective fiction.

The Russian contribution to the detective genre

Long a fixture in the West fiction became popular in Russia in

the mid-to-late nineteenth century., detective The relatively liberal reign of Alexander II

-

(1855 81) spawned a number of reforms (the emancipation of the serfs in 1861,

relaxed censorship, changesamping in military of Russia’s regulations, outdated increased and corrupt local legal system

wasgovernment), perhaps the but most the rev significant event for the development of the detective

when26 he writes non- now he has written his first ‘serious’ novelAkunin and hashas saidfinally that— afterwhen sixteen he writes years detective of writing novels,— he is a writer of popular fiction; fiction, he is a essayist, and - become a writer (“Когда я пишу развлекательную литературу, я беллетрист. Когда пишу что то нехудожественное («Писатель и самоубийство» или ту же «Любовь к истории»), я эссеист.See AkuninИ только’s LiveJournalтеперь, на пятьдесят entry found шестом at http годуborisakunin жизни, на. livejournalшестнадцатом.com году сочинительства,html). я стал писателем. Потому что написал первый серьезный роман”). ( : :// /63290. 52

genre. Russia has a firmly established tradition of journals in which political 27 om the early nineteenth century and

discussionscontinuing through frequently the take Soviet place, era. startingPublitsistika fr

pressing problems of social- , or discussions “in print on the

expression in the late nineteenthpolitical century life,” (Whiteheadbecame an important 233). In a forumfine example for public of

argumentsmoving between conducted genres, in the non“beliefs-fictional expressed, genre theof publitsistika points made, were and pickedthe up

and used by the authors to help shape literary fictional treatments of crime”

(Wh

itehead 234). Early detective writers (such as N. P. Timofeev, P. I. Stepanov,

reformsS. A. Panov, and A. introduced A. Shkliarevskii, the figure N. D. of Akhsharumov) the sudebnyi sledovatel’ latched onto (examining one of the new

), who became the prototype for the new investigator. Frequently

wasdepicted a morally as professional sound individual and incorruptible, functioning theas a fictional force for examining the general magistrate good in

Russian society. In contrast to the pre-reform

their position and influence in society to enableera, one’s when literally aristocrats getting could away use with

murder, the new reforms introduced the concept of equality beforeg magistrate the law.

Relying on education, intelligence, and rationality, the examinin

strove to ensure that justice was served, though he often faced opposition from Other reforms include open courtrooms and trial by jury. See Whitehead (“Debating 27 publitsistika on nineteenth-century Russian crime fiction”) for an intriguing discussion of how publitsistika served as an intermediary between legaldetectives: reform the and influence the development of of detective fiction. Whitehead argues that discussions of judicial reforms in such journals educated the public about the “new legal such discussions found a larger audience “through their lit landscape” and, by extension, erary dramatization in fictional detective stories” (258). 53

-American

corrupt local police officials (Whitehead 243). Unlike in the Anglo

investigatorstradition, these rather early than detective private stories detectives focus— ona professionaltrend that continued criminal until the

probity.late Soviet period, when the KGB appeared as the safekeepers of order and

Russian detective stories Despitewere “generally the examples identified of the as authors an ‘import’ mentioned from the above, West”

(Nepomnyashchy 162) and were adapted from foreign originals, featuring such heroes as Sherlock Holmes, Nat Pinkerton, and Nick Carter (Brooks 142). 28 Earningdetecti the stamp of approval of both intellectuals and the Formalists,

ve fiction became popular again in the liberal period of the 1920s, when

‘revolutionarythe state, realizing adventures’ the appeal that of “were the genre politically as entertainment, correct but writtenpromoted in athe popular use of

). Communist leaders of the time encouraged the writing of ‘red detectivestyle” (Stites stories’ 42 or ‘red Pinkerton novels’ that would “serve the interests of the

state, of the masses, and of theirhighbrow own art and by blendinglowbrow propaganda,readers were adventure, attracted to and ” (Stites 43). Both -orientated adventures and light–

heartedthese stories, ‘fun.’ eager for the escapism of plot

28 zhanra”Viktor Boris Shklovskii’s Eikhenba “Novella tain” analyzes Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and sciencethe author’s fiction ability story. to build suspense through retardation techniques. In “V poiskakh um reflects on the plot construction of the adventure, crime, and

54

the genreDetective inevitably fiction, points however, out failings almost in ceased to exist under Stalin because

the pertinent social system, which

Soviet propaganda claimed did not exist (Nepomnyashchy 163). Moreover, the

Soviets loudly proclaimed the absence of crime in the workers’ paradise,iet government which

rendered any fictional treatment of it irrelevant. Indeed, the Sov

individualconsidered actor detective who isfiction pursuing a threat, a private since formthe genre of retribution “depends for upon what an often was

another individual’s loss of private property”—concepts openly hostile to the

Soviet be that “the liefprivate in collectivism detective is (Olcott a defender 5). Another of civil societyproblem and for not Soviet the ideologystate…it iswas to

him, rather thanective to the novels authorities, typically that show society society must as lookstronger for security” than the (Brooks individual37). Soviet and det explore how crime harms the state and why crime continues to

criminalexist, rather act. than According focusing to onthe restoring Soviet viewpoin society to the norm preceding the

t, the sources of criminal behavior are ‘curable’; therefore the genre focuses on identifying deviant traits, theextirpating Western them, examples and returning of the genre the are ‘healed’ interested perpetrator in psychologica to society. By contrast, not the rehabilitation of criminals once they are captured; their paramountl analysis, but concern is the reinstatement of normalcy.

A more relaxed ideological atmosphere fueled a revival of Soviet detective

r writers in the genre included novels in the 1960s and 1970s. The most popula

Arkadii Adamov, Leonid Slovin, Georgii and Arkadii Vainer, Nikolai Leonov, and 55

theirIulian works Semenov. featured Focused a protagonist on the police, who the battled military, forces and that the th intelligencereatened the services,

Russian state and its future. This renewed interest in the genre created new

demand for foreign detectives,- which was metWith primarily the advent by the of novels perestroika of Jameshe

fallHadley of Chase (1906 85) and Agatha Christie. the detektiv , t

the Soviet Union, and a changed market, , whichtrillery “loosely sundryencompasses crime narratives”murder mysteries, (Goscilo thrillers “Ratiocination” (alternatively called ), and

), became extremely popular.

The lawlessness and criminalization of Russian society in the 1990s pushed readers towards narratives that reflected the reality ofdetektiv their dailyy were life, usu yetally resolvedprovided (Gosciloa sense of“Ratiocination” assurance, since). Based the crimes on the in foreign the literary model of the

Anglo- detektiv offers the intellectual thrill of

American murder mystery, the exploresfollowing the the ps detective’s rational mental processes to expose the perpetrator, motivation behindychological it. The return complexities to Western of the models crime, drastically and focuses changed on the the

Soviet detektiv formula from the law enforcement officer who protects the well- being of the state to the emergence of a bona fide private investigator. The content of the detektiv

changed as well to reflect Western originals:

Bodies, formerly in short supply, littered the pages, the identity of the

herringsvillain only became became de knownrigueur in the final dramatic , twists and red

, the personality of the investigating officer

56

became less two-

dimensional, and the range of stylistic techniques

The changeswidened introduced considerably. by a more (Morgan liberal 99) political policy made it possible for the market

to respond to clamorous demands by readers, now widely exposed to criminalWestern investigatorculture, for more swiftly entertaining changed as literature. readers avidly As a result, consumed models narratives for the that melded fast-paced action with elements of daily life.

A number of detektiv sub- boevik (action novel) and zhenskiigenres detektiv emerged (female in detective the 1990s, fiction). including Read the by a mostly- boevik is a fast-paced adventure story in which a warriormale-like masculineaudience, thehero fights enemies who want to destroy the country.

Based on “audiovisual foreign models” (Borenstein 161), such as Sylvester

Stallone films, and overflowing with physical violence and gratuitous sex, the psychologicalconflict is frequently development resolved of throughthe main gory hero. physical Women combat, in the boevik with littleusually

- appear as sex objects and victims, to be saved by the hyper masculine hero, whosethreats. fights, The most chases, popular and violence authors pavein this the sub way-genre for hisof macho eventual fantasy triumph are overDanill all

Beshenyi (‘Mad Dog’) series spawned the

“mostKoretskii popular and Viktor and recognizable Dotsenko, whose Rus

sian of the 1990s”boevik (Borenstein places the blame160). Drawing for Russia’s a clear current distinction problems between on foreign good villainsand evil, and the provides reassurance through the larger-than-life homegrown hero intent on protecting

57

the rodina

touted by thefrom Soviet sinister state. plotters. In short, the genre retains many of the values

Lagging decades behind Western counterparts (Agatha Christie, Dorothy

Sayers, , P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, , , Lynda

AleksandraLa Plante), the Marinina female soared detective to the writer top onlyof the emerged bestselling in Russia charts in in the the 1990s. mid-

by Tat’iana1990s

Poto become the reigning ‘queen’Tat’iana of Ustinovathe genre, and was later joined andliakova, Dar’ia DontsovaMaria Serova in the, 2000s. Focusing, Polinaon the Dashkova,psychological Ol’ga motivations Troitskaia,

-dominated genre populatedbehind the by crime, cardboard the female action detective heroes intentwas a noveltyon shooting in a maletheir way to a stunning finale. The zhenskii detektiv extreme violence and often blends“focuses the on classical relationships, detective eschews paradigm descriptions with other of paradigms such as adventure and ”

(Morgan 100). Dashkova frequently portrays naïve heroines who stumble upon a crime, then are helped by a male love interest to solve the mystery. Dashkova,- who usually invents aist new at the heroine for each novel, puts her clever, well educated, and moral protagon thewrong heroine place is at forced the wrong to survive time. Emergingin a risk-laden out of environment her protected where and insularshe world,

threeencounters protag violenceonists of for Dontsova’s the first time. series In— a different and much lighter vein, the

—are amateurEvlampiia sleuths Romanova, embroiled Viola in soap-opera plotsTarakanova, who unravel and Dasha crimes Vasil’eva through female intuition. These mysteries are largely

58

optimistic and have a fairy- res that doubtlessly have

contributed to their widespreadtale element, success. featu

By contrast, Marinina offers intellectual and nonviolent mysteries, whereHer 29 alterthe crime- is a logical puzzle solved by intellect, not by physical violence.

policeego noted heroine, for her Anastasia deductive Kam abilitiesenskaia, and is her a lieutenant passion for colonel solving in thecrime Moscow puzzles

Ramotswe).(in this respect Unlike she theresembles femmes Holmes, fatales foundPoirot, in Miss hard Marple,-bo and Precious

iled detective fiction,

Kamenskaia uses her brain, not her body; while her physical appearance is

nondescript and inconspicuous, her mind is extremely sharp. Her appeal for

Kamenskaia’sreaders partially emotional stems from and herphysical ordinariness, limitations. and An Marinina expert atemphasizes research and

professionalismdeduction, Kamenskaia and dedication. tackles her Marinina’s responsibilities detektivy with depict a high a world degree of oframpant

andcrime, the in police which force corruption and security has permeated services cannot the upper be trusted levels of to the act government, solely for the

public good. Whereas Dontsova and Dashkova create a romance-

Marinina directly confronts contemporary social issues and the grimnesstinged reality, of

post-

successSoviet with reality, a male soberly and female reflecting readership on Russia’s can be current attributed conditions. to such factorsMarinina’s as

29 (StecMarinahenie Alekseevna obstoiatel’stv (b. ( 1957),A Confluence who worked of Circumstances as a lieutenant)). Since colonel then at she the has Moscow written police, published her first novel under the pseudonym Aleksandra Marinina in 1993 - part TV miniseries (Kamenskaia - over thirty novels, seen several of the Kamenskaia novels turned into a popular sixteen (1999 2000)), and won numerous literary awards. 59

motivationsher complex and interwoven plots, which emphasize the psychological

of her characters, her references -to literary classics and high culture, onand the her state readable of Russian prose society style (Borenstein and her acknowledgement 134 35). Her authorial of the factcommentaries that the criminal will not always be punished bring Marinina’s world and the Russian detective genre in line with contemporary crime fiction.

Revision or revolution?: Akunin’s appeal to readers

If Marinina “revitalized the standard Soviet procedural formula” (Morgan

101) by creating a new kind of professional and psychologically developed

soundpolice investigatorprivate detective working steeped in modern in the richRussia, tradition Akunin of has the crafted nineteenth a morally century.

Tapping into Russians’ nostalgia for an era when political and everyday life was

containedperceived asenvironment less chaotic for and his calmer narratives. than itHis is today,novels Akuninrely on createsthe nostalgically a safe and- tinted perceptions of the late nineteenth century—an era that Russians believe

whenwas a themore image civilized of the age, British where gentleman people acted was inthe a idealproper behavioral and just manner,model. While and

ethisscape romantic from the view violent of the and era disorientating is largely inaccurate, modern it world satisfies and readers’ be transported desire to back to an age where life seems to have been reassuringly ordered and protected

60

from chaos.30 Akunin’s narratives evoke nineteenth-

century novels by Dickens,

Balzac, Hugo, Dostoevskii, and Doyle, relying on a ‘tried and true’ genre to pull in his readers and create an environment where good usually triumphs over evil, genre’sthe criminal formulaic is punished, elements and and justice expecta prevails.tions toHowever, bring his Akunin fictional has world modified close the to

contemporary Russia, where politicians are corrupt, crime is rampant, greed is pervasive, and the ‘good guy’ does not always ‘comea mirror out onreflection top.’ While of the appearing safe at first glance, Fandorin’s milieu is actually behavior.modern world,31 enhanced by some added touches of stylish and gentlemanly

Akunin’s attraction for Russian readers extends beyond the glamorous

world depicted in his historical detektivy. In contrast to the authors of translated

aforeign Russian popular brand novelstargeting that a Russiansaturated audience; the Russian i.e. the market Fandorin in the novels 1990s, are Akunin a is

homegrown series created by ‘one of their own’ (svoi

imported ). The novels are not cheap,

, lowbrow thrillers and romances brimming with sex and violence

written for a Western readers. Moreover, Akunin has carved out a niche in

Russian popular fiction thanks to the quality of his novels. He writes well, and his 30 The recent global success of the hugely popular BBC series Downton Abbey is a testament to viewers’ desire to return to an era where order and decorum prevailed and where a segment of the population lived amidst vast wealth. Such costume dramas give viewers access to a world that they will never experience directly and takes them away from their everyday realia for an hour each Sunday evening (the day and time the program is broadcast on PBS in the U.S.). 31 - shed the “last” Fandorin novel shortThe stories Fandorin about novels the sleuth’sare set in adventures 1876 1914. in Akunin the early publi twentieth century. in November 2012, yet he has said that there will be two more Fandorin collections of

61

prose attracts the more educated reader who wants to read a gripping and

exciting adventure novel, yet also wants to engage with complicated or

philosophical issues cast in correct, even stylish Russian. In answeringabinovich a

question about the secret of Akunin’s success, Russian scholar Elena R

said: Quality is probably the most important [element]. Akunin writes well and

coherently. It has almost never happened [in Russia] that a person who

can write at a relatively high level for this type of literature has

undertaken this.32

His fans commend Akunin for offering a new kind of detective novel—‘cultural

crime novels’ (“ ”)—that are perceived as “more

культурные детективы ” (Ranchin)) than

thosedifficult, offered i.e. more by other cultural” popular (“сложнее writers., то Akuестьnin культурнееhas made it possible for Russians

to engage with a narrative that combines the excitement of an adventure novel

with the detective genre written in their native language in a style vaguely

n has legitimated the

associated with an earlier, less fraught era. In a sense, Akuni

thatgenre. his In wife fact, would he famously not be ashamedannounced to thatread he such started works writing in the detectiveMoscow metro.novels so

The anticipated audience of his Fandorin series is the intellectual or pseudo-

entertainingintellectual who literature wants thatto be provides considered mental educated, engagement but who and also the yearns excitement for of

32 “ - —

Наверно, главное все таки качество. Акунин .”хорошо пишет, складно. У нас почти не бывало, чтобы человек, который умеет писать на достаточно высоком для такого рода литературы уровне, за это брался 62

whatadventure. today’s In Russian this respect, reade Akuninrs demand. cleverly33 taps into the Russian market and

culturalIn milieu addition, of the Akunin’s era he evokes.popularity His stems novels from conjure the politicalup Russia atmosphere at the peak and of

ofits the imperial Russian glory, imperial providing court the and reader its pre with- a glimpse into the unknown world era rendered all the more impressive andrevolutionary alluring in the wealth wake ofand the glamour, economic an

alsodisasters guide and the political reader on chaos a to of the 1990s and early 2000s. The Fandorin novels

Bulgaria during the Russo-Turkishur through War; mysterious an international and exotic luxury locales ocean and liner; plots:

havocJapan inin theRussia; 1880s; Moscow’s the foreign seedy spies criminal spinning underwor intricateld andconspiracies cultural to wreck

33 Akunin has said the following on the differences between popular and highbrow literature

: “Отличие массовой литературы от литературы высоколобой заключается, на мой взгляд, в следующем. Высоколобая литература раздвигает рамки литературы, она создает новые формы, она все время экспериментирует. Ею не может наслаждаться большое количество людей, потому что она рассчитана на людей очень взыскательных, на профи. В то же время функция массовой литературы […] не монолог художника с Богом или с самим собой, а диалог с читателем. Это очень вежливый жанр. Она все время держит в поле зрения большое количество людей и все время помнит о том, что «я балбачу не literatureдля себя, яin должен the following быть way.интересным, Highbrow у literatureменя люди expands не должны literature's вставать boundaries и by creatingвыходить new из formsзала».” and (“In by my constantly opinion, experimenting.popular literature The differs majority from of highbrowpeople cannot enjoy this kind of literature because it is targeted at sophisticated people or iterature is not a monologue professionals.very polite genre. At the It always same time, keeps the in functionmind a large of popular number l of people and is constantly remindedbetween the that artist “I am and not God talking or with for myself.himself, I buthave is tao dialogue be interesting with the [so reader. that] people This is don't a

get up and leave the room”) (See http://mir24.tv/news/culture/3731813).

63

underground; and the secret workings of terrorist cells. To lend his narratives

credibility, Akunin saturates them with references to historical events and

bacinnovations that enrich the reader’s experience, thereby transporting the reader

generalk not knowledge only to an earlierof classical era, literaturebut also to and a world history. recognizable Russian readers’ through familiarity a

with and enthusiasm for is essential

to an appreciation of the Doyle,Fandorin Christie, world; and readers other of detective the Fandorin writers series negotiate an understandable and familiar terrain. Despite the certainty of the outcome—Fandorin will prevail against another devious opponent after a thrilling battle of wits—the reader’s excitement is sustained through a series of

nail-

surprisingbiting twist.episodes leading to the ending, which frequently benefits from a

-

What accounts for Akunin’s current status as the mostcontemporaries popular, best in

crimeselling fiction writer through in Russia? his Above savvy all,overt he andstands hidden out fromreferences his to classical Russian

and foreign literature—in a genre considered lowbrow. Educated readers find

self-affirmation in decoding the intertextuality of the intellectual puzzle; during

the course of the novel, the reader uncovers-)satisfaction allusions in grasping to various the texts,veiled is (and able not to - soidentify-veiled) the references criminal, andto present finds (self day reality. The Fandorin series deftly constructs

a narrative composed of several layers: a formal story,- historical and cultural references, and an authorial philosophy (Sobolev 67 68), which on this merit alone distinguishes Akunin from his peers. Yet a cleverly structured 64

a recognizable hist

chnarrative,Allanging philosophy are notorical enough world, to sustainan engaging a reader’s interplay, interest and over a a

series of fourteen novels to date. What is needed is a daring and attractive

detective hero.

his protagonist is the chief

As blogs devoted to Akunin’s series testify, detektiv

seduction of the Fandorin franchise. Unique in the genre of the , Erast

theFandorin rational is adetective new kind— of protagonist, combing traits of the and

a mixture/synthesis of such predecessors as Dupin,

RussianHolmes, literature.Pechorin, Stavrogin, and countless others from nineteenth century in

British detective fictionThe figureas “natural of the and gentleman organic” detective, (“ long established

is a rara avis in Russia (“ естественна- и органична”),

то в России джентльмен сыщик выглядит белой

вороной”) (“Boris Akunin”). Boasting good looks, stylishness, intellectual

Russianpowers, detectiveintegrity, fictionand commitment and one that to readerhis calling,s have such flocked a figure to in is droves.a novelty Unlike in

the aloof and evasive Holmes, Fandorin is profoundly human: an , he stutters, loses his wife and other women he loves, and strugglesme kind against of problems society’s ills. In the Russian context,personal he isstruggles forced to and deal with the sa

(orthat on his the readers verge face:of) a rapidly changing societyloss, and tough under moral a corrupt decisions, government. living in

His eccentricity and stiff reserve create a mystery around the Russian prompting the reader to return to each new installment in the series insleuth, the hope of discovering new revelations about Fandorin. Much like his Western

65

combinationpredecessors, of Fandorin Eastern adheres to a strict moral code, but it is based on a

apart from other Russianand and Western foreign values,private which, investigators. in his interactions, Outside the sets rich him

andhistory developing of Western protagonist European specifically detective tradition,geared to Akunin a Russian has society fashioned undergoing a unique

es and blogs

andrapid Akunin’s and painful LiveJ changes. Judging by the Akunin/Fandorin websit

ournal site, the Russian author is involvedto havein a rich a vested dialogical

interestrelationship in the with fate his of readers,his detective ensuring hero. that Such they a relationship continue can only add to

Akunin/Fandorin’s unprecedented charisma.

Conclusion

As anti-Putin demonstrations in 2012 and 2013 in Russia’s major cities

accountabilityillustrate, the nascent from the middle government class has. Thus started Akunin’s to demand Fandorin justice, series stability, not only and

also belongs to a literature

forsatisfies the new consumers’ middle class demand—a mixture for entertainment, of pulp fictio but what one might call middlebrow fiction (srednelobnaian and prozahighbrow). Perhaps aspirations, most or

- purposeimportantly, protagonist in the figure around of Fandori whom then Akunin series hasrevolves. elaborated As numerous a uniquely blogs multi c perceive Fandorin as a hero for post-Soviet Russia—a ‘moral citizen’onfirm, for many a new and troubled interests of justice seems rare amongage, one Russian in which citizenry. persistent Thus action the drama in the of

66

Akunin’s man of action may well fulfill a compensatory function for readers

unused to chAllan

for female audiencesging devoid the status of a romanticquo, not unlike male ideal the role who of find Harlequin passive romances pleasure

in a fictional version of that paragon.

Akunin has gained international success and renown in part because his

historical and action-packed detective narratives depict an era that attracts a

variety of readers and boasts a hero of our (i.e. Russia’s) time. Like many of their

Western cousins, Russian detective novels portray the national experience,

anddepicting cultural a country transformations. that has undergone Despite the accelerated proliferation and of radical crime political,novels in social, post-

f detective fiction to have found

Sovieta measure Russia, of success Akunin in is thethe West.only Russian writer o 34 have not been translated into EnglishMarinina, and have Dontsova, not achieved Dashkova, the astounding and Dotsenko

popularity of Scandinavian detective fiction in Europe or in the Anglophone

world. While it remains to be seen whether Russian detective fiction can make

ainroads remarkable into Western rebirth inmarkets, Russia therein the ispast no twodoubt decades. that the Even genre amid has decliningexperienced

as though Russians will be willing to part with their hard-earned

rublessales, it for looks many years to come in order to indulge in entertaining literature that

confronts the crime accompanying the transition to a post-Soviet state.

It is not surprising that Akunin is better known in Europe than he is in the U.S. He 34 regularly attends international book fairs (in Britain, Germany, Italy), owns a home in , and has a more public profile overall in Europe than in the U.S. 67

Chapter 2 The Fandorin Chronotope: Time and Setting

their tragi firmly“Place, rooted after all, in isa physicalwhere the reality characters that we play can out enter fully into theircomedies, world.” and it is only if the action is P.D. James Talking About Detective Fiction

, “Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door. A watch’s hand moves

The Tell-Tale Heart” more quickly than did mine.” , “ contends

The first assertion above, by British crime writer P.D. James, becausethat one itof “exerts the most a unifying important and elements dominant of influenceany detective on both novel the is characters the setting, and

memorablethe plot” (131). settin Asgs proof in Emily of this Bronte’s statement, Wuthering James mentionsHeights Jane examples Austen’s of

Mansfield Park E.M. Forster’s Howards End George Eliot’s, Middlemarch; one could add to this, far-from-extensive list seminal, and works such as Conan Doyle’s

The Hound of the Baskervilles Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles Poe’s

, Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express,

James“The Fall Joyce’s of the Ulysses House. While of Usher,” a detailed description elaborates an objectified, and

sense of place, the temporal framework of a detective novel is equally important.

The detective has to solve the mystery, meaning that s/he has not only to

68

therecreate events the and biographical victim’s movements background leading of the up victim to the ordiscovery suspect, butof the also corpse to retrace or

the perpetration of the crime. This results in a kind of spatial-

where who did what is directly related to where and when thattemporal person wastriangle,

located. All of these are essential elements that must be in place in order for the

investigator to solve the crime. ’s concept of the the relationship between chronos/time and topos chronotope, or

/place, can be a useful andinstrument place are in handledanalyzing in detective terms of thefiction, crime especially and its investigation. when looking at how time

Though place is easily particularized in the Erast Fandorin novels

Akunin’s main chAllanges is to create a convincing sense of the end of the, one of nineteenth century. And most of his efforts are expended on depicting a felt temporality. There are three time registers in the novels

(2) the establishment of a prec : (1) the historical era; whereabouts at any given momentise time for each crime, as well as suspects’ and (3) the passage of time , i.e. who did what whenon (as board well asship. where); Though

in a city, in an army camp,n and various genres used in time supersedes space in importance, Akunin relies o thedetective midst fictionof the Russoto diversify- setting: the crimes in the series occur in Moscow, in

Turkish war, and on an enclosed luxury liner. These array of choices allow Fandorin to travel, bringing him into contact with a wide opportunityindividuals, ideologies,to engage with and philosophies.zlobodnevnye Fandorin’svoprosy adventures give Akunin the

, or the ‘burning issues of the day,’ and to comment on Russian society today. 69

Bakhtin: the crime chronotope

Bakhtin discusses the chronotope in terms of its “intrinsic generic

-

significance” (84 85), drawing his examples from the Greek romance up to the

Rabelaisian novel. Bakhtin defines, albeit rather loosely, various chronotopes

that are found in literature, including, among others, the adventure chronotope,

the idyllic chronotope, the chronotope of the road, etc. In the genre of detective

fiction, the chronotope addresses not the specificsn author’s of place treatment and time ofso thecritical two in

establishing the identity of the murderer, but a

theinterrelated “special increasecategories. in densityAs Bakhtin and contends,concreteness authors of time manipulate markers —timethe through time of

—that occurs within well-delineated special areas” human life,hen of c historical time nevitably is perceived to

(250).‘slow down’ W onfronted with a confined space, time i

(e.g., a prison, a hospital ward, an army camp) and becomes the itsobject urg of focus. Time becomes subject to change; it swells and diminishes,-room mystery losing

ency. In the detective novel, most- motionsignificantly chronotope” in the locked (Ladin 221) is often located in an isolated setting, the “slow movingenclosed in within and with the general narrative framework, and, with the walls seemingly

the protagonist desperately seeking a way out, this chronotope creates “a claustrophobic effect, narrowing narrative space and thedilating reader” narrative (Ladin time, 222). so The that restricted the narrator’s and co talentracting actually setting threatens is relayed to swallow

through the protagonist’s growing sense of shrinking space and, in the crime or

70

These chronotopes enter into a 35 horror novel, growing sense of terror. and

theirdialogical time relationship,into the fray throughplaying off their one intense another, involvement eventually indrawing the narrative. readers The

involvedreader is inso thecaught action up andin the is concernedaction of the about novel the that fate s/he, of the in detectivea sense, becomes hero. In

this way

, the chronotope “enters the world of the author, of the performer, and

readerthe world is pulled of the fromlisteners his chronotope and readers” and (Bakhtin enters 252),the time thus and implying space of that the the

narrative. This sensation usurps the reader’s initial intention to engage with the story as an intellectual puzzle to solve and replaces it with the reader’s

he three chronotopesincreasing investment interact— in the fate of the characters. In thisverarching case, t timeframe of

the slow movement of time, the o the narrative, and the reader’s own time and place. exampleOf of the tracing four Fandorin the movements novels ofdiscussed time is Leviafan in this study, perhaps the best endless span of days spent within the confines of the ship., where Space time becomes turns into crucial an because its limitations allow time to assume greater significance. Spatial

constraints transform the passengers into prisoners,no as,one trapped knows theand identity incapable of of leaving, they experience mounting terror, since

This sensation is perhaps most skillfully depicted in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart35 ” where the narrator literally moves more slowly than time. As the becomes(1843), amplified during the narrator’s confession as the walls move in to enclose him andnarrator the murderer’s recounts his sen taleses from are amplified his prison (he cell, literally the reader hears experiences the beating how of the time dead man’s heart).

71

the murderer. Tension builds through the knowledge that the killer is among

them and no one can predict who will become the next victim.

- Ten

Little Indians/This scenarioAnd Then is well There laid Were out Nonein Agatha Christie’s (1890 1976) novel

(1939), which brings together ten

people on an island, all of whom are subsequently murdered in sequence. There,

Andtoo, thesince tension the isolation and fear of are the heightened place because there is no way off the island.

also means that there is no ‘outsider,’ the

sensesimple of fact terror. that the murderer is ‘one of them’ creates a palpable, increasing which time ticksWhile away borrowing by shrinking from her Christie, island to Akunin a liner. reduces And the the resultant space within augmentation of tension is further underscored by the very instability of a vessel

terra firma in Christie’s famous mystery. in open waters, as opposed to the

three FandorinBy contrast, novels. the Inmovement Azazel’ of time is depicted differently in the other

, time moves in chronological order from May to

September 1876, with a few temporal gaps in the narrative. Time moves forward

at a ‘normal’ , except for a few key moments in the plot, such as Akhimas’s

attack on Fandorin, when events occur[ed] very quickly, “but to Erast Fandorin

time seemed to be standing still. He had time to notice many things, time to think

about many things, but he was quite unab le to move”. (66) (“но Эрасту

Петровичу померещилось, что время застыло Он много успевал заметить,

о много успевал“ подумать.. Time is Толькоsuspended вот again двинуться right after никак the не explosion было of the

возможностиbomb that results(62)) in

Lizan’ka’s death and “everything was quiet, dark, and 72

- ” (223)). Time

peaceful”moves more (241) rapidly (“Какое in Smert’то время Akhillesaбыло (Theтихо Death, темно of Achillesи покойно) the narrative is

structured within a condensed framework made up of four tension: -

during which Fandorin is engaged in a race to capture the villain beforefilled the days,

latter flees Russia. Shifting narrative viewpoints serve to slow down the

e

narrative periodically because the same events are frequently Smert’told from Akhilles th a

containsdifferent aperspectives dual narrative of thestructure. two main Relying characters. on a device In addition, most easily seen in

Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study in Scarlett

just over halfw (1887), Akunin interrupts his narrative tell Akhimas’s story.ay through at a pivotal point in the plot, to travel back in time to 36 Temporality slows in Turetskii gambit (The Turkish Gambit) and there are

gaps of several months at a time. Most of the action takes place in a Russian army

camp wh

ere everyone is waiting for something to happen: for the siege to be

over, for the army to move forward, for the war to end. To compensate for

special constraints, the narrative fills in the biographical details of the major

deviceplayers provides through theletters, characters stories, with diplomatic ways to reports, pass the and time newspaper as they continue items. This their

endless wait.

Space is crucial when its limitations allow time to assume greater

significance. People who are not mobile and have to spend days confined to one

Doyle leaves Holmes and Watson in London while the narrative and reader travel back36 in time to Utah to a Mormon conspiracy that is directly tied to the murdered victim in the present. ,

73

place eventually rely on interiority to expand a sense of time. Locked in the

passengers on the Leviafan launch into confines of the upper deck, the philosophical discussions, tell personal stories, and engage with current politicalIn eventsTuretskii in gambitorder to heget relatively through the restricted long, seemingly setting of endless the Russian days armyon board. camp and

, t the allow the group to discuss issues of women’s liberation, manservantglobal events, Masa and inpolitical Smert’ ideology.Akhillesa Theprovides introduction Akunin theof Fandorin’s opportunity Japanese to comment on Russians and xenophobia from a foreigner’s viewpoint. Upon his return to Moscow from a four-

year sojourn in Japan, Fandorin, who has accepted

Moscowmany tenets life. ofAs Eastern physical philosophy, space is able to implement his new ideas in his

constricts, time has to expand in compensation.

The detective novel is often built around the crime of murder, which the detective hero and reader Tzvetan investigate, Todorov eventually argues that arriving the classic at a resolution, detective story or final solution, to the crime. since it presents two storieshas a dual— structure, and, by extension, dual temporalities, In the 37 the story of the crime and the story of the investigationr “real (44). time” of the classic formula, the crime takes place in the “murder time” o narrative, which continues until the investigation begins. At that juncture, time moves backward as the investigation retraces events, thus creating a double 37 fabula in Formalist terms) ends before the second story (the siuzhet “howThe thestory reader of the (or crime, the narrator) which tells has what come actually to know happened about it (the[the ) begins, which subsequently explains information to solve the crime. crime]” (45). There is no action in the story of the investigation, rather the characters learn as they gather

74

temporality. Yet this paradigm has changed since the Golden Age of detectiveoirot

neverfiction, seemed when private to do very investigators much to solve such theas Sherlock crime. They Holmes did not or Herculetravel very P far

from the location where the body was discovered; they largely detected and

deduced from their observ

deadly threat. The basic formulaations; has and, remained most importantly, the same— theya corpse never is came discovered under

along with several clues, and the investigator must retracext has becomethe events important that for

contemporaryresulted in that authors moment; who however, emphasize what suspense. happens Thene reader’s interest “is

storysustained no longer by the begins expectation and ends of what with willthe solutionhappen” as(Todorov to why the47), corpse because is there;the

instead the story moves forward from that initial discovery. The narrative

captures the reader’s attention because “the desire to know “whodunit” is

excited alongside the fear that whoever it was might repeat his crime” (Porter

enant today when the detective is no longer ‘safe’;

328). This is the dominant t 38 s/he is Althoughfrequently the the detective target of genre the criminal has changed and subject from the to bodilyframework harm. of the

portray two mirror narratives—one that moves

backwardwhodunit, init continuestime as the to investigator reconstructs the events leading to the

Ian Fleming’s novels and the 38 is frequently captured and tortured in subsequent Bond films, while Henning Mankell’s Kurt Wallander is shot, kidnapped, and increasinglychased. Jo Nesbo’s detective under pressur protagoniste in a race Harry to Holesave hisis a ‘lovedvirtual ones’ superman from a who villain’s cannot be killed. He has been shot, kidnapped, buried alive, and tortured. Additionally,- he threatening situations in the later novels in the series). revenge (his love interest Rakel and her son, Oleg, end up in dangerous and life

75

discovery of the corpse or the crime, and the subsequent story of the

detectiveinvestigation. protagonist The second is often story flawed is frequently and struggles set in theto come present to terms day. And with the the

intomodern the narrative.world, thereby allowing the author to introduce complex moral issues

Historical crime fiction: setting the stage

Stephen Knight has noted that the British love “to revisi

and the soaring popularity of the crime fiction sub- t the past” (145),

genre, the , worldwide.is a testament The to publication this passion of among Agatha readers Christie’s not Death only in Comes Britain, As thebut Endalso

The Bride(1944), of

Newgatea historical mystery set in ancient , and John Dickson Carr’s

(1950), set at the close of the , launched this new fictionbrand ofhas mystery. multiplie Since the end of World War II, the volume of historical crime landmark The Named of and the has Rose expanded beyond Britain. ’s (b. 1932)

(1980), a detective narrative set in a Benedictine widespreadabbey in Medieval popularity Italy, of perhaps historical deserves crime fiction.a great Charlesdeal of the Rzepka credit posits for the that

“Eco’s book helped to launch a new wave of ‘historical’ detective novels set in

nineteenthvarious eras- of the near and distant past, ranging from ancientThe Encyclo Romepedia to of

Murder and centuryMystery ” (232). According to

, a historical mystery is:

76

either entirely set in some particular period but was not written during it

less(“period” remote mystery), in time (“transhistorical”or that has a detective mystery). investigating Of an event more or

these two types, the

A partialformer list of is historical the most mysteries [sic] difficult includes to handle. such (247)international writers as James

Ellroy (b. 1948)-WWII (his Lo novels are set in 1940s Los Angeles), (b.

1952) (post s Angeles), Caleb Carr (b. 1955) (1890s New York), Michael

Pearce (b. 1933) (Tsarist Russia), (b. 1938) (Victorian England),

Lindsey Davis (b.An 1949) Instance (her ofFalco the Fingnovelserpost take place in the ), and Iain

Akunin’sPears (b. Pelegiia1955) ( series (which depict the adventures(1998), Englandof a crime in- solving1663), nun in turn-

of the century Russia). Not surprisingly, given the popularityCadfael of the - medium, historical mysteries have crossed over into television: Foyle’s(1994

War98) stars Derek Jacobi as a medieval monk- )who is set investigates during and murders; after World War II in England(created and by revolves Anthony around Horowitz, Chief 2002 Superintendent Christopher Foyle’s criminal investigations; and BBC America’s Copper (created by Tom Fontana and

Will Rokos, 2012), depicting the investigations of a maverick Irish police detective in New York City in 1864, proved to be a hit with in the whatautumn is the of 2012. attraction The success for readers of these and novelsviewers and in historicalTV series crimebegs the fiction? question Knight of contends that “this new subgenre indicates b

oth the flexibility of crime fiction, here appropriating the historical novel, and the recurring need among many 77

readers for a [sic] fully escapist, cultural weighty data” (146). By traveling back

orto thecompletely past, readers sever canthemselves revisit the from glories their of present a previous lives era, to embark engage onin nostalgia, an exciting

adventure.

By setting his Fandorin series in the late nineteenthso century, of credibly Akunin faces

the task not only of establishing a historical period, but al

notsustaining enough the to createillusion a ofbelievable a past era. world For writersbased on of thehistorical reader’s crime presumed fiction, it is

“knowledge of an earlier period; rather, the author has to furnish his world with a

wealth of period detail,” including “descriptions of daily life, clothes, foods,

havehouses, a particularized transportation, sense social of activities,the time period. and more” For the(Scaggs story 126), to be so relevant that readers to the

the era should be related to the present and evoke some kind of

emotionalreader, or intellectual response. Akunin’s Fandorin series relies on readers’

pleasure not only in solving a chAllan references to historical events and relivingging puzzle, an exciting but also era. in unraveling

Akunin cannily draws on a period that many Russians perceive as a glorious era for their country—

the moderna perioddetective that novel coincided within with the theincreasingly emergence, then lucrativethe establishment, realm of popular of fiction. Contemporary readers familiar with the

detective novels of Poe, Conan Doyle, or Christie feel comfortable with the aestheticconventions satisfaction of the genre in following when they the turn twists to Akunin’s and turns works, of cases where set approximately they find

78

Conanin the period associated with detective fiction’sA Study most in Scarlet famous early creators: .

Akunin’sDoyle’s reliance inaugural on readers’ Holmes associative mystery, tendencies may be, seenappeared in Leviafan in 1887

where he presents precisely ten suspects referencing Christie’s most,

Ten Little Indians/ And Then, thereby There Were None/ — adaptedsuccessful more work, than once to the screen. (1939)

To create what Henry James called “a habitable b

ackground,” Akunin withrelies on a tried and true practice of the detective genre: loading newspaper the mysteries

specific referencespolice to dates, reports times, and locations, including personal journals. articles, letters, notes, , diplomatic reports, and

Akunin references current events and pressing issues of the era, such as scientificwidespread innovation. terrorism, globalHe employs competition, Peter the modern Great’s inventions infamous andtable gadgets, of ranks and and 39 invokes modes of address that identify a person’s status in society and political

power. The narratives are saturated with references to popular trends of the day

ure prominently in the

novelsand fashion.— In fact, clothes, , smartly anddressed accessories dandy. Thisfig helps to create the

indeed, Fandorin is a

illusion of a glamorous era when high society, and court and public officials,

enjoyed vast privilege. These techniques aid the reader in envisioning an era that

A recent example of credibly establishing a historical era is the movie Argo (Ben 39

Affleck, 2012), which mainly takes place in 1979. Affleck deftly recreates the year 1979 through fashions, hairstyles, and references to cultural and historical events. He mixes ‘authentic.’real news broadcasts with fictional ones, includes period music, and employs grainy cinematography. The viewer is immediately transported to a 1979 that is believable and

79

has largely only been present in history book - perceived as a time when Russia was great ands and, strong. in the post Soviet era, is

Yet Akunin’s historical era is not entirely rooted in historical fact. The author shapes, molds,anufactures’ and inverts or ‘repackages’ the time period history for and his ownthe era purposes. that he Inwants a to sense, Akunin ‘m butportray, which crafting also contains an illusion elements of reality from that the is author’s similar toactual the actualworld. historical Akunin era, manipulates historical facts to world that is still recognizable fitto histhe plots,modern characters, reader. In and historical ideology, fiction but it “the is a law

oftenof verisimilitude lie somewhere is often along bent, a line and th depictions of past places and cultures will

at stretches from the realistic, but alien, to the palatable, but anachronistically modern” (Hunt 37). Akunin populates his mysteries with characters based on actual historicalline figures, of reality yet andhe alters thus becomethem enough so that, while recognizable, they cross the

Sobolevpart of the is looslyhistorical world created by the author. For example, General Mikhail

Governor Generalbased Prince on Vladimir the Russian Dolgoru Generalkoi conjures Mikhail Skobelev,up Moscow’s and Moscow’s

founder,

Yurii Dolgorukoi, former Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, and President Boris

Yeltsin. These recognizable historical figures help to authenticate Akunin’s fascinatedhistorical viewpoint by “pre-rev and familiarize the era for the modern reader, who is ancient manuscripts” (Marsholutionary 311). history, Akunin aristocratic relies on the genealogy, historical antiques crime fiction and genre to provide a rich and attractive background for his purpose of telling a

80

compelling story and relaying a specific ideology that taps into a perceptible

longing to find continuity in a fragmented world.

chaos andThe economic collapse of destruction the Soviet thatUnion forced in 1991 a global ushered superpower in a period to ofits political knees.

Post-Soviet Russia was plunged into poverty and hardship so severe that a proud nation had to beg for financial aid from its former political enemies. It is natural during such a dramatic period for people to look back and to some extent idealize daily life before the revolutionary changes occurred. Popular nostalgia is

andfrequently historical used upheavals as a “defense” (Boym mechanism xiv) as people in a time search of accelerated for meaning rhythms in a of life

tumultuous present. Svetlana Boym identifies two typ

es of nostalgia: (1)

restorative nostalgia, which attempts- to rebuild the past through nationalist

revivals, engages in the making of history, and reconstructs the seenmonuments as the past of the and past no (41);attempt and is (2) made reflective to reconstruct nostalgia, it. inAkunin’s which the works past can is be viewed as restorative nostalgia in that they engage with Russians’ perceived memory of the end of the nineteenth century as a more stable and understandable epoch than the present one

‘rose-colored glasses.’ period witnessed, even if that the past growth is seen of the through

revolutionary move Actually,widespread the political

groups rampant corruptionment, violence, . , terrorist

, , and a huge disparity in wealth Indeed, in this sense,

tothe Akunin’s era has similiaritiesworks. with Russia today, which no doubt also attracts readers

Boym states that the turbulent 1990s “was accompanied by a 81

popular nostalgia either for the nation’s past glory or at least for the stability and

normality that preceded the epoch of great change” (66). Russian President

Vladimir Putin has skillfully used nostalgic sentiment by relying on Soviet , onpatriotic power. language, Boym points autocratic out that behavior, “nostalgia and relies public on antics temporal to retain and spatialhis firm grip

distance” (70) and the fact that Putin has essentially built his autocratic regime yearningon a longing for forRussia stability, to regain a desire its ‘rightful to restore place’ an ancienton the global nation’s stage pride, is a andtestament a

onlyto the politicians power of restorativeare using Soviet nostalgia nostalgia. (and toPost Putin’s-Soviet propaganda Russian cinema machine). taps Notinto this hunger for an idealized

glorious past, the Soviet Union’s victory in World toWar embark II (which on itsis theown single path. event Akunin uniting lures allhis Russians readers into today), the andattractive Russia’s desire

andnineteenth social views century,—opinions but then that he usesare repeatedly that forum at to odds present with his the personal, official . political,

Azazel’: establishing the historical era

Akunin’sWasting first novel no time establi in providingshes a precise the reader time and with location a temporal right framework,away in the first

paragraph:- ”понедельник- 13 мая 1876 года в третьем часу по полудни,…” в

день по весеннему и по летнему теплый, в Александровском садуe hours of two(7)(“On and Mondaythree in the thirteenthafternoon onof Maya day in that the combinedyear 1876, the between freshness th of spring

82

Garden…”with the warmth (3)). This of summer, precise setting numerous is reminiscent individuals of in the Moscow’s opening Alexander paragraph of

Ivan Turgenev’s (1 - Fathers and Children (Otsy i deti

818 83) (1862)), which establishes the date (20 May 1859), setting, and social class in the novel in the conflictfirst paragraph, on the eve critical of the details emancipation in a narrative concerned withAzazel’ generational takes place

of the serfs in 1861. - nearruled the for endnearly of the three relatively decades liberal and who reign freed of Tsar the serfsAleksandr (in a nod II (1818 to Turgenev).81), who

During the four e numerous references to

months depicted in the novel, there ar specific dates, and calendar dates are inserted repeatedly into the text through postmarks and newspapers.Azazel’ In this way, Akunin establishes the scene and, at the same time, links with classical works of Russian literature, a technique aboutthat accesses that historical “certain era associations through readers’ in the popular familiarity ” with the so (Scaggs-called 126)Russian

narclassics.rative While with specificuseful in dates evoking and the times atmosphere is not enough of the to previous establish age, a believable saturating a historical era.

To delineate the time period and establish the importance of social status

Akunin addresses and titles that werein it, widely reliesused in on late linguistic nineteenth markers,-century employing Russia. This not only authenticates his historical narrative also places the reader in a setting reminiscent of nineteenth- , but such old-fashionedcentury titlRussianes and novels. addresses In Akunin’s as sudar’/ narrative,sudarynia the reader encounters

(‘Sir,’ ‘Madame’), 83

baryshnia vashe vysokoblagorodie

(‘young woman’), and (‘Your Worship’), as

well as hereditary titles that were abolishednames by the and 1917 Revolution of (prince, Akunin’s

characterscount, Grand evoke Duke). an Additionally,earlier age and the many first of them are rarely used in Russia

yettoday they (Ksarverii are often Feofilaktovich, encountered in Porfirii the novels Martynovich, of Dostoevskii Agrafena or Tolst Kondratievna),oi. The 40

Ivanpresence Brilling) of ethnic harks Germans back to Peter in the the narrative Great and (Lizan’ka’s the Germans governess, who moved Fraulein to Pful’,

Russia during his reign and later under

plethora of Germans in classic Russian short stories and , as well as to the

in “The Queen of Spades” Prospektnovels, from Germann

elderly pawnbroker in Crime(1834), and PunishmentSchiller in “Nevskii ” (1835)Oblomov to the

(1866), and Stolz in

(1859).Descriptions of contemporary clothing also convey the time period and

Akunin refers to fashion throughout the narrative. Fandorin wears a corset ( when thewhich corset was deflects not only the fashionable knife used inat the attacktime, but on servesF a dual purpose life) and he is always impeccably dressed. Several charactersandorin, wear thus a pince saving- his

nez, which was a fashionable accessory during the era, and are stylishly dressed,is “lovely” such as the young aristocrat Nikolai Akhtyrtsev, while Amalia Bezhetskaia in a formal scarlet dress. To further create a sense of time and popular trends, gravestones40 that he later uses in his novels. Indeed, Akunin has said that he often goes to cemeteries to seek out older names on

84

Akunin cites advertisements from popular magazines and describes social

events. The wedding of Lizan’ka and Fandorin who is marrying into a higher

social ,

includingclass, Moscow is a major Governor social event,General with Prince “all Dolgorukoiof Moscow”. gathered at the function,

Fashion,

identifyadvertisements, Akunin’s and temporality. social events fill in the historical details, helping the reader

Time is also delimited in the narrative through references to current

cultural a new Dostoevskii novel (Dnevnik pisatelia [The

Writer’s eventsDiary in 1876,and such as

American writer], 1876 Mark), Twain.to other In a not contemporary-so-subtle nod authors, to the stateincluding of Russia the in the

plagued with an outbreak of terrorism inlate the 1990s, country Akunin fueled depicts by nihilists a police and force other org g

anizations, which causes Brillin to stateFandorin that the uncovers fate of Russia a global is at conspiracy stake, “судьб in whichа России powerful на карту countries поставлена” are

(73). parallels to 41 conspiring to encroach upon Russia’s oil rights in the Caspian Sea, of the

Sovietwhich canUnion be anddrawn in Western in NATO’s companies rapid eastward flooding expansion the Russian after market the fall with goods

and services during the Yeltsin era.

Fandorin, as a member of the technological vanguard, is fascinated by

“recent technological inventions, such as the ”telephone, (“That is a describ genuineed miracle by Brilling of as:

Это настоящее чудо современной науки Chernyi gorod (The Black City 41oil-rich on the eve of . Incidentally, the latest Fandorin novel , 2012) is set in

85

The St. Petersburg detective also provides Fandorin 42 modern ” (161).

with a” new model, special order Belgian Herstal pistol (“Новинка, специальный

heavyзаказ revolvers(169)), a sleekused byweapon “American for a morecowboys civilized and their European, drunken in contrastshoot-outs to thein the

saloon. It’s no use to a serious agent” (“

Это для американских «коровьих ”

мальчиков», Drawing спьяну on the в кабакеage of the пали Gothicть. Для novelсерьезного and Romanticismагента —неanгодится era that

had(168)). ended a few decades before Akunin’s novel takes place—Dr. Blank’s

laboratory echoes that of Dr. Victor iments

Frankenstein, -and the doctor’s exper

recall the novels of (1850 94). By referring to cultural

easierevents, for world the readerpolitics, to innovation, believe in his and historical technological world progress, and to draw Akunin parallels makes with it

the present day.

establishingAkunin’s a longing first novel for pre sets-Revolutionary the historical Russia stage for and the for subsequent an era of legitimate novels,

institutions. A generational conflict emerged in Russia in the middle of the

nineteenth century (depicted in such literary works at Pushkin’s The Captain’s

Daughter Fathers and Children

that Akunin’s(1836) comments and, more on inexplicitly, Azazel’ in Turgenev’s ), one

through the two' (‘the students, golden youthKokorin’ rebel and

Akhtytsev, who, as part of the ‘золотая молодежь ),

telephone42 line between the German Kaiser’s and Bismarck’s residence to spy on the Incidentally, Brilling tells Fandorin that the Russian Third Department has installed a

German leaders (161). 86

against their parents’ generation. A report Grushin reads on Kokorin’s suicide

lamentsTo the what state depths of Russia’s of unbelief youth and and nihilism youthful have stupidity: our gilded youth descended

if they would make a vulgar spectacle even of their own deaths? If our

homegrown Brutuses adopt such an attitude to their own lives, then how

incomparablycan we be surprised more worthyif they care individuals? not a brass (12) kopeck for the lives of others, 43 This conflict between fathers and sons continues throughout the Fandorin

-Soviet

Russia.novels, and it is related to (il), an issue that has plagued post

Russia has continuously produced strong leadership in Tsar’past centuries,batiushka

ranging from the Ivan the Terrible, , a series of

figures,its ‘fatherVladimir figures’ Lenin, as geriatric and Josef or drunken Stalin. Yet leadership after Stalin’s represented death the by country Leonid lost

systemBrezhnev, of concentratedYurii Andropov, and and absolute Boris Yeltsin,power continued assumed power.in a largely Nevertheless, unbroken the line

from Peter the Great and Catherine II—who established legitimate and

—to the

institutionalized power, with a hierarchy, order, and conventionseen opposition to

institutionscollapse of the of powerSoviet stemmingUnion. Naturally, from a desirethere has for oftenmore bindividual freedom. This

“ 43 До какой же степени неверия и нигилизма дошла наша золотая молодежь, чтобы даже из собственной смерти устраивать буффонаду? Если таково отношение наших Брутов к собственной жизни, то стоит ли удивляться, что они не в грош не ставят и жизнь других, куда более достойных людей?” (15). 87

tradition has existed in Russia and has included such figures as Emelian

-

ChechnPugachev, Soviet dissidents, independence-Putin demonstrations. movements But in these post Sovietwere social Russia, and i.e.

ya, and the recent anti -up of political powermovements and society that, while at large. significant, It was only did littlewith tothe change disintegration the make of the

Soviet Union, and the subsequent catastrophic collapse of the majority of Soviet notinstitutions, only of a thatpaternalist Russians found themselves in a symbolicbut also orphanhood, of a legitimate deprived country and lawful ic leader andtutions ‘father that figure,’ are usually passed down from father to son. Akuninleadership, embodies insti this ‘orphanhood’ and ‘search for legitimacy’ in

worldFandorin’s by solving struggle crimes to first and find holding himself, people and responsithen restoreble for a moral their actions.balance to the

In his study of the Bildungsroman

(1987), Franco Moretti posits that the modernitygenre focuses - on). youth and youthful restlessness, which, in turn, is a symptomead of

(4 5 Modern youth is not content to remain—to see in the one world place, and but to inst has an urge to travel, to be mobile, and to explore acquire knowledge. Issues of history are significant as well, since the youth are meaningnot interested in the in fut lookingure rather back than at the in thefather’s past” generation, (Moretti )youth and is “seeks committed its to

moving forward. In the Bildungsroman 5

, the protagonist is frequently ejected forcedfrom his to home undergo for avarious passage reasons of discovery by the older generation, and consequently is changes both internally by gaining new insights. During and the waysjourney, of looking the protagonist at the

88

world, and externally in physical terms. Fandorin, who stems thusfrom is an a ancient representativearistocratic line, of is legitimacy). a scion of the Although ‘old, established he represents order’ the (and ‘golden youth’ who are

rebelling against their perceived tyrannical fathers, he is not one of them previousbecause his generation parents havethat hedied. needs In a to sense, emulate. Fandorin This isolationno longer and has loss a past are or clearly a portrayed in Azazel’ as Fandorin struggles to find his place in the world and to perform well in his profession. As he looks towards the future he is afraid of making the mistakes of h

is father (Fandorin refuses to gamble, unless he is heforced is constantly to, because searching of his father’s for guidance disastrous from luck a father with figure.cards), This while, search as an and orphan, longing mirror those of post-Soviet socie

ty, which yearned for direction and legitimacy in the chaotic world of the Yeltsin era. Russian society found a countryperceived has leader embarked with the on whatappearance is widely of Putin(in Russia) in 2000 perceived and, since as then,a mor thee orderly

path, with strong, legitimate institutions of government and power. In other oncewords, again the mythsubject of tothe a paternalisticstrong ruler and leader a clearly has returned, defined order.and Russian society is

Moscow: in search of the familiar

While Akunin convincingly depicts the time period in Azazel’ pronounced. Most of the action in the narrative takes place in pre-Revolutionary, space is less

Moscow, which, while familiar to contemporary Russians, is set far enough in the 89

past

exist.to Akunin’s be defamiliarized. task is to reconstruct Many of the a buildings,credible and shops, historical and streets Moscow no longerthat his

Detailed maps are 44 prominentlyreaders will be place able to visualize, to sense, and to experience.

d in Christie, Mankell, Nesbo, and Eco novels, yet Akunin never

diagramsprovides hisinto readers the narrative with maps (Fandorin of locations, draws although a diagram he of sometimes the bania wheninserts he and

Masa are laying out their plans to expose the government informant in Statskii sovetnik ( . Violent crimes are committed in Akunin’s

, 1999) whichMoscow, has a echoesmodern of city the full contemporary of seedy characters megapolis. and To other some criminal extent Akunin’selements, contrived Moscow is recognizable to a contemporary reader. The setting is

overfamiliar, the scenesyet Akunin he portrays. distances Akunin events uses sufficiently Moscow to as cast a ‘stage an aura-like’ of backdrop ‘romance’ to provide a h everyday people.istorical Akunin setting focuses for his almost readers, solely but iton is his a city main devoid characters of life, with color, and

almost no mention of ordinary the Muscovites,promenading who public would in the have novel’s been goingsecond about their Umberto daily Ecotasks, has except pointed for out that construction of the historical world and its concrete setting44 is critical to a historical mystery. While he was establishing the coordinates of the abbey in The Name of the Rose the arrangement of , Eco “conducted the long number architectural of steps investiga in a spiraltions, studying photographs and floor plans in the encyclopedia- of architecture, to establishng in the opening pages ofthe Père abbey, Goriot the distances, even staircase” (Eco 513). Honoré de Balzac (1799 1850) masterfully depicts the setti (1835), starting with a detailed description of Madame Vauquer’s lodging house, located at the beginning of a steep slope. Balzac describes the thatcolors is ofseems the street, as if the the reader sounds, is watchingshop signs, an the actual angles movie of the of thebuildings scene., Itodors, is this and clear and perceptibletemperature, grasp all of of which place are that richly is missing particularized. in Akunin’s If fact,works. the description is so detailed

90

paragraph or the various individuals who act as witnesses to events throughout

the narrative. Akunin does not convey to the reader theterized grime, Moscow the smells, at the the end

extreme poverty, or the general hardship that charac

itof comesthe nineteenth from a B aedekercentury. Similarly, the description of London sounds as though

guidebook, with passing references to famous o

landmarks scattered throughout the narrative (the Old Vic Theatre, Waterlo

Station, the London fog, the “bleak and uninviting” Thames (119)). The narrative

thecarries major the European reader along cities with Fandorin the main travels protagonists, through on while his waythe physical to London setting is of

simply ignored.

Despite the narrative’s shortcomings inAzazel’ creating. By providinga historic Moscow,a glimpse into

private, individual space is well delimited in

AkuninFandorin’s makes inner his problems, investigative which hero concern a figure love, that betrayal, elicits readers’ injustice, sympathy. and finances, Time

wherein the narrative his readings is expanded of David Hume’sthrough philosophical Fandorin’s interior essays world and the and Indian psyche,

Brahmin Chandra Johnson introduce both Western and Eastern ideas into the

narrative. In this way, Akunin expands the temporal limitations of Fandorin’s level.world, enabling him to engage in an international dialogue on a metaphysical

91

Balkan intrigue: the perils of a Turkish gambit

In his second nove

l, Akunin moves the setting from the familiar, Moscow, a

warto the with near the abroad Ottoman of Bulgaria Empire in“to 1877, liberate a time its Slavic when brethren”Russia was (“ embroiled in

”). The novel is littered withза specific dates;

освобождение славянских братьев

most of the chapters begin with a citation of news, cultural, or literary items

from various contemporary foreign newspapers about the Balkan conflict, athe kind

soldiers fighting in the war, anecdotal stories, or world politics. This lends

anotherof second, view or ‘authentic,’of what is going outside on commentaryin the world. toThe the time narrative span in as the it providesnovel ranges

July to 10

offrom the the war first and newspaper the signing report, of the illdated-fated 14 Treaty 1877 of San, Stefano.March The 1878, narrative the end

depicts scenes that, while arranged chronologically for the most part, are largely dragsselected when episodes it should in which move monthsfor are missing between chapters, and time

randomly depicted and stylized.ward, especially in the battle scenes, which are

Time is also defined in the novel by specific references to historical

45 reportsevents (the that battle reveal of the Plevna), current letters,political and situation official and government political intrigues. documents Russian and

Tsar Alexander II even makes an appearance at the front to look into the

Various historical sources refer to the name of this Bulgarian town differently. In a 45 Pleven in Plevna (or Plevne) in English and Russian sources.conversation with Yana Hashamova, she clarified that the town is called mysteryBulgarian is sources, clouded whilein ambiguity. it is referred to as It is quite ironic that the name of the town that plays such a key role in Akunin’s

92

investigation related to the enemy spy in the Russian camp and to distribute

medals and awards (including the prestigious St. George’s Cross) after the siege

of Plevna. Akunin depicts the period as a time of a global conspiracy against an

aggressive Russia. The Russian government believes that a political alliance

made between England and Turkey is intended to destroy the —

a suspicion that turns out to be true. Anvar-

efendi, a representative of the andOttomans, for all theis determined Russian threat to bring to mankind. Russia into He confesseshis web of to deceit, Varvara to defeat during once the novel’s denouement that his actions are targeted at stopping the forces inside of

Russia that sooner or later will affect the rest of the world (“

дикие ,

разрушительные силы, которые). Suchрано sentimentsили поздно echoвырвутся current effortsнаружу by, иtheтогда

миру не поздоровится” (194)

global community to implement sanctions against and isolate Iran, Syria, and

poseNorth a Korea,threat countriesto humanity. that Akunin are widely deftly perceived employs (albeitelements largely of the in spy the novelWest) to

Turetskii gambit

(indeed, is billed as a spy novel, or ‘шпионский детектив’),

including spying, , dangerous missions behind enemy- lines,paced political thriller

withkillings, strong and tiessecret to theidentities, present in day. order The to global create nature a relatively of the faceconflict is

underscored by the variety of nationalities—mostly journalists—at the Russian

newspaperarmy camp: The Seamus Daily McLaughlin Post; Charles is d’Hevraisan Irish correspondent is a French journalist for the British who writes

93

for the Revue Parisienne; and the Romanian Colonel Lukan is a representative of

Prince Karl of .

Akunin tackles one of the important social issues of the era through

ll-to- representativeVarvara, the product of the ofwomen’s a we liberationdo family, movement with progressive in the second ideals, half and of who the is nineteenth century. Rebelling against the expectations of a young woman of her

becomesocial status, a midwife Varvara and has a stenographer. worked in several She eventually professions, becomes including one training of the first to

Akuninfemale telegraphistsdescribes how in this Russia. movement To contextualize wanted to herchange actions the andposition aspirations, of women

in Russia, citing such milestones in the movement as women’s attainment of- the right toone vote of in the Wyoming first wome in 1869.n doctor Varvaras also mentions Mary Jacobi (1842

1906), - the first womanin tothe be United ordained States, as aand minister Antoinette in America.

Blackwell (1825 1921), Chto delat’? (ActingWhat Iunders to Be the Done influence of Nikolai Chernyshevskii’s 1863 novel,

?), Varvara and herelationship friend Petr betweenlived in a Vera platonic Pavlovna

‘marriage’ in St. Petersburg, modeled on the r

Turks.and Dmitrii Chernyshevskii’s Lopukhov, until novel Petr had enlists a strong as aimpact volunteer on the in theradical fight youth against and the

The novel

Russian women “with aspirations toward independence” (Stites, 89). generated a wealth of social discourse, especially among feminists, about the noveimportance of women’s education, and economic and sexual independence. As a

l that looks towards the future: 94

the of the radical remaking of Russian society [in the novel] was

vividly implicit as was its summons to women to free themselves from

social incarceration in order to join the ranks of the ‘new people’ who

would one day effect the social revolution. (Stites 89) nurturesYet Varvara, notions despite of romantic her progressive love (she idea followsls and Petr belief to in the sexual Russian equality, camp stillin

Bulgaria, then falls hopelessly in love with Fandorin), social tries decorum to be an (she is very

‘proper’ in her relations with men), and, even though she emancipated and independent woman, perpetuates traditional gender roles

(overly concerned with fashion, she faints at the sight of blood and is flattered to andbe surrounded used as a pawn by a retinuein Anvar of-efendi’s suitors). game. She is Her taken naiveté advantage about of,the manipulated, ‘world of men’

and war gets her into trouble quite quickly after she implements her plan to follow Petr to the front. Indeed,thing whenelse than Fandorin a ‘damsel first in meets distress.’ Varvara Fandorin at the referencesBulgarian tavern, the Irish she- is no - narratives take placeAmerican in wild and adventure exotic settings novelist akin Mayne to the Reid foreign (1818 Balkan83), whose lands.

The Russian sleuth plays the role of chivalrous knight who rescues the helpless

maiden from the dark and surly enemy, to bring her to safety. Although Akunin tackles the controversial issue of women’s liberation, he ultimatelyand undermines idealistic theyoung movement’s woman who goal is byguided portraying more by Varvara ideas ofas ideala romantic, love rather naïve, than developing into an independent and mature woman.

95

In contrast to Azazel’ Turetskii gambit is vaguely defined. While

, place in exotic setting for most the setting has moved from Moscow to Bulgaria, an

Russian readers, there is charactersno felt sense travel of location. to Bucharest; The novel Fandorin expands make overs a a large journeygeographic to London area: several and ; and the final confrontation with Anvar-efendi takes

descriptionplace outside of of place. , Varvara’s walk but alongnowhere Bucharest’s does Akunin ‘fashionable provide Caleaa convincing

Mogoshoaiei’ street reminds her of Nevskii Prospekt, with its “smart carriages, striped awnings above- the shop windows, dazzling southern beauties, picturesque dark haired men in light blue, white,100) and(“ even pink frock coats, and uniforms, uniforms, uniforms everywhere” ( щегольские экипажи ,

полосатые савицы , картинные брюнеты в голубых, белых и даже розовых

сюртуках, и мундиры, мундиры, мундиры” (97)). Such a description pales in

Loscomparison Angeles. to Balzac’s Paris, Charles Dickens’s London, or ’s

The narrative takes place during a war and while there are cursory

depicted.descriptions There of the is neither fighting, a sensewounded of the soldiers, horrors and of warmilitary nor anylife, feelingthey are of poorly what the combatants are fighting for. Although the novel is set in Bulgaria and

numerous Muslims populate the narrative, the descriptions of these figures, usually provided from Varvara’s viewpoint, are not believable. Varvara makes therestereotypical are numerous comments negative about cultural the Bulgarians: references her (the local Bulgarians guide Mitko nod robs their her, heads

96

Bashiwhen- theyBazouks mean ‘no’), and Varvara is terrified. Except by forthe a horrible few Bulgarian expressions and Turkish of the words and phrases, a group sc of armed bandits korchma vodach kizlyarattered-agazi throughoutikbal gediklas the narrative (Bulgarian: ,

, Turkish: , , ), as well as linguistic commentaries on Bulgarian and some descriptions of the localan passing clothing, references Akunin does to local not adequatelycustoms and convey bloody a warfare.sense of place other th

Leviafan: murder on the open seas

Leviafan

Akunin’s Turetskii, the g ambitthird book in the Fandorin set mostly series, in contrastsBulgaria duringsharply the with

Russo-Turkish war stretches, which over, though a broad geographical expanse. That expanse

, enemy spy in the allows Fandorin to travel, fight in battles, and unmask the

Leviafanoutskirts is of a Constantinople. locked- In contrast, set in the confined space of a ship, the suspects. room mystery, a narrative in which the murderer is one of

exact locationsTo a greater is much extent more than prominent in the previous in Leviafan novels, the recording of time and the murderer’s steps. Reginald Milford- , a device crucial to retracing

by guilt for Stokes, a British aristocrat traveling to

Tahiti, who is plagued causing his wife’s accidental death,ars andis

Gintaro Aono, a scion of an old Japanese family who after seven ye recordingreturning hometime and after precise studying locations. medicine In additionin France, to are anchoring especially the diligent narrative’s in

97

events in well-

defined time and space, “the central presence of timetables,

clocks, and chronology,” Scaggs contends, “is also a marker of a modern,

industrialised society” (51), compared to the “pastoral idyll” of the-looking Golden Age of

detective fiction. Above all, it is Fandorin who represents forward society, most notably in his deductive methods, which are based on close attention to detail, analytical rigor, and advances in modern forensics. ofFascinated the age by by using modern a typewriter inventions and and riding gadgets, his newFandorin bicycle embraces on deck. the He productsalso carries a Herstal-

Agent compact revolver, a new type of gun (a product of

Akunin’s imagination), and a swordstick, i.e., a cane that hides a sword. These butdetails also not locate only the help intrepid the reader sleuth to withinidentify a Fandorinspecific time as a period. progressive individual,

such asThat the ‘recent’ device isRusso abetted-Turkish by references War and inthe the Franco narrative- to current events, further tethering the plot to a historical moment. A FranGermanco-British War shipping of 1870, consortium owns and financed the Leviafan adowing the globalization of

, foresh today, linking ‘then’ to ‘now.’ Indeed, Inspector Gauche, who wants the murdererhe perpetratorto be tried in in France, their courts is worried since that the shipother is governments multi-national might property fight— toa try scenario t familiar to contemporary followers of attempts to extradite Boris Berezovskii from London and Roman Polanski from .

also provides descriptions

To create a palpable sense of the era, Akunin and allusions to popular trends of the day. Professor Sweetchild, who unravels 98

much of Leviafan

nineteenth century’s’s central interest mystery, in India. is an Allusions Indologist to and then represents prevailing the trends late 46 include mesmerism and the occult (one of Marie Sanfon’s ‘disguises’ is as a

mesmerist), the slave trade in Africa (the black stowaway is assumed to be

suffragettes.trying to find These his way su back home), the opium trade, Hong Kong drug gangs, and

grooming fashionablepplement at the time. the descriptions of clothing, hairstyles, and 47

Not only details of everyday life, but also concerns and ideologies topicarticulated of glob in the novel aid in establishing its temporality. For instance, when the role played byal politicsRussia in arises, the world. the passengers Competing focus global on politics the increasingly plays a role aggressive at the

Swissend of banker’s the novel wife after who Fandorin has revealed that Renate Kleber, the pregnant has had the Indian shawl—is theactually key to the finding sinister the Marie rajah’s Sanfon treasure and— theall murderess, along.

Representatives of the various nations fights overthe treasure the shawl: for Miss France Stamp—a conflictclaims the shawl for Britain, while Dr. Truffo want of interests true to the political situation in Europe in the 1870s, which This was a time when India was in the news. It was not only Britain’s “Jewel in the Crown”46 when the kingdom was at its traveling to India and Asia in general. This interest was not only due to the exotic appeal peak of world power, but many people were region’s wealth. of Fandorinthis part ofand the world, but, in a more avaricious vein, business wanted to exploit the 47 Clarissa Stamp, who wants to impress the dashing sleuth, play a game in deduction.which Stamp Much blindfolds of this ‘game’Fandorin. relies Based on what on what the persohe hears, Fandorin is able to describe—all several passengers that he had never seen before in detail, using the science of well and in the latest Parisian fashion. n is wearing, hairstyles, etc. of which provide a wealth of period detail. Additionally, Gauche says that Stamp dresses

99

witnessed repeated crises resulting from bickering nations intent on self-

it is enrichment and acquisition of greater international clout. Ultimately,

Fandorin who steps in as the representative of a neutral power and, by allowing fromthe shawl imposing to literally their willfly out on theof the world. window, In accordance prevents bothwith Britainthe traditional and France self - promoting i

deology ofa morally the intelligentsia, superior player Akunin who presents is ‘above’ Fandorin, fighting and over by extension Russia, as restoringmoney, concerned a moral and only psychological with revealing norm. the murderer, attaining justice, and

Smert’ Akhillesa: a tangled web of political conspiracies

Though time is not as defined in Smert’ Akhilesa compared to the first

culturalthree Fandorin events. novels,The main there narrative are nonetheless takes place references over the courseto specific of four dates days and in

Moscow in 1882, while the second part of the novel is a biographical account of narrativeAkhimas, Fandorin’sto move back main in timerival, at that a critical spans momentforty years. in the This story shift ( aallows nineteenth the - century device employed by Conan Doyle in his sudden backward shift at a

A Study in Scarlet). To crucial moment in the plot in Sherlock Holmes’ first case, establish a historic background, Akunin describes Moscow through Fandorin, who, returning to the Russian capital after six years, notices the numerous changes that have- occurred: cobblestones have been placed on the roads, people 100 are clean, horse drawn trams follow fixed routes, and women are now allowed

upstairs in hotels. Fandorin comments on the new monument to Aleksandr

CathedralPushkin, which of Christ was the unveiled Savoir. in In 1880, another and referenceconstruction to the has table begun of onranks the and in

llege an acknowledgement of his ambition, Fandorin has been promoted to Co

Assessor. Additionally, official titles are widely employed.

As in previous novels, newspaper items relate- world events- that establish thereturning time period: to Russia Russian from explorerhis latest Nikolai voyage; Miklukha there areMaklai comments (1846 on88) U.S. is advertising; an item announces literary talks devoted to Ivan Turgenev’s novels; and a discussion concerns the construction of a tunnel under the English

Channel. A report about a child killer’s trial provides an example of the new

plaguedtrend towards with terrorists journalistic and sensationalism. anti-government Politically, plots that Russia reach continues the highest to levels be

-Turkish of the Tsarist regime.y established General a Mikhail political Sobolev, party that the foreshadows hero of the Russo nationalistic war,movements has secretl

in Russia today:-European Sobolev promotespath for Russia. the idea The of generalRussia for is killed Russians, a becauseunited Slavdom, he is plotting and a annon internal coup against the Russian government that would put his party into power and his nationalistic ideas into practice—a move that in the eyes of his political opponents would push Russia towards war with

Germany and -

Fandorin’s toolsHungry, of his trade which speak would to bethe disastrous historical forera Russia. as well. He has an

101 investigation case containing a series of magnifying glasses, an electric flashlight,

whenand a fingerprinta fingerprint kit database (in this respect,will become Fandorin one of is the looking standard towards ways the in futurewhich

crimin

als are identified. However, at this time he is still laughed at by the

nowauthorities armed forwith his Japanese ‘silly’ ideas). weapons Unlike (a intestament the three to previous the time novels, he spent Fandorin as a is

sharinken

diplomat in Japan): , or sharpnunchaku and pointed ‘throwing stars’ that

composedwarriors throw of two at sticks their enemy,that are and attached by a, shorta traditional chain or Japanese rope (when weapon

apanese weapons

wielded, these sticks become deadly). Investigation tools and J

telephoneare not the also only assists devices the that Russian work sleuthin Fandorin’s in a pivotal favor: moment the new in invention the plot when of the he

uses it to deceive the club singer Vanda and to discover the location of Akhimas’s

hideout.

As the setting, Moscow is a mercurial city that Fandorin has difficulty

recognizing. Akunin employs an abundance of street names, many of which

seediershould be regions familiar cr to the reader, yet Fandorin’s exploits in the metropolis’s

(especially the gangeate-ridden a sense Khitrovka of defamiliarization, district) no longer in part exist because in the the slums

Copper

contemporary Russian capital. Similarly, thedistrict recent that BBC gained American international series

notorietyis set in Five as aPoints, crime -ininfested lower Manhattan,and disease a-ridden slum in the nineteenth-century.

In Smert’ Akhillesa -

, Fandorin, for the first time, ventures away to visit from districts the upper 102 class world that he has frequented in the first three novels

widespread.where crime is rampant, gangland warfare dominates, and poverty is 48 After arriving on the train from St. Petersburg, Fandorin’s

exteriormovements world are is restricted lim to the physical space of Moscow, yet although his

ited, his interior world expands exponentially.

The introduction of Fandorin’s Japanese valet, Masa, and his Japanese

extendcustoms, the not novel’s to mention temporality. Fandorin’s The secondown adherence part of the to narrativeEastern philosophy, also expands

time as the reader follows Akhimas’s adventures from childhood to the point

when he is forced to confront Fandorin. The plotline of the hired assassin not

characteronly provides in Russ a worthy adversary for Fandorin, but also reveals a novel

ian literature: a successful and solitary mercenary with no

interiorregard for world human of Akhimas life, who expands hires himself the narrative out to the to highest include bidder. the philosophy The enhanced of a

person who also lives by a kind of m

implications. oral code, albeit one with immoral

The plot: who, where, when?

On the level of plot, the task of the detective, police officer, or amateur

sleuth in a ‘whodunit’ is twofold: to discover the identity of the criminal, collect

evidence, conduct interviews, and follow clues in order to verify the

whereabouts Fandorin will of re the-enter suspects, the world on ofthe homeless one hand; orphan and,s onwho the have other, become to orient thieves the in Liubovnik48 smerti (The Lover of Death, 2001 of the orphan-thief Sen’ka in the crime-infested Khitrovka district. 103), which depicts, in Dickensian terms, the life

reader, who likewiseestions follows become the veryprocedure importan of detectiont — at one remove. In this

respect, three qu who, where, and when? Since

the crime occurred at a specific time in the past, the detective must know who

was where, when s/he was there, and why s/he was at that location. In One this or

bothintersection can prove of timeproblematic and place, in the twodetective’s aspects suspicions have equal of importance. various characters

that

ultimately turn out to be innocent of the crime: either the place or the time

anddoes al notibis fit are the a coordinatesway to eliminate of the characters crime. ‘Who’ that depends were at onanother ‘where’ place and or ‘when,’

another time when the crime was committed.

Accordingly, Christie’s Belgian detective, Poirot, pays carefulon of people attention in to

the map and the clock. As one critic puts it, for him, “the relati

time and place is usually the central issue” (Knight 120), and his task is to see

through the murderer’s deception, usually in the form of inconsistent claims or

‘whodoutrightunit’ lies. rests. Thus, John precise Scaggs time contends is one of that the there foundations is an “objectified on which sensethe of time

in the proliferation of times, clocks, timetables, and alibis” (51) in the work of

centralsuch writers to the as plot Christie, and to because the resolution pinpointing of the time story. and Despite defining the location many decadesis 49

separating contemporary mysteries from Christie’s bestsellers, the chronotope

A broken watch plays a crucial role in establishing the exact time of the murder of Mr. Ratchett49 in Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express meticulous in providing times for each suspect’s alibi. (1934). Furthermore, Poirot is

104

remains the pivot for the plot and the process of detection in today’s crime

Mankell to P.D. James and Val McDermid. narratives,Faced from with Jo an Nesbo apparent and Henning suicide and the violent murder of a young

-fold in Azazel’ (1) to identify the motive behindaristocrat, Kokorin’s Fandorin’s suicide; task ( is three : who ordered the killing of the young2) to findaristocrat the murderer and university and/or student the person Akhtyrtsev; and (3) to discover the mastermind behind the global conspiracy Fandorin has uncovered. Brilling and Fandorin identify four main suspects during the course of the murder investigation in Azazel’

, eventually settling on Count Zurov as the homeprime justsuspect, before largely dawn based on the on night the simpleAkhtyrtsev fact thatwas hemurdered. has no alibi Brilling and cameand

eabouts during the attack on

Fandorin cannot account for Zurov’s wher

Akhtyrtsev. Zurov argued with the victim earlier in the evening; moreover, he had time to plan the killing. Thus, while circumstantial evidence implicates him, ofit isorphans eventually proves revealed to be athat bigger Zurov threat is not to behind the fate the of Russiacrime. Howevthan findinger, the cabal

Akhtyrtsev’s killer.

Clock time is not as essential in identifying the mastermind behind the global conspiracy and the students’ deaths in Azazel’ as is the prominence given

to calendar dates. By deciphering and analyzing charts and dates, Fandorin is able to put the pieces of the puzzle together and, after arriving at several wrong dateconclusions, eventually unravels Fandorin the case. to The initially discovery deduce of— a listfalsely of persons, it turns with

s next to each name, leads 105

out—that it is a list of future victims. It is only after Fandorin has a discussion with his chief about recent government changes in various countries that he realizes it is not a list of future targets organization. The dates indicated are an, but update rather on the each members member of a secret

Fandorin pores over a series of secret diplomatic reports on prominent. Subsequently, orphan only to discover—by chance—that the age of the child and the date on which s,

memberss/he made (the their orphans appearance were inkept society at Lady is crucial Ester’s to orphanages identifying until the organization’s they were ready to embark on their missions). In his final confrontation with Lady Ester

, asFandorin a teacher realizes at Ester’s (belatedly) that Gerald Cunningham, who worked undercover

school, could not be the head of the organization because the dates! and ages do not match: “Антрепид найден в море двадцать лет

назад Каннингему тогда было всего тринадцать. Доббс разбогател

четверть! - века назад, Каннингем тогда еще и сиротой не стал! Нет, это не

он ” (195 6)(“Intrepide was found at sea twenty yearstury ago! ago. Cunningham Cunningham was was only thirteen then. Dobbs got rich a quarter of a cen togethernot even timean orphan (calendar then! dates) No, he’s and not place the (where one!” (212). the suspects As Fandorin were pieces at a certain

overs that Ester acctime), he disc is the leader of the organization, because, frameworkording to for her time age, and she place. is the only one whose whereabouts fit the case’s

Turetskii gambit

Priestman defines as oneis that structured “highlights as a dangerspy thriller, within a genre the present that Martin rather than

106

(m

erely) the past action, hence its protagonists must be threatened by powerful

forces of some kind” (1998: 43). The enemy is often part of a conspiracy or

foreign threat that hasn urgent put a nationsearch into danger.unmask The the chiefidentity hero, of thewho double is usually (or a

spy, is involved in a

fulltriple) of (foreign) agent before sabotage s/he isand able usually to inflict conclude more damage.with a twist Such at narratives the end. The are often

protagonist must uncover the truth and sort through the web of lies that is

seemingly everywhere and capture or kill the enemy spy.

A development in the genre since the end of World War II is that

everything is notecret so black agent and James white Bond as, battlesfor example, a good in and the evil earlier that Ian are Fleming clearly

novels, where s

defined and absolute. In contrast, it is much more difficult to define the world of

hardJohn leto Carré,separate whose right protagonists from wrong. find In Turetskii themselves gambit in an environment- where it is

is also fighting to save his nation from, Anvar foreignefendi, domination. the ‘evil spy,’ in his ownhen way becomes whether his goals—to strike a blow against an aggressiveThe question Russia t —are any more reprehensible and devious than Russia’s aim to

conquer the . Moral ambiguity is an integral part of the modern issuesworld, ofand moral through responsibility. Fandorin’s moral dilemmas, Akunin continues to deal with

play a moreCoincidence, important chance role thanencounters, the establishment and the sequence of a precise in which clock events time (aoccur specific hour and minute) in Turetskii gambit. As the murders and

107

ofdisappearances events in order continue to identify to mount, where Fandorinthe main suspectshas to reconstruct were at the the time chronology each

enemy spy stages each death is such deatha way occurred.that suspicion To complicate inevitably matters, falls on another the person; in this way Akunin saturates his narrative with re

d herrings and misleading clues. In addition, the tension increases daily because, although it is known that there is an enemy stillagent being lurking killed. in the Russian camp, his identity remains a mystery and people are

Given the primacy of time a process of deduction is the presencend of place people in the in places crime novel,or circumstances a topos in the that

thecast movements suspicion on of them. each victimAs Fandorin in an attempt embarks to on determine his investigation, where that he personretraces was

saidon the to daythe witness(es).of the murder, During who sawhis final the victim summary and whenwhen, he and reveals what the secretvictim

preciseagent’s identity,chronological Fandorin timeframe explains as how to when he had each to suspectreconstruct arrived events, at the providing camp a

revealedand what to his be movement the enemy was Turkish from agentthat point Anvar on.- In the case of d’Hevrais, who is discloses information he discovered on a recentefendi, trip to the Paris. Russian Fandorin sleuth uses newspaper stories that d’Hevrais had written during his journalistic ‘career’

(Anvar- article wasefendi published is masquerading to put together as a French an account journalist) of d’Hevrais’s and the dateswhereabouts that each and

movements. Unwittingly, the Turkish spy has left a literal paper trail through 108

Fandorinwhich an investigatorfollows the dots can (timepinpoint and his place) movements. and is able Armed to identify with this Anva knowledge,r-efendi as the spy. In an unfortunate (for Anvar- nym the

Ottoman agent chooses— d’Hevraisefendi)— oversight,is the seminal the pseudobit of information that leads Fandorin to identify him once and for all. Although Fandorin’s 50 investigation and narrowing down of suspects is assisted by each individual’s

tool(un)timely to identify deaths, the mappingcrime’s instigator. out the coordinates of each suspect is an essential

genre inIn which his fourth the Russian Fandorin rodina mystery, Akunin returns to the crime thriller/spy glance the danger seems to stem from, once a foreignagain, is threat in danger. once Althoughthe German at firstagent

eventuallyHerr Knabe revealed falls under to be suspicion homegr forown. Sobolev’s Marty Roth murder, identifies the conspiracy two worlds is in

devotedetective “all fiction: their thought the ordinary and energy world toand penetrating the underworld, the ordinary whose worlddenizens and

causing disruption” (226). The detective’s task is to find the criminal,-boiled end fictionhis dangerous activities, and restore balance to the world. In the hard genre, the second world is “the underworld into which the quest hero must descend” (Roth 241) and, although Fandorin rarely enters this world, his journey This nom de plume is Anvar- the50 name reveals that he “was born in the small Bosnian town of Hef-Rais. Paladin d’Hevrais; the ‘Champion of Hefefendi’s-Rais undoing, since, being a clever reference to place,-

’” (193) (“…что наш главный оппонент Анвар fallэфенди, into place по некоторым for Fandorin. свед ениям, родился в боснийском городке Хевраис. D’Hevrais, «Хевраисский» (185). With this information, the final pieces of the puzzle

109

to M -laden Khitrovka district is an example of just such a sphereoscow’s—one seedy, plagued crime by conspiracies and devious plans. The “conspiratorial

andaspect this characterizes is the view of the the fictive world world that Fandorin as a world encounters of conspiracies” in the first(Scaggs four 118)

novels. In contrast to Roth’s framework, the conspiracies in the Fandorin novels societyare not (representedhatched in the by criminal a rogue’s underworld, gallery con buttaining rather the in likes the ofupper Lady echelons of

Anvar- Ester,

brother)efendi, and they Maria employ Sanfon, figures Grand from Duke the Kirill underworld Aleksandrovich, as agents the to tsar’s implement

theytheir haveplans. managed Akhimas to and pull Inspector themselves Gauche out of are the such lower agents world and, (the even world though of law

enforcement can also be considered on a lower plane, with its questionable and,

crustfor the society most part, easily corruptible figures), they will never fit into the upper

that they, perhaps unwittingly, long to join. These two worlds exist

in a very delicate balance and, once that balance is disrupted, it falls on— thein

Fandorin’sdetective hero case to— restoreharm to some the prota kindgonist’s of equilibrium, own status even or if circumstances. that means

Realizing the things are not as they seem with Sobolev’s apparent heart

attack, Fandorin has to sort through the trail of chronological evidencebolev’s leading

movements.up to the death/murder Fandorin accomplishes and construct this a temporalby pinpointing framework the time for ofSo death and

placing Sobolev in a location at that moment, by interviewing witnesses who can 110 confirm where Sobolev was at a specific time, and by figuring out who met with

whom and when

that meeting took place. Initial conclusions are discredited, however, when new information or eyewitnesses turn up. Sobolev’s mistress, aboutEkaterina a missing Golovina, briefcase a teacher full ofin moneMinsk,y andarrives tells in Fandorin Moscow aboutwith vital Sobolev’s information secret political views. As he pages through the daily calendar

of Khurtinskii, the murdered head of the secret police, which contains a cataloguesuspicious of business activity ormeetings, meetings. audiences, A crucial and clue reports, is revealed Fandorin when must Fandorin identify discovers any that Khurtinskii met a certain Klonov on 22 June in the Metropol’ Hotel. Once Fandorin

assembestablishesle the that pieces Klonov of the is the puzzle. agent responsible for the killing, he begins to

Clock time also proves crucial in the narrative because, as the bodies cloccontinuek’ to prevent to pile up, the tension next murder builds— andwhich Fandorin turns outliterally to be has an attemptto ‘race against on his life. the

ofIn thea skillful past (Sobolev’s build up of murder a series and of suspenseful the events leading moments, up toAkunin it) with merges that of the the story present (the investigation) and the future (Fandorin’s attempts to avert yet another murder). Todorov posits that this form of detective fiction “serves as a

transition between the whodunit and the thriller” (51) and puts the detective hero in jeopardy. In this kind of story the “detective loses his immunity, gets beaten up, badly hurt, constantly risks his life, in short, he is integrated into the universe of the other characters, instead of being an independent observer as the 111

andreader keeps is” (Todorovthe reader 51). involved The careful in the pacingfate of ofthe cause detective and effect hero. creates suspense

The locked-room mystery has been a popular setting for writers of

detective fiction ever since Poe’s “The Murders in the Rue Morgue The

crime or murder usually takes place in a “hermetically sealed environment”” (1841). and

the detective must figure out how the crime was executed In

— (Scaggs 51). itaddition,s reference “the only locked to eleme roomntswith within its imageryits own finite of enclosure space— andprovides entrapment, a perfect and for the inherent self-reflexivity of the genre” (Sweeney 2). During the

process of deduction, the detective hero often retreats to a private space, where, alone, s/he sorts through the evidence and data. To focus his thoughts, Fandorin orfrequently lapses into fingers self- reflection.a jade rosary, The draws locked the-room same mystery Japanese offers character a restricted repeatedly, setting that the protagonists can neither at the same time limiting the number of suspects. The characterleaves nor on theenter, Leviafan while move around the upper

anddeck the and reader their cabins,cannot asee locked what and is happening. isolated space Secrets where abound the other on the passengers ship and suspicions increase when the other passengers do not know what is transpiring inside cabins or what some people are writing in their diaries. The ‘secret’ thoughts of the characters are hidden from their fellow passengers.

remainFurthermore, together the u ship’sntil the limited murder space is solved. means Anxiety that the increases passengers exponentially are forced to

one can leave the ship. 112 because everyone is suspect, yet no

Leviafan follows Christie’s practice in her Poirot novels by underscoring

the importance of time for the detective (Gauche and Fandorin) through the

simple device of peppering ensuring that time is

constantly foregrounded. Forthe instan narrativehe with gigantic timepieces, Big Ben towers over the

salon and plays a crucial role at the endce, t of the story. Specific references to exact

-

geographictimes and places locations abound: in their Milford journals;Stokes the and newspaper Aono record coverage hours, of dates, Lord Littleby’sand

provides a tight chronological outline of when

Littlebymurder, andwhich his opens household the novel, were murdered; and Akunin documents efforts by

Gauche and Fandorin to ascertain the various suspects’ movements during the

mu

rders aboard the ship. Additionally, to increase suspense and mislead the

detective and the reader, at one point Akunin places the murderessfon’s in a room

with other people who function as witnesses,n alibi vouching at the time for of San the second

murder.whereabouts, thus supplying her with a 51 invalidate Inthis a standardalibi. ploy of detective fiction, subsequent discoveries

Eventually the dual temporalities come together as the investigation

ther and decipher the

nears its conclusion, the detective is able to piece toge

clues and evidence in order to establish the identity of the criminal, and a kind of not51 in the same place as Sanfon at the time of the murders. This serves to deflect Sanfon is able to do this because of her accomplice husband, Charles Renier, who is

‘attacked’suspicion fromby t Sanfon, because how can she be the murderess if she is somewhere else when the murders take place? Moreover, Sanfon is seen as the victim after she is he African, thus removing any suspicion on the part of Gauche as to her guilt. Tellingly, it is Aono who first becomes113 suspicious of Sanfon due to his acute powers of observation, even before Fandorin does.

justice is restored to society. During the course of Leviafan

, timecharacters is intentionally with a

suspended for several reasons: firstly, the author provides the

human element as the reader becomes better acquainted with them in the

course of the investigation. Secondly, it gives the author a chance to ‘play’ with

ttheo the reader mystery before—one revealing in which the there criminal’s seems identity, to be a restoration often providing of justice two solutionsand one where that false sense of security is withheld. In Leviafan re two

solutions to the mystery— , there a

which restores justice to theCharles world Renier, in that heLord has Littleby’s been dealt murderer, the ultimate is killed, punishment

and will not kill again. However, Akunin offers a second(most ending, likely) whereescape hejustice allows the real mastermind of the crime,tinue Marie a life Sanfon, of crime to and

murder. , making it possible for her to con 52 Interestingly, this type of ending is closer to many contemporary

mustdetective face novels,a world where where ‘traditional’ evil is a constant justice presence. is no longer restored and society

Conclusion

The early Fandorin novels were published in Russia with the following

statement on the back cover of the hardback editions, in homage to the

nineteenth century: “when literature was great, faith in progress was unlimited, strike52 another day. There are signs that Lady Ester was not killed in the bomb blast in Azazel’Tellingly, several of Akunin’s female villains manage to escape justice, perhaps to for the attempted murder of Aono. The exception is Dr. Lind in Koronatsiia and Marie Sanfon, which slightly injured, will only get a short prison sentence , who is killed at the end of the narrative, yet not before murdering the young Grand Duke. 114

and crimes were committed and solved with elegance and taste” (“

когда

литература была великой, вера в прогресс безграничной ”). The, а преступленияformat of the

совершались и раскрывались с изяществом и вкусом nineteenthbooks also -harkscentury back illustration to an earlier on theage: cover the novels and each are chapterbound in has black, a title with relating a what happens. Later novels contain ‘authentic’ period illustrations. This clever marketing device prepares the reader psychologically for the historical world

to enter and provides a point of reference from which the reader is s/he is about toabout foreground to depart. both Once time the and reader space. is captured by the narrative, Akunin continues

Akunin manages to depict a convincing picture of late nineteenth-century

Russia in the first four Fandorin novels. He establishes a credible temporal

culturalsetting, completeand political with references. historical details,That historical period clothing,world and linguistic the reader’s markers, and contemporary world are brought closer together through the depiction of events

economicthat, in many changes instances, that are reflect taking the place same in kind Russia of occurrences, right now. While or political Akunin and has more problems creating a believable sens well enough that the settings play a decisivee of role place, in thehe accomplishescrime and its resolution.this task

The intrepid sleuth Fandorin is largely successful in his task to establish the

the only way to solve the crimetemporal is to and recreate spatial the coordinates victim’s movements of each suspect, and the for suspect’s actions leading up to the criminal act. It is crucial to the resolution of the narrative that Fandorin

115

establish where each suspect was when the crime took place, when s/he was

there, and what s/he was doing. Finally, a skilled handling of time and space is

essential to the detective story, as shrinking or expanding spatial and temporal

areelements not as add distinct suspense, in Akunin’s terror, novels or excitement as they are to thein the narrative. works of These other elements authors of

detective fiction, yet Akunin manages to unfold a mostly convincing narrative

hasthat invented contains athe pla classicusible requirements‘Fandorin chronotope.’ for a crime narrative. In this way, Akunin

By its very nature, a continuing series featuring one detective hero does not end with each individual novel, but continues into the future in a seemingly unendingeventually number he will becomeof books. too If theold detectiveto continue hero his ages, investigative as Fandorin endeavors. does, then

Chernyi gorod (The Black City

Indeed, ), the latest novel in the series, The wasnovel 53 depictspublished the on adventures 21 November of 2012 and- ityear is already- a bestseller.

the now 58 old Erast Petrovich in Baku in 1914.-day

Continuing a tried and true tradition, Fandorin engages the issues of modern andRussia: economic windfall problems. oil profits, Judging pervasive by the greed, worker exploitation, social unrest, readers have not yet tired of the ageing sleuthsuccessful or his sales prolific of the creator. book, Russian

53 – kotoryi prokhodit cherez raznye vozrasty” at - BorisaSee the-Akunina articles-otpravilsja titled “Boris-v- Akunin: and Seriia “Akunin o Fandorine raspravilsia eto s istoriia Fandorinym o muzhchine, po- http://rus.ruvr.ru/2012_11_24/Fandorin Baku/ chernomu,” accessible at http://izvestia.ru/news/540134. 116

Chapter 3 The Celebrity Detective as Post-Soviet Hero

racter who does not “A serial detective has, of course, particular successfuladvantages: career an established in crime-solving cha which can add have to be introduced afresh with each novel, a

loyalty.”gravitas, an established family history and background and, aboveTalking all, About reader Detec identificationtive Fiction and

“ P.D. James, Герой Нашего Времени…портрет, но не одного ” человека: это портрет, составленныйA Hero of Our из Time пороков всего нашего поколения, в полном их развитии.54 “…I set Mikhailout to create Lermontov, a real hero; one whom girls would fall would admire and want to imitate.” Borisin Akuninlove with, and one whom55 boys

“I Need a Hero” singer Bonnie Tyler’s recordingOne of of the the song biggest “Holding pop hits Out of For the a 1980s Hero was Welsh by Jim

tap into the seemingly.” The lyrics, deathless composed human need for

Steinman and Dean Pitchford,

54 of our entire generation in their ultimate development.” “TheInter viewHero withof Our Clive Time Simmons. is…a portrait, See but not of one person: it is a portrait of the-aims vices- for55 -classy- - - . : http://www.news.com.au/news/akunin mystery/story fna7dq6e 1111118482559#ixzz2NzxREAqj

117

“Where have all the good men gone and where

heroes and their requisite traits:

Tylerare all yearns the gods?/Where’s f the street wise Hercules to fight the rising” odds?”and “larger

than life”—anor image a hero that who conjures is strong up andthe folkloricfast, “fresh warrior from thewho fight rides, in on his

white horse to save the . The warrior embodies a mixture of

magical traits and superhuman acing on the thunder and rising with

the heat It's gonna take a supermanstrength: to sweep “R me off my feet.” In that anxiety-

/

toridden, be on Cold the brinkWar era, of nuclear the lyrics war took and the when pulse it lo ofoked a time as whenthough the only world an seemed

extraordinary warrior could save human society from destruction. Ten years

describeslater the heroic an ordinary image personhad changed: from theBruce community Springsteen’s who has 1992 accomplished song “Local aHero” feat deemed heroic by his fellow citizens “Somebody with the right style Lookin' for a local hero Someone with the right :smile /

/ .” Subsequently, Enrique Iglesias’s reliable2001 song ordinary “Heroes” man no to longer idealizes the warrior, but depicts a strong andI can kiss away the pain stand by a person’s side: “I can be your hero, baby/.”

These songs/I articulate will stand a bydesire you thatforever/ we instinctivelyYou can take recognize my breath as away timeless and universal. Human society has had a need for heroes since the beginning of recorded history. The Greeks believed that stories of heroism could serve as moral examples for citizens; some of the first heroes were descended from the

s and as a

Greek gods, such as Perseus, Hercules, and Achilles. As individual collective, we admire and wish to emulate heroes, who usually provide a model 118

for just and decent behavior. Various historical eras have embraced a range of

specificheroes who age represent the dominant moral, ethical, and behavioral mores of a

. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel believed that the heroic ‘Great Man,’ who accomplished the needs of the age, arose from the spirit of the timesZeitgeist and personified the soul of thea man culture. who For climbed Hegel, his Napoleon way to supreme exemplified power the through of the era, which valued his military achievements and, albeit unknowingly, contributed to the advancement of civilization. Hegel believed that great men do not make history,Heroes,

Herobut great-Worship, times and produce the Heroic the man. in History Similarly, Thomas Carlyle, in his work

(1841), emphasized the important function of individuals in history, which, he argued, is created by a few great who men. Carlyle’s heroes were political and military figures, both good and evil,

Josephsought Campbellto organize in change The Hero for with the benefita Thousand of humankind. Faces All heroes, according to

(1949), embody a large returnmonomyth to society. consisting Campbell of several illuminates stages: adeparture, number of trials uniting and themes initiation, of heroic and a stories that illustrate what heroes represent to and in different societies and cultures.

exemplarsWhatever—extraordinary their differences, beings incarnatin such concepts focus on individuals as

g the ethos of a given age who, however, usually become timeless archetypes. By contrast, counterviews attribute heroism to society and social forces, opposing the notion of individualsial forces as heroes. For instance, Karl Marx argued that history was made by soc 119

evenengaged the inproponents class struggles, of this rather philosophy than by acknowledge the exploits its of shortcomings.a few individuals. Despite Yet

deterthe dominanceminists of ofall massive hues cannot social write forces history at play without in certain recognizing historic eras, that at“social least

some some

individuals, at critical moments, play a decisive role in redirecting the

individualhistorical wave” and soc (Hook 12). Inhe Socialist positive Realism, hero “is whichan emblem tried toof Bolshevikreconcile the virtue

ial forces, t is life should be,

patternedsomeone the to ‘readingshow the public forward might movement be inspired of history to emulate,’” and h positive hero exempli (Clark 46). Although the

fies moral and political virtue, he is deindividualized and his image is rooted in saints’ lives and . As an ideal, this hero is larger than life, full of vigor.” and(Prokho staminarova, 132).as exemplified This modern by “metro-day superhero workers, wasaviators, to polarforge theexplorers, new Soviet etc society of the future.

Several reasons may explain the seemingly ubiquitous psychological need

regardedfor heroes. by Often h conceiving of himself as the father of a country and frequently

fulfills the functionis followers of parental as a fatherauthority figure whose (Hook leadership 20), the hero skills or satisfy great theman

human need for security and protection. Times of great crisis call for a figure

who can organize people and lea

d them, conduct himself in a manner worthy of

emulation, and inspire others through his exploits. In a society where individuals

representativestrive to better figurethemselves whose and traits their and circumstances, achievements a pro herovide serves an ideal as a towards 120

which one can aspire. While different kinds of heroes have existed throughout

history, several constant aspects of the hero can be identified. The most common traits of the individual hero include intelligence, strength and courage, charisma, selflessness, a strong moral code, resilience, loyalty, and reliability. Historical andexamples Winston of great Churchill. heroes A samplinginclude Alexander of inspirational the Great, folkloric Julius and Caesar, literary Napoleon, heroes inc

ludes Odysseus, Sir , King Arthur, Gandalf, Tarzan, and Harry Potter.

Comics have generated such figures as Superman, whose superhuman strength and moral conviction haveior inspired in a dark generations and evil world since propelledhe first appeared him towards in 1939; his

Batman, whose just behav protectinghighly personalized humanity version from both of vigilante earthly and justice; otherworldly and the Avengers, threats. Whethertasked with

ed or have stepped up in a time historical or imaginary, heroes have either emerg of great need to protect and reassure the populace. Yet by the middle of the antitwentieth- century, the classic hero had almost disappeared from fiction.ety of The

hero, in the figure of a victim or of a man suffering from a vari reflectscircumstances, the changing has largely ethos replaced of the modern the mythical era. hero (Boorstin 77), which

longs forSome a “larger aspects than of life”the hero’s godlike traits warrior. have Westerchangedn societysince Tyler’s has moved song, awaywhich from such a mythological ideal and now seems to value ordinary heroes. The

soldiers.media and Ordinary music industry people who focus have on the made heroic a difference feats of firemen, in someone the police,else’s life and a re 121

now also recognized as heroes: the person who rescues a girl from a burning

whohouse, “does who what overcomes is right a and daunting moral.” task, This who is evidenced accomplishes by the an annual athletic broadcast feat, and of

CNN Heroes devoted to discovering unsung heroes; the Heroes television

, -a show

discoverseries (2006 that 2010;they have created by Tim Kring), powers which and depicts ordinary have people to deal who with their changed lives; and Joss Whedon’s , subsequently,Buffy the Vampire

Slayer - popular series,

(1997 2003), which tells the story of a California cheerleader who discovers that she is the ‘chosen one,’ the heir to a long line of slayers, one of otherwhom mythical is born each creatures. generation These to portrayals protect humans attest tofrom the vampires,advancement dem ofons, and

anddemocratic transfer societies, abiding heroic where traits there onto is a tendency ordinary toindividuals. demystify the superhuman

Russian heroes

Russian literature

abounds inThe superfluous Bronze Horseman men (Onegin, Pechorin,

Bazarov), ‘little men’ (Evgenii from , Akakii Akakievich), extraordinary men (Raskol’nikov), mad men (Chatskii, Evgenii), predatory men

(Svidrigailov, Stavrogin), military men (Andrei Bolkonskii, Aleksei Vronskii), revolutionary men (Rakhmetov), nationalistic men (Chapaev, Pavel Korchagin), drunken men (Semen Marmeladov, Benedikt Erofeev’s Venichka), and action protmen (Viktor Dotsenko’s Beshenyi), yet the majority of these masculine literary 122 agonists have a that disqualifies them as exemplars for young

Russian readers seeking positive role models. ’s Pechorin is

unsavory and amoral; Ivan Turgenev’s Evgenii Bazarov is arrogant and

destructive; Fedor Dostoevskii’s Prince Myshkin is passive and weak; Lev

Tolstoi’s Aleksei Vronskii is an oversocialized ‘stud’ lacking in sensitivity; and nationalistic heroes are politicized and verge on the maniacal.

Western entertainment fiction By contrast,

offers the bold, carefree Robin , the adventurous d’Artagnan, the rebellious Huckleberry Finn, the cerebral Sherlock

Holmes, and the dashing James Bond to counter the likes of Pierre de Laclos’

Eliocynicalt’s pedantic Vicomte Edwardde Valmont, Casaubon. Thomas Other Hardy’s authors puritanical have used Angel the Clare, Old American and George

West as a setting to develop a heroic protagonist who surmounts social barriers to become a symbol of fairness and justice. Examples include the cowboy hero of the Old West; ’s Chief Winnetau and German adventurer Old

Shatterhand; and the Lone Ranger and Zorro. only hadUntil a handful the appearance of homegrown of Erast persona Fandorin, worthy contemporary of possible youngemulation. Russians In accordance with the ideologic

al norms of the Soviet era, many of those heroes todied the in authorities service to theiras a conspirator country: the and youth died Pavlik a martyr’s Morozov death denounced for his actions. his father

nteered as a teenager to join

During World War II, Zoia Kosmodem’ianskaia volu a partisan detachment. She was captured, tortured, and eventually killed byThe the

WhiteGermans, Guard but she did not betray her comrades. Aleksandr Fadeev’s novel,igade of 123 (1951), depicts how Oleg Koshevoi organizes and leads a br

young soldiers to defend a Donbass mining town from the Germans in late 1942. commentingEventually, Koshevoi on his childhood and the group heroes are in arrested,an interview tortured, with the and British executed. newspaper In

The Telegraph

, Akunin states:

Turgenev.You cannot What pretend would when you you do? are Sob? 11 Complain? or 12 that youI approached are a hero this of

problem in a scientific way. I grafted a bit from every protagonist in

Russian literature whom I admire. I took 10 per cent of Andrei Bolkonskii

[from shkin [The Idiot

], 10 per cent of Prince My ], 10 per

cent of Lermontov's Pechorin. Then I added a recipe of my own design,

mixed and stirred. At the beginning he looked like a , a

startedhomunculus. not doing Then what miraculously I wanted himhe came to to life, for me at least, and

than most of the people I know. (Rees) do. Now for me he is more alive

celebrityIn Fandorin, detective Akunin who presents has come an attractive to represent literary the ideally protagonist envisioned and a popularspirit of a nation finally emerging from the turbulent post-Soviet decade.

Fandorin as a New Hero

Perhaps as famous as Akunin is his literary creation—the dashing and

first intrepidKaramzin’s sleuth tale Erast Bednaia Petrovich Liza (Poor Fandorin, Liza whose name the alludesdoomed to relationship Nikolai between the young lovers , 1794), evoking revised form

Erast and Liza, which Akunin depicts in 124

Azazel’

in his first Fandorin novel, (1998). Unlike his namesake, however,with a

streakFandorin of greyis traumatized in his dark by the and loss an of occasional his beloved, stammer which —leavesvisible him and audible

proof of his sensitivity.

Fandorin’s surname reflects his European roots: Erast

toPetrovich Russia in is tahe descendant seventeenth of thecentury German and officerserved Kornelius at the court Von of Dorn, Aleksei who came

Mikhailovich, the first Romanov tsar. Over time the surname became Russified,

though it still provokes comments when first encountered.correctly when For the instance, two first Count meet inZurov Azazel’ cannot remember how to pronounce it and thus exoticism., which infuses the detective’s image with an element of foreignness

Akunin has crafted a special detective who adoptsIntent the on deductive creating a methods ‘national of hero,’ Sherlock Holmes and embodies the

’s new hero is original civilizedinasmuch qualities as he of an English gentleman. Akunin

is a ‘cultured’ European of the period, who dresses in the latestr of

fashion, likes to travel, has been touched by (which lends him an ai

Fandorinmystery), embodiesand practices many the features inner harmony that the typicalof Eastern Russian philosophy. male notoriously Indeed,

anlacks: inner he calmis moderate that gen inerally his actions, keeps his values emotions order in and check. rationality, Fandorin’s and moralpossesses

qualities raise him above his colleagues and contemporaries, giving him an

someoneexceptional in Russiaidentity, is onehonorable that is attractiveand decent. to readers, who are reassured that

125

Fandorin is distinct from other literary detective-heroes such as Sherlock

Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Inspector Maigret, and Miss Marple because he does not

thearrive series on the from scene an eager fully formed.-cheeked Instead, twenty he develops-year-old and youth matures in Azazel’ throughout to a

-eight-year-old, rosy embattled warrior in Chernyi gorod (The Black City cynical, fifty , 56 Bildungsroman2012), the final book in the series to date. In essence, the series is an extended

, and part of its appeal for the reader is watching how Fandorin’s professionalism, ideology, personal life, and values develop in each subsequent differentinstallment. from The his older young Fandorin,er counterpart who is— callous,an inexperienced calculating, police and practical, functionary is very

buddingfull of romantic romance. dreams This transformationof glory, youthful reflects enthusiasm, the changing adolescent atmosphere eagerness, of the and

me of relative stability and era: Fandorin is first introduced in 1876, a ti continuity in Russia; as the series progresses, however, Fandorin experiences the turbulent 1890s, when increased terrorism, corruption, incompetence,f Russian and conspiracy threaten to rend the social, economic, and political fabric o howsociety, the much political as inand the social 1990s. upheavals In the later at the books turn in of the the series twentieth readers century witness

affected Fandorin, whose somewhat jejune lofty ideals have been replaced by skepticism, melancholy, and pragmatism. Much as in Russian life during the

Putin era, the optimism and excitement of the early 1990s have given way to

56 Fandorin was born is 1856, exactly one hundred years before his creator, Akunin. 126

increased financial stability andd moral improved responsibility. standard of living, but at a cost of civil

liberties,A compositesocial safety of nets,many an Western literary characters such as those listed

above, Fandorin’s literary image runs- countersbania to -the typical standards of unemployedmasculinity in males Russia, wh where hard drinking, going, womanizing, styles his protagonist aso seea cultured no future and for intelligent themselves master abound. of disguise Rather, who Akunin speaks

several languages, travels the world, andhe rightregularly choice.’ confronts Bringing complicated together a social and moral issues, invariably making ‘t rolevariety model of familiar in an age and short popular on upstanding literary traditions, moral heroes. Fandorin Derived serves from as aprototypes strong

ty and panache has capturedof the late the nineteenth imagination century, of countless his combination readers in of the integri post-Soviet era. As much is

websiteevidenced at bywww.akunin.ru several blogs offersthat have an int sprungeractive up approachsince 1998. to Akunin’sthe Russian own official

and the fan website Fandorin! (www.fandorin.ru) provides a forum 57 wheredetective, Fandorin fans post comments and information on various aspects of the

Fandorin phenomenon. Recent posts have included anecdotes about the intrepid

anddetective, concern comments that the Fandorinon Akunin’s novels historical are coming mistakes, to an interviews end. with the author, 58 Additionally,

57 Somewhat inexplicitly, considering Akunin’s huge success, the website has not been updated58 since 2005. Indeed, Akunin has said that although he plans two more short story collections focusing on Fandorin, there will be no more novels. 127

Liubov’ k istorii (A

LoveAkunin of Historylaunched) a personal blog in November 2010 called

whereposts heupdates weighs on in his on various political, projects historical, and social, solicits and feedback cultural

issues,from readers as well. as the majority of those

who follow hisAccording blog to a survey conducted by Akunin, work for

live in Russia,-employeed are between. 20 and 40 years old, and 59 other people, i.e. are not self Akunin’s blogNot is rankedsurprisingly seventh considering on the site his’s overallliterary user and celebrityratings. success, 60 In crafting a nineteenth-century detective with twenty-first century

appeal, Akunin relies on a synthesis of the tried and true British detective nostalgiatradition, forthe the image past. of In the the brooding wake of and the darkdissolution romantic of the hero, Soviet and Russians’Union and the

Imperialpolitical, Russiaeconomic,—a timeand social when chaos Russia that was followed, perceived Russians to be at looked the peak to ofthe its era of global power and glory—in an attempt to make sense of the troubled recent past

and present. In order to create a palatable sense of the bygone era, Akunin relies believableon a canny anduse attractiveof time and detective space and protagonis tightly paced plots. Yet he needs a of sound moral fiber to serve as an example fort whotoday’s is intelligent, readers. Since perceptive, “detective and fiction is all about a man who enthralls because he performs a miracle of

f an alluring accomplishment” See (Roth 53), Akunin makes his protagonist part o 59 . 60 : http://borisakunin.livejournal.com/11499.html. See: http://www.livejournal.com/ratings/users?page=1&country=cyr

128

and established profession. Much of Fandorin’s credibility stems from his links

to the past: he is cast as a British gentleman, has a distinctive style, employs a s

unfailinglydeductive methodology, attractive to women. wears disguises Fandorin in possesses his pursuit the of deductive the criminal, reasoning and seem of

Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin; the attention to detail of Emile Gaboriau’s

61 Lecoq;detectiveand of all the time. intuition of Sherlock Holmes, perhaps the greatest fictional

late nineteenthIntroduced- to the reading public in 1887, Holmes is a representative of

century Victorian England, an era rich in scientific progress,

innovative technology, and social change. Holmes bases his conclusions on

scientific facts, targeted experiments, and rational deduction; he employs the

modern investigative tools available to him, tracks down criminals, works with

the police, and is paid for his services. He keepsan abreastinhabitant of current of the bustling events by

reading the newspapers and journals and, as

London metropolis, is a member of the educated newly growing upper middle

class. John Watson informs the reader that Holmes ignores literature, for his

ininterest lies in acquiring ‘useful’ knowledge that he can employ in his

adventurousvestigations.— allHolmes attributes is patriotic, viewed a asgood desirable citizen, in rational, Victorian practical, Britain. brave,He is and

A writer of the roman policier - 61 — , Emile Gaboriau (1832 73) introduced the police investigator Lecoq a young, ambitious, modern professional who makes brilliant deductions during the course of the investigation. When necessary, Lecoq is helped by his mentor, Tabaret, an eccentric and enthusiastic amateur detective. The character of Lecoq was a major influence on Conan Doyle’s Holmes.

129

andcultured has an (he exce playsllent the knowledge violin), athletic of the (helaw is and a proficient poisons. Althoughboxer and eccentric swordsman), and

prone to solitude (he can spend days lying on his couch in a cocaine-induced

earningdaze or playinga living hisfor violin),himself Holmes(even if isWatson forced isto the face more everyday financially problems, minded such of asthe

two). Although Holmes “through his skills as a consulting detective became an

icon of British pragmatism and imperial superiority” (McReynolds 10)

n cynicism. In, thishe is way

heprone not toonly doubt represents and pessimism, his andtoday’s has a touch world of as moder well. Evidence of this in

age, but

SGreatherlock Britain and the U.S. is the current popularity of the latest-). Holmes TV series,

The(created f by Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss, 2010

possesses traitsigure utterly of the lackingBritish ingentleman Soviet and has post particular- appeal in Russia, for he

- Soviet Russia: he is- defined codearistocratic, of conduct. polished, Particularly refined, p self assured, and reserved, with a well

opular during the 1990s in Russia, the British gentleman then was touted as an ideal in glossy magazines, which introduced new Russians, politicians, and cultural celebrities to the keyd with traits the of British this paragon, prompting them to adopt the fashions identifie aristocracy, purchase the appropriate accouterments, favor studying British offspringEnglish (instead to British of American,schools. Canadian, or Australian English), and send their 62

For more details on the glossy magazines that flooded the Russian market in the 62 130 1990s, see Goscilo, “Style and S(t)imulation: Popular Magazines, or the Aestheticization

Accordingly, when launching the Fandorin series in the late nineties, unswervingAkunin endowed calm Fandorinin dangerous with situations inflexible— principles,the fabled steady British reserve, “stiff upper and lip.”an

Although has impoverished had an upper in- the first novel, Fandorin comes from the Russian nobility, class education, and is able to move fluidly in high society. His honesty, dedication to service, and loyalty to his superiors are admirable personal and professionally handsome qualities. and fashionable Moreover, (he his is appearance immaculately adds to his stylish appeal: extreme anddressed impeccable and has breeding.all the latest fashion accessories), Fandorin has an athletic body

Fandorin’s professional endowments complement and overlap with his personal talents. Employing the

deductive method in the tradition of Holmes, he possesses an impressive intellect (although not as superb as the British sleuth’s), aboutacute observationhuman nature skills, that the proves ability invalu to interpretable in solving people’s cases. actions, Since and he andoes intuition not

usuallysuccumb see to throughunnecessary the cloud emotion, of deception he is able and to remainlies surrounding focused on the the suspects. case and

The ‘British gentleman’ aspect of Fandorin’s personality mak character in Russian literature and suggests the ratiocinationes of him an earlier a unique age

when law, order, and decorum prevailed.

of Postsoviet Russia.” Studies in Twentieth Century Literature: Russian Culture of the 1990s - 131 . 24:1 (Winter 2000): 15 50.

Fandorin: a true professional

Akunin’s stylized Fandorin series evokes not only nineteenth-century literary heroes but also detective novels of that century through the figure of the

detective hero, his deductive methodology, his method of pursuing the criminal

Althoughand investigating not as brilliant the crime, as the and cere the eventual capture of the perpetrator.

bral Holmes, Fandorin is attentive to detail, competent in gathering clues, and quick to follow new leads. Once he has collected the evidence, he logically and methodologically offers various scenarios to explain the case, eventually narrowing in on the perpetrator, and revealing his

Akuninfindings gives in a stunning him the habit finale. (picked To emphasize up from the Brilling logic duringof Fandorin’s the Azazel’ methods, case) of

stating the points in his argument one by one (“raz, dva, tri”). Not only logic, but secondalso powers salient of professionalobservation andskill interpretationis an astounding distinguish ability to theread sleuth, people’s for his

deceit.behavior, In thus providing him with an invaluable in uncovering lies and

short, in the tradition of Holmes, Fandorin solves crimes by a mixture of deduction, common sense, observation, and intuition.

New scientific and technical-century discoveries abounded are in ofinnovation invaluables. Advances use to a in detective, and the nineteenth psychologyforensic science, drastically fingerprint changed evidence, police andcrime detective scene investigation, work in the late and decades criminal by making it easier to identify and trace the perpetrator (discussed in Chapter

Two) 132 . In the absence of DNA and forensic evidence, detection at that time

primarily involved deduction and intuition. Today the procedure sooner

aresembles wealth of a evidence science, withto put the togeth detectiveer a case. spending countless hours sifting through

FandorinAttuned is fascinated to the technological by nineteenth advancements- and social fads of his age,

century gadgets: he owns a bicycle, is an

latestautomobile weapons enthusiast, has one of the first typewriters on the market, owns the

reader and stays, and up- possessesto- a fingerprint kit. Also, he is an avid newspaper

date on the latest news and social trends. For instance, he

isreads a physical ‘new age’ fitness books fana on the proper art of breathing, studies Eastern philosophy,

tic, with his own exercise equipment, and has a solid

knowledge of global events. With time, he also become adept at determining—at times how

limiteda victim— hasscientific died, and knowledge. is able to identify various poisons using his

Fandorin stands out from other detectives as someone with whom the

modern Russian reader can identify because of his professionalism (he is no

amateur Holmes) and ambition (he is intent on advancing his career). The

typical police investigator in Soviet and early post-Soviet detective fiction is an honest professional who works to battle forces that threaten the state and status

quo, yet whose actions remain within the parametersan tradition of the established of the genre; system. an investigatorIn this respect, for Fandorin ‘special assignments’ is an oddity in(osobye the Russi porucheniia

), he —ostensiblyin medieval serves

fashionthe federal— government, but is loyal to Moscow, which is ruled 133 by his patron, Governor General Prince Vladimir Dolgorukoi. A

Statskii sovetnik (The

Statemember Counsellor of the Tsarist police force in the early novels, in

, 1999) Fandorin leaves government service after he is asked to reluctantlycompromise a this times) ethics, and but maintains he continues personal to work contacts closely in lawwith enforcement. the police (albeit While

Holmes regularly cooperates with , but despises working with the police, Fandorin is often assigned to officers from local law enforcement and the security forces, whom he frequently finds incompetent, corrupt, and/or laughable. In every case he investigates, Fandorin is the single essential managescomponent, to untanglefor, despite the an knotted abundance threads of falseof the clues case and red herrings, he usually which underscores the primacy of his deductive methods.before his police colleagues,

Since trailing suspects and gathering evidence are crucial elements of a

disguisesdetective’s that investigation, a the inventive sleuth frequently elaborates a range of well— llow him to move undetected, even among those who know him

a topos established by Holmes, whose clever disguises largely set the standard for the genre. Following in his footsteps,l hideouts Fandorin and in is stakeouts.a master of disguises, which he uses to infiltrate crimina roleCuriously, of another when person disguised, enables Fandorin him to does absorb not completelystammer at the all, personality as if playing of the the disguise. Some of his more ingenious disguises include those of a French artist with shaggy red hair (Azazel’

); a hotel guest hidingAzazel’ behind); and a bushy a beggar mustache, whose a clothingTyrolean hides hat with an impressive a feather, and arsenal an Alpine of Japanese coat ( weapons (Smert’ Akhilles [The

134

Death of Achilles]). Fandorin is not the only master of disguises in the novels—

his opponents also prove adept at creating different personalities in order to

seemsdeceive to others, be fought and with in some the weapsequences the battle between rightthe and professional wrong

assassin Akhimas appears in a differentons of guisedisguise. for eachFor example, of his sinister assignments

(Smert’ Akhillesa); the Turkish spy Anvar-efendi works undercover as a French

journalist (Turetskii gambit [The Turkish Gambit]); the master of disguises

GeneralMomos runsDolgorukoi around ( MoscowPikovyi valet deceiving [The Jack everyone of Spades he meets,] including); Marie Sanfon Governor

pretends to be the pregnant wife of a Swiss banker (Leviafan, 1999 [Murder on the

Leviathan]); and the evil Dr. Lind (cast as a Moriarty figure vis-à-vis Fandorin’s

Koronatsiia []

2000Holmes)). Fandorin’s masquerades various as Mademoiselle disguises help Declique him to observe ( suspects and aid him in,

providehis reconnaissance missions, in serious but and some life- threateningof the more outrageoussituations. More disguises humorous also

than Fandorin, the sleuth’s devoted manservant, Masa, adopts an array of scenesdisguises, when including both Fandorin those of anda grubby Masa Kirgizare in disguiseand a squat provide Chinese welcome peddler. relief The at

as well as harking back to the earlytimes daysto offset of the the detective seriousness genre. of theOne investigation, could argue that the plethora of assumed identities are not only standard for the genre but also suggestive on the meta- level and in today’s sociopolitical conte , s the Russian

xt. Ineorgian a sense, specialist Akunin i in and translator of disguise behind which Chkhartishvili, the G 135

Japanese language and culture briefly hid his ‘true’ identity. And the adoption of

, KGB agent so a benevolent, righteous persona is what made the

Rpopularussians during to forge the a new2000s. persona In general, manifested the collapse on the of visible the Soviet level. Union forced all

“A white knight upon a fiery steed”

Enhancing his image as a contemporary and unique hero is Fandorin’s exceptional physical appearance and athletic physique, which beg for a transfer to a visual genre. Tall, with a slender build and wide shoulders,-gray at the he temples has blue— eyes,a distinguishinga thin, black mustache, feature that and appearsblack hair, after which his wife’s is silver death at the conclusion of the first novel in the series. This mark of traumatic experience was a clever device of

Akunin’s, for in subsequent novels it casts Fandorin in a mysterious light as someone with a past, someone who has suffered prematurely. Pain, however, does not prohibit attention to style. Always impeccably groomed, Fandorin dresses in the latest fashions, and, at times,Azazel’ is vainhas and, a jeweled by today’s pin standards, in his necktie andfoppish: a red he carnation wears a Lordin his Byron buttonhole. corset Thatin his labor, is mental and not physical is

Leviafan Smert’

Akhillesasignaled by his manicured nails. And in several novels (e.g.,he would not, look out of place in) hea fin carries-de-siècle a fashionable Parisian fashion walking magazine. cane. In short,

womenAlong and boasts with his a strong foppish measure appearance, of sex Fandorin appeal— is extremely attractive to

qualities that make him 136

rature. This dangerous but irresistible

unique in contemporary Russian lite

protagonistattraction ties of himAleksandr to the ByronicPushkin’s hero, Evgenii deftly Onegin recast in the-32) eponymous and Lermontov’s

Pechorin in A Hero of Our Time (1825 orin to

(1841). Indeed, Varvara compares Fand

(PechorinTuretskii because gambit of his intriguing pallor, languid glance, and nobly graying hair

). Not only surface appeal, but also bodily strength characterize the young hero, who, to maintain his athletic physique, engages in an array of manservant.exercise routines, weight lifting, and sparring matches with Masa, his

Fandorin’s superb physical

physique and athletic prowess set him apart andfrom modern his contemporaries,- and puts him among the ranks of superspy James Bond

day action/adventure heroes, suchThe Lord as Indiana of the RingsJones, Captain- Jack

Sparrow, and Aragorn from J.R.R. Tolkien’s (1954 55). Like sceneBond, thatFandorin echoes is “Theseemingly Fatalist” invincible: section hein Asurvives Hero of aOur game Time of); Russian recovers roulette after (a

Akhimas stabs him with a knife; breaks out of a Turkish prison; is shot by Marie

Sanfon; almost drowns in the Thames; and escapes from the devious clutches of

Dr. Blank, who wants to cut into his brain. In this respect Fandorin is a insuperhero water (“ who, true to the Russian saying, neither”). burns up in fire nor drowns 63 он в огне не горит, и в воде не тонет By contrast, the lives of

Holmes, , Hercule Poirot, or Miss Marple are almost never in Azazel’ which63 is included in the bonus features on the DVD. Interview with Aleksandr Adabash’ian, director of the TV miniseries (2002),

137

danger. Unlike these purely cerebral talents, Fandorin possesses physical

prowess as well as brains, which is why his escapades resemble Agent 007’s

superiorconstant physicalclose brushes as well with as mentaldeath. Despitecapacities overwhelming is what makes odds, them the invariably blend of

emerge triumphant.

Self- ipotence. Although

preservation, however, does not guarantee omn

cannotFandorin always may besave a superman them from who danger rides or in death. and sweeps Fandorin’s women female off theirromantic feet, he

theirinterests wedding are frequently day; Varvara endangered: Suvorova his is first captured wife, Elizaveta by Anvar [Liza]- is killed on 64 efendi, the Turkish

victimspy. Likewise, of Anvar Fandorin-efendi; General is not always Sobolov able is toassassinated; save his friends and :Fandorin’s Count Zurev mentor is a

Grushin is killed during an undercover operation. Fandorin’s failure to rescue

a

those for whom he cares, like his stammer and gray temples, displays

himhumanizing from appearing vulnerability: superhuman his occasional inability to savelic attributesthe victim ofprevents his

persona. , despite the hyperbo

A moral hero for a troubled age

-

respectFandorin’s for others intellect,set him apart moral from fiber, other self Russiandiscipline, national resourcefulness, heroes and and

64 On Her Majesty’s Secret ServiceThis parallels. the killing of James Bond’s wife, Teresa di Vicenzo, by his bitter enemy Ernst Stavro Blofeld, hours after their marriage ceremony, in (1963) 138

previous literary detectives. In contrast to

the brilliant, aloof, and eccentric

Holmes, Fandorin is smart, but not overly clever. He makes mistakes during the course of his investigations; at times these(in errors Turetskii drag gambitout the he case does and, not sometimes, result in tragic consequences in Azazel’ he brings

Grushinuncover intothe identity a situation of the that Turkish results spy in the in timementor’s to save death). Zurov;

-like calm stems

from hisNormally Confucian able inner to control harmony his and emotions, lends him Fandroin’s a stately Zen reserve. In dangerous

disciplinesituations stemsit helps from him his to focusmartial and art think lucidly, without panic. Much of his

it is grounded in a philosophy that providess training, Fandorin which exceedswith an physicalinner voice skills, that for

Easternorients him philosophy in questions (the basisof right of andhis moral wrong. core) He embodies and the code the ofharmony the Japanese of

samurai (the source of his dedication to serving an [honorable] government or

Asian martial arts that Fandorin pursues developleader). Nota rigor merely that ainforms hobby, histhe professionalism. A strong work ethic is a

quality andvalued in postin the- West, but has not been a widespread practice in the Soviet Union—stay

Soviet Russia. Judging by the detective’s popularity, his values

lawstrue to yourself, work hard, live— according to a moral code, help others, abide by

, and do not take bribes are valued by Russian citizens-West today,identify probably conjures

becausethe phenomenon they are soof Erare.uras Furthermore, Fandorin’s East ussia’s geographical

and historical straddling ofianism, East and which, W on the basis of R political concept

est, was embraced as a 139

by the first Russian emigration cornerstone of publications andin pronouncements the 1920s, and more by several recently public has figuresbecome who the lay claim to ugin.

The ultraphilosophy,-rightist notably Eurasianism Aleksandr movement D envisions the revival of Russian identity based on an all-

powerful, reconstructed Eurasian empire that embraces the country’s rich historical past rooted in Asia (Clowes 44). Dugin, the movement’s main ideologue, promotes- a mixture of SlavophileSeveral intellectualvalues, Eurasian thought from the 1920s, and neo fascism (Clowes 44). tendencies manifest themselves in his thought: “a political theory inspired by

Traditionalism,and geopolitical Orthodox and Eurasianist religious conceptions” philosophy, (Lar Aryanistuelle 1 and). occultist Russian theories,émigrés in

-establish the Russian empire by fully08 embracing the the 1920s wanted to re and ratic oppression.Asian aspects In of the Russian post- history, economy, culture, albeit without autoc

Russian state based on Russia’sSoviet geopolitical historic position world, between Dugin conceives East and of West a strong that will

theact asworld a powerful counterweight to the Western alliance, i.e. NATO. Dugin views

in bipolar terms: a ‘Heartland,’ which tends towards authoritarian regimes, and the ‘World Island,’ characterized by a democratic and commercial itselfsystem with (Laruelle certain 116). countries Dugin believes that Russia has a natural tendency to ally

, especially Iran,- which he admires for its moral rigorism, and Japan, esteemed for its pan Asian ideology (Laruelle 117). Russian statusgeopolitics as a worldmust bepower. Eurasian, since that is where the country will restore its

140

Drawing on Cold War

rhetoric, Dugin stipulates that a Eurasian empire pervasiveshould position globalization. itself against Dugin the postulates Atlantic alliance,Russia’s Westernright to develop liberalism, along and a

—a concept that is echoed in unique path, free from foreign interference

Vladimir Putin’s policy of ‘ democracy,’ which stipulates that Russia-party has the right.to create its own brand of democracy, even if that entails oned by autocratic rule. According to Dugin, the Russian penchant for a state rule force and terror are an inheritance from the Mongols. Harkening back to Nazi environmentalideology, Dugin factors; believes therefore that identity the Russian and mentality north andare northeastdetermined are by sacred ground that must position itself to protect that region of the world.

RussiaConsequently, today is the attempting new Eurasian to maintain empire and must develop be based political in Moscow. and economic Indeed, relations with the East (the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)

Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)) as the country attempts, the to

reinvent itself as a Eurasian superpower. In stark-conservatives contrast to Dugin, and neo Edvard-

AkuninLimonov, has Aleksandr Fandorin Prokhonov, draw on Russia’s and other Eastern heritage and his knowledgefascists, of

Japanese culture not to help create a new world power, but to enhance his moral notqualities enflame of righteousness, fear and hatred morality, in a nation and inner harmony. Tellingly, Fandorin does

-fascist slogans.already plagued with xenophobia, racism, statism, and neo

141

Possessing an amazing ability to keep politics and ethics separate,

Fandorin bases his important professionaldance with his decisions own convictions. on relations I with people, not the state, and acts in accor n fact, he strictly distinguishes between Russia, to which he exhibits unfailing loyalty, and the oftenstate, inspirewhich he neither. accords When neither dealing trust with nor corrupadmiration, for its representatives compromise with them; instead he leaves the investigationt officials, Fandorin or resigns does from not the

Statskii sovetnik (The State policeCounsellor force,). Unlikeas in a thekey numerous episode described corrupt officialsin in the novels who populate the

upper echelons of the Russian government (secret police head Khurtinskii,

Grand Duke Kirill Aleksandrovich, Prince Pozharskii, General Khrapov),

Fandorin is a patriot in the Griboedov’s sense that troubledhe serves nineteenth Russia, not-century his personal protagonist interests, Like Aleksandr

Chatskii, Fandorin serves the national cause, not powerful individuals (“служить devotionделу, а не toлицам his patron”), and Prince he believes Dolgorukoi in service, shows not that in Fandorinbeing subservient. is loyal to His those

who serve Russia and are honest. When Mizinov, head of the Third Section,

“accuses Fandorin- of being disloyal and …shirking his duty, the sleuth replies: r

Ваше в высокопревосходительство я служу не вам, а России” (38) (“You willexcellency, not take it partis not in you any that war I or serve, action but that Russia” will ruin (37)), Russia. and he After declares uncovering that he a plot instigated by members of the royal family and highly placed government officials to Fandorin is almost forced to go

overthrow the Russian government, 142

“I have betrayed

into hiding, but remains faithful to his principles, asserting,

nothing; it is my that has betrayed its faithful servant!” (308) (“Нет, withне изменивший the staggering, это extentотечест of governmentво предало corruptionсвоего верного at the слугуend of!” Smert’ (316)). Faced

Akhillesa

, Fandorin cites Confucius as a model for decorum: “Youhere should it says readthat the

Confucius, you fine gentlemen who watch over the( throne.“ W noble man can never be anyone else’s tool” (316). Читайте Конфуция,

господа блюстители престола.“ Там сказано: благородный муж не может

быть ничьим орудием ) (308). ughts

As a true aristocrat, the sleuth guards his privacy, keeping his tho and emotions well hidden, while simultaneously adopting the tendency of the middle class to rely on itself,-reliance not higher in his institutions personality of isgovernment yet another (Aron feature 2007). attractiveNo doubt this streak of self and view theto Fandorin post- fans, many of whom belong to the Russian middle class

Fandorin’s refusal Sovietto consider government the authorities with skepticism, as sacred if not not only outright gives distrust. him an

edge, for he is willing to entertain everyone as a suspect, but also doubtless andresonates cold-blooded. with many Russians, even those who might find him overly reserved

made himHowever extremely professionally lucky. In this gifted regard Fandorin Akuni mayn is tremendously be, his creator generous has also with

his hero, for Fandorin’s extraordinary luck is essential to his success in virtually all his cases, and that luck not only enhances his public image, but also is 143

addressed by Fandorin himself. The series teems with occasions where sheer

winsluck and a game good of fortune cards and render emerges Fandorin unharmed invaluable after assistance.a gun misfiers For severalinstance, times he

in Azazel’; he earns his freedom from a Turkish duringcaptivity a duelin a gamewith Countof backgammon Zurov in Turetskii gambit; he survives a gunshot and a falling gigantic clock in Leviafan; and he miraculously dodges bullets and somersaults unharmed through windows during the climatic showdown in

Smert’ Akhillesa. To ward off readers’ incredulity regarding Fandorin’s

fortuneexceptional in Azazel’ luck, Akunin. After Fandorin has Count has Zurov beaten comment chance upon in a game the detective’s of Russian good

roulette, Zurov tells Fandorin that he has a protective halo:

There’s something about you…I don’t know, perhaps you’re marked in

watchessome way over […] them They’re—it special protects people, them againstthe ones all with dangers. that halo. It never Fate occurs

to the man to think what fate is preserv

duel with a man like that—he’ll kill you.ing Don’t him sit for. down You tomust play never cards fight with a

him—

your sleeveyou’ll […]be cleaned I don’t meet out, no people matter like what you fancytoo often. tricks you pull) out of 65 (157

“ - - 65 — Есть в тебе что то... Не знаю, печать какая то, что ли […]— Особые это люди, у кого нимб,— судьба их хранит, от всех опасностей оберегает. Для чего хранит человеку и ”самому ( - невдомек. Стреляться с таким нельзя убьет. В карты не садись продуешься, какие кунштюки из рукава не мечи […] Редко таких, как ты, встретишь. 145 46). 144

In other w

ords, not unlike the early Greek heroes, Fandorin has the favor of the

defiesgods; special logic but and enhances chosen byhis them, heroic he persona. may rely on their inexplicable aid, which

A lonely, active Russian intellectual

Against the background of the ideological Socialist Realist heroes and the

rodina- Fandorin’s image as a man of the world

makes himserving exceptional spies of thein the Soviet pantheon era, of Russophile protagonists. It is

presumably his travels that have shaped his Weltanschauung and given him a

unique, worldly perspective from which to view both human nature and politics.

Although he lives and works in Imperial Russia, which adds to the typicaldetective’s of his

allure for Russians yearning for a glamorous past,-day Fandorin Russia— isa not country and

societyera. Rather, struggling he is someone with many crafted of the for ch aAllan modernges facing Fandorin. Although he identifies as a Russian and a patriot Fandorin embodies cosmopolitan attributes several , Japanese

: he speaks foreign languages has (English, experienced German, other cultures,

French, a smattering of Turkish and Serbian), diplomaticand visited post.world His capitals, travels is and versed adventures in literature, and has served in a foreign

evoke those of other literary heroes, such as Homer’s Odysseus, Voltaire’s Candide, Ignacy Krasicki’s Nicholas

Wisdom, and Pushkin’s Evgenii Onegin, whose wanderings not only bring lend them theseback to figures their homelandan air of mystery irrevocably and exoticism. changed by Fandorin’s their journeys, years butspent also abroad

145

customsmake him and an behavioroddity in— Russianan assimilation society, especially that causes since his contemporarieshe has adopted Japanese to look

at him with suspicion and curiosity. In - century Russian intellectual and a well-essence,traveled Fandorin modern European is both a nineteenth—a blend with which today’s privileged Russian upper- and middle classes have begun to identify. 66 Though Akunin provides a detailed description of Fandorin’s physical

as well as tracking Fandorin’s appearancewhat and do itswe impact know abouton those Fandorin’s he meets, inner world? The object of readers’ actions, because much of what the reader learns about

fascination, Fandorin is an enigma

him is revealed through the viewpoint of other characters, who speculateIn and the

absenceoffer opinions, of an informative but ultimately omniscient cannot unravel narrator the or mystery an outsider of his who persona. works closely

with

especiallythe Russian since the detective, reticent the sleuth reader does has not little reveal access a great to Fandorin’s deal about psyche, his

personal life and background. This externalization of Fandorin adds to his

government66 has propelled him to leave Russia for extended periods. Akunin now In an interesting parallel with Fandorin, Akunin’s increasing opposition to the interview with the Financial Times “spends his time between Moscow and Brittany, in northern France. In a recent his head and he has to stop to jot them, John down. Thornhill But when writes he the wants following to turn about those Akunin: thoughts When he walks along certain boulevards in Moscow, Akunin says, ideas just jump into andinto energy.words, heMoscow retreats is wonderfulto his home for in energy.Brittany But with when his wife,it comes who to helps writing edit the his text works. it needs“There di isscipline a place andclose order to the and Yauza that riveris awful where there. I walk St Malo where is rainy the air and is thickwindy. with It is culture perfect [says Akunin].”

146

reader and other characters in the narrative

mysterious allure, because the

whatrarely he know feels what about he the is thinking,corruption what and factors evil that motivate he confronts his decisions, on a daily or basis.precisely

oes not have any friends (except

Essentially a loner, Fandorin is not married, d

Masa, who is his subordinate), does not like to socialize, and rarely frequents restaurants, parties, or clubs. Akunin largely operates by negatives:f from that the is,

Fandorin seldom drinks alcohol, curses, or lies; he remains aloo

providingcronyism, andeception, exemplary bribery, model and of externalcorruption behavior that permeate for both hisnineteenth world. While-century

and today’s society, Fandorin is somewhat eccentric and avoids excessive social throughoutcontact. Nevertheless, the series. judgingFandorin by must the number have some of women basic need friends for humanhe has companionship beyond that of his Japanese manservant. Part of his attraction for readers likely stems from their inability to ‘dec his image as a magnet for women. ode’ him, which also accounts for

As in the fictional lives of James Bond companion appears in Fandorin’s life with eachand new Dr. caseWho, or a newinstallment female —a

phenomenon that enhances his reputation as a lady-killer. After

and until he meets the Japanese Midori in Almaznaiahis kolesnitsa wife’s death,

(The Diamond Chariot

, 2003), Fandorin does not seem interested in anyTuretskii kind of

gambitrelationship with women, who flock to him throughout the series: in

love- , Varvara Suvorova follows him around the Russian army camp like a

stricken puppy, yet Fandorin seems immune to her presence (although he 147

almost shows some emotion at their parting on a Turkish railway platform);

Clarissa Stamp openly declares her love to Fandorin on board the Leviafan

, but

isFandorin not until turns Esfir’ her in Statskiidown, while sovetnik consistently and Princess acting Ksenia in a gentlemanly in Koronatsi imanner.a that It

Fandorin succumbs, in his peculiar fashion, to a woman’sAllan charm. in love Not with Midori.

surprisingly, these instances occur after Fandorin has f

Traditional literary detectives like Holmes, Poirot, and Miss Marple lacktective’s a

fullromantic concentration interest, fromseemingly the case because when that the investigatorperson would needs divert to the have de a clear

head and avoid spontaneous emotional reactions. Similarly, in Fandorin’s case,

Turetskiihe is usually gam alonebit when he is closing in on a perpetrator. For instance, in

of clues about the, he enemy leaves spy’s the Russianidentity. army In Smert’ camp Akhilessa and travels to Paris in search

singer Vanda alone while he tracks down Akhimas. , he leaves the lounge maintain Fandorin’s image as an Essentially, in order to

exceptional hero, Akunin cannot domesticate him. Instead, he envelops him in an aura of tragedy that not only evokes both sympathy and attraction from the reader, but also eliminatesrose of intimacy’ the possibility that of a stable romance with a woman that would require a ‘p relationshipseems alien towith Akunin, Liza and if one Midori. may judgeFandorin’s by his personal treatment of Fandorin’s have left him

relatiwith deeponship scars with and another hinder person. him from And building it is perhaps any kind this ofvery sustained, elusiveness trusting

(whether abetted by Akunin’s limitations in limning a fully rounded character or

148

readersnot) that with lies aat preferen the corece of forFandorin’s characters charismatic with depth. appeal, frustrating only those

Hero-worship: the Dr. Watson connection

confidantAs discussedwith whom in he Chapter discusses One, aspects the detective of each usually case— ahas confidant a sidekick whom or the author presents with a degree of irony o

r humor, for-protagonist he functions as a foil of sorts, emphasizing the superiority of the detective . Not-person as intelligent narrativeas the detective, about the the detective’s sidekick often activities provides and a the commonsense, nature of his first deductive process.

Examples of the detective-sidekick tandem include Dupin and his American confidant; Holmes and Watson; Lord Peter Wimsey and Bunter; Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings; and Inspector Clouseau and Cato. Female detectives tend to wo

Tennisonrk alone, (Prime as Suspectillustrated). The by sidekick Christie’s— Missalways Marple a male and in Lyndathe canonical La Plante’s works Jane— should have enough in common with the detective to make a plausible long-term

believescompanion. his observations.Additionally, he Masahiro has to be (Masa) entirely Sibata trustworthy is not only so Fandorin’sthat the reader

Japaneseand manservant, spiritual advisor but also. his professional and personal confidant, sparring firstpartner,- Unlike Watson, however, Masa does notterbalance provide toa

Fandorin’sperson eccentricities narrative very and often. serve Instead, as a devoted his role companion is to act as to a counthe detective-

149

andhero, certainly though justalien as of frequently the two. Masa, as a foreigner, appears the more eccentric

asa’s life from a criminalAfter gang Fandorin (an incident wins related a game in of Almaznaia dice, thereby kolesnitsa saving M

), the young Japanese travels with Fandorin, first to Moscow, then accompanying the Russian detectiveno family.on his global His father adventures. killed his Orphaned mother and as a threw small thechild, three Masa,-year like-old Fandorin, Masa into has the

pointsea; the of youthhero- miraculously survived. Extremely loyal to Fandorin,onjin lifelong almost to the

“benefactor.” Howeworship, the Japanese calls the Russian his ,

ver, Masa’s debt to Fandorin is repaid many times, for, in the spirit of the genre, he often arrives just in the nick of time to rescue his master,

‘orphans’provide much share needed a strong assistance, brotherly or bond. help Theirhim in symbiotic a physical relationship fight. The two not only

humanprovides companionship. comic relief in the series, but also makes Fandorin more receptive to

Moreover, as a character, Masa enables Akunin to toshowcase step outside his familiarity the confines with of Japanese Russian moresculture and and, certify whether his ownintentionally credentials or not,as a cosmopolitan.

Masa is an asset and a valuable assistant to Fandorin iny andseveral blind respects: trust firstly, he is devoted to Fandorin, providing a source of loyalt that Fandorin has not had from anyone else in his life; secondly, Masa serves as a direct connection to Fandorin’s life in Japan (where he advanced his career,a direct fell in love, learned martial arts, and studied Eastern philosophy) and he is 150

conduit to the sleuth’s inner harmony. Thirdly, Masa humanizes Fandorin by not

allowing him to isolate himself: Fandorin’s bouts of depression are relieved by

theMasa, wor whold. Thoughserves as the his two nursemaid, could hardly exercise differ partner, more in sounding temperament board,— andMasa link to

complains constantly, is— lazy, and likes to sleep, while Fandorin is active,

scholarly, and taciturn the duo’s relationship works well for them and, like

Holmes and Watson, they become close friends. Within that relationship, Masa is

not the only one to look out for the other: after Grushin, Fandorin’s first mentor,

himselfis killed overduring a deep a confrontation sense of responsibility with a villainous for the gang, policeman’s Masa is ready death. to Fandorin kill

manages to dissuade him from the deed in a tender scene that evokes the

Tolkien’sbenevolent Lord master/trusting of the Rings trilogy. servant relationship of Frodo Baggins and Sam in

Much of the comedy in the series stems from Akunin’s portrayal of

Fandorin and Masa as polar opposites—

Mel Brooks and Carl aReiner perennial ploy of comic routines, from

Abbot and Costello, , to Britain’s Peter Cook and

Dudley Moore, and- Ant and Dec. Unlike the physically- fit and stylish Russian sleuth, the round faced Masa is short, bandy legged, and plump. He adorns himself in a variety of gaudy outfits, wears wooden sandals, carries all sorts of hasJapanese a hard items head. (a A paper s fan, lacquered boxes, Japanese weapons), and literally

tranger in a foreign land, Masa frequently voices- his opinions whoabout look Russians: odd and he smell calls thestrange denizens— of the Russian capital big eared barbarians,

a perspective that Akunin, presumably, does 151

not share but that permits him to distance the narratives from a narrow

nationalistic stance. Masa’s roguish taste for Russian women, whom he finds tall forand a fat number (i.e., much of comic better scenes than andtheir additionally Japanese counterparts), provides an ‘alien’ proves viewpoint. fertile ground

WesternDuring his ways years or at grows Fandorin’s accustomed side, Masa to Russian never food.really His comes clumsy to understand attempts to

sstudy the language give rise to hilarious situations: for instance, at one point he tudies the dictionary, one page at a time and often misunderstands what is said to him. Consequently he relays erroneous information to Fandorin, which also theresults Asian in ritualfunny scenes that lighten the of the novels. In like vein,Allan manyge of each other to sees in who which is more the pair adept engage at running are comic, up the as walls when of they a hotel ch room. In

Fandorinshort, Masa in fulfillstimes of several trouble functions: and is a lhe renders invaluable assistance to his views on Russia rescue the works oyal,from trusteda national companion. parochialism At the and same provide time,

comic relief. Though Fandorin participates in scenes intendedhe two tostand be humorous, together heand himself in so doing never instance appears genuine comic, for solidarity that is Masa’sbetween lot. two T figures from very different regions of the world.

Conclusion

kind of Ashero the for glamorous post- individual at the center of the novels,-era cultFandorin figures is asa new

Soviet Russia, the heir to such Soviet 152

Iulian Semenov’s heroic dou

ble agent Stirlitz, who was touted as the new Soviet hero in the 1970s. By the 1990s, the disintegration of the Soviet Union resulted

Bagrovin a dearth in the of heroicblockbuster figures film and Brat it was (Brother not until the appearance in 1997 of Danila

; dir. Aleksei Balabanov) that a new, withradically his childlike different, naiveté national and hero the found boyish favor smile with that Russian won the audiences. hearts of numerousYet even

the times came under female fans, with time Danila’s status as a ‘real’ hero of question because of his rampant violence and vigilante ‘justice.’ Indeed, he personifies the street violence, senseless killings, and breakdown of social values that are characteristic of the Yeltsin era.

By contrast, Fandorin has strong moral-abiding values, citizen. is a professional Fandorin’s law enforcement official, and stands out as a law intelligence, deductive skills, integrity, and physical prowesservasive set him apart in an unprofessionalism.age of widespread greed, He epitomizes comprehensive the hero corruption, with a Herculean and p strength of character and probity amid the disorder of the age. Bonnie Tyler’s song heralds the arrival of a Wagnerian-like hero who will bring order to the chaotic

Through the elemental forces: “ wind andLike the the chill fire andin my the blood rain/And;” Fandorin the storm and the flood/I can feel his approach/ whoarrives takes with up a thewhimper, mantle but and eventually attempts to develops root out into the theevil ‘larger threatening than life’ or hero

devotesblighting his the life country. to doing Fandorin just that. exists to serve and protect Russia, and he

153

Much like Russia’s own transformation from a fledging state following the

collapse of the Soviet Union euphoria that prevailed in an era of glasnost’ , amidst the social conscienceand freedom change froms from censorship that of an and optimistic control, Fandorin’syouth to a cynicalpolitical middle and - aged male. If the youthful Fandorin represented the ethos of the kind of hero is Akunin suggesting for the second decade of the 2000s?late 1990s, Based what on

Akunin’s increasing political activism and his voluntary semi- it will be interesting to see how Fandorin develops in the finalexile installments from Russia, of the

series and if, indeed, he will continue to be the quintessential hero of two times.

154

Chapter 4 Investigating the Case: Plot and Devious Plotters “I have always been fascinated by structure in the number of

whichnovel, andwas detectiveboth credible fiction and presented exciting witha a setting technical problems, mainly how to construct a plot were believable men and women faced with the traumawhich came of a policealive for investigation readers, and into characters murder.” who P. Talking About Detective Fiction

D. James, forward to go back” “You can’tWilly get Wonka out backwards. ( You haveand the to goChocolate Factory

, dir. Mel Stuart, 1971) “What was the starting point of this chain of events? There lay the end of this tangled line.”

Arthur Conan Doyle, “The Musgrave Ritual” ‘Whose Body?’ - Whose Body? with theDorothy discovery Sayers’s of a dead (1893 body1957) in a firstbathtub novel, wearing nothing(1923), but a pair opens of gold pince-

nez, which, Sayers writes, “mocked death with grotesque elegance.” With eccthisentric captivating amateur initial investigator scene, Sayers Lord launchedPeter Wimsey a popular and made series a featuring significant the contribution to the Anglophone tradition of the detective genre with her clever

155

-

throughplots, well thewritten passionate prose, ro memorablemance between characters, Lord Peter and andmelodramatic Harriet Vane). flair (largely

Suggestively, the question mark in the novel’s title directs the reader’s —attention

to one of the two core questions at the heart of any detectivepture narrative the reader’s

‘Whodunit?’ and ‘Who is guilty?’ The posed questions ca

imagination through an inherent human curiosity to figure out, during the

course of the narrative, who committed the crime and why. In a twist on the

thetraditional no narrative, the mystery element incites the reader to look forward to

“prefiguresvel’s ending;at the outset in other the words, form of the its puzzle[the novel’s] presented denouement in the opening by virtue scenes of the

highly visible questionuences mark of a hungcrime over are usuallyits opening” revealed (Porter before 86). the In causesthe detective that

genre, the conseq toled move up to backwards it. Unlike in through other fictional time to genres,reconstruct in the the mystery, series ofthe events detective’s that job is preceded the incident; therefore “t

he plot aims at establishing a linear, startingchronological point” sequence (Pyrhö of events that will eventually explain its own baffling

embedded biographiesnen that “Detective rely on the Fiction,” past to 103). delineate While characte novels contain

genre is the only form that necessitates a comprehensive return tors, and the retracing detective

of the past. So the genre sooner tackles the issue of “what happened then?” than

“what happensIn this sui next?”, generis though backward the former- unavoidably influences the latter.

moving structure, reconstruction of the past not only leads to the guilty party, but also often illuminates the motivations and 156

he

Vorgeschichtehuman behavior often that disp instigated the criminal act. As the plot develops, t

preceding events and as lacesyet unrevealed the narrative psychological present as impulsesthe focal point,and complexities for only

can lead to the crime’s solution. The author ‘plays’ with the reader by relying on

deception and trickery in an attempt to erect obstacles in the investigator’s (and

Allanging and interactive ‘game of wits’

betweenthe readers’) the authorpath, thereby and both providing the detective a ch and the reader.

The structure of the detective plot hinges on the desire to identify the

thecriminal delay and of the the solution pleasurable until frustration the ending. of The experiencing detective and suspense, reader createdare engaged by

in a hermeneutic game of interpreting clues and events to discover the answers

ns poised at the outset. In a marked departure from its early

to the questio thepractitioners, investigation the (hencedetective plot genre structure) has developed are treated in suchdifferently a way todaythat the in crimethe and variety of sub-genres of detective fiction that have developed since the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Classical detective fiction presents crime as a puzzle subject to strict rules

Arthurthat the Conan detective Doyle and reader race to solve. Examples include Hard Edgar-boiled Allan detective Poe, 67 , Agatha Christie, and Ngaio Marsh.

67 Various attempts have been made over the years to establish ‘rules’ of ‘fair play’ for the detective genre. S.A. Van Dine came up with “Twenty Rules for Writing Detective

information that the detective does and should know about all the clues the detective Stories” (1928), which include the notion that- the reader should havenox’s access ten claimsto all is that the detective must not commit the crime. Other authors have also chimed in on the possesses. In his “Detective Decalogue” (1928 29), one of Ronald K

157

fiction depicts an investigator who works alone, on a quest to battle criminal readerforces infesting follows the social heroic structures. investigator Rather than trying to solve an enigma, the

on his, frequently personal, quest to bring justice to a corrupt world, as in the works of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell

Hammett, and , where the narrative’s focus is on the detective’s psyche and ‘smarts.’ Today’s , by contrast, is structured around a plot that alternates between the criminal’s planning and commission of crimes, criminalon the one using hand, an and array the of investigative procedural devices team’s collaborativeto collect evidence attempts and toapprehend locate the the perpetrator. Some of the best-known examples include the best-selling

Rendell.mysteries The of Lyndametaphysical La Plante, or postmodernJo Nesbo, P.D. detective James, Colin story Dexter, comprises and aRuth plot that

“manipulates temporal and causal relations without establishing the ground from which to organize the pieces narrated into a coherent whole” (Pyrhönen

“Detective Fiction,” 103). The postmodernrgely detective up to the usually reader does to interpret not provide the a convincing or final solution, leaving it la text. In this way, postmodern detection “exploits detective stories by expanding includeand changing an open certain- possibilities in them” (Holquist 165). Those possibilities unresolved endingsended— plot, indecipherable clues, unclear motives, and

“in short, all the wayward possibilities of real life that the

traditional detective story deliberately excludes from its highly rational, causally

Talking About Detective Fiction (2 genre’s framework, including Dorothy Sayers, Raymond Chandler (“” (1944)), and P.D. James ( 009)). 158

coherent universe” (Rzepka 233). Fiction by writers better known for their

Umbertoliterary endeavors Eco. who qualify in this sphere include Vladimir Nabokov and

plots in Boris Akunin’s

Although drawn from a variety of sources, the

modelFandorin themselves series are more traditional than postmodern, and, for the most part, holds readers’ attentionon the and classical keeps detective them involved paradigm. until Thethe endsequence of the ofnarrative events

through a series of thrilling moments and fast-

- paced action, including chases

through the streetsand of battling Moscow, ninjas. shoot Whileouts withAkunin’s terrorists, plots are exploding straightforward bombs,

narrow escapes,

tendand “presented to comprise in a a series series of of linked highly episodes dramatic rather descriptions” than ful ly(Sobolev developed 69), they

chstorylines.Allanging Yet for Akunin’s the reader plots are quite heycomplicated, involve suspenseful, and

. Moreover, t government conspiracies,

warriorsroyal kidnappings,confronting suicide cults, international spies and terrorists,in Azazel’ and ninja

, readers with surprising twists and turns: Ester, ’s

conspiracy;Fandorin’s mentor, the evil IvanDr. Lind Brilling, is revealed turns out to beto beno aother key figurethan a in governess Lady in

Koronatsiia (Coronation 2000)

son and is responsible for his death; Fandorin, in Almaznaiawithout kolesnitsia realizing it, (The captures Diam ondhis own

Chariot 2003)

, and so forth. In most cases, Fandorin, in thehe classical causality tradition of events of

the genre, works his way backwards in time to establish t

159

that led up to the crime and, in doing so, exposes the human behavior that poses

general, insoluble questions about motivation and moral choices.

Forward in reverse: theories of plot and detective plots

In his efines plot (mythos) as the most important

, d ethos element of drama, even more vital than character ( ). Moreover, a good plot must have a beginning, middle, and end, and the plot elements must relate to supportseach other. and Plot organizes is conceived the narrative. as the shaping One of outline the most of theimportant story’s elements,functions ofwhich

plot is its ability to evoke emotions in the audience; for example, a tragedy will andarouse humor. fear andIn his pity study in spectators/readers, Reading for the Plot: while Design a comedy and Intention will induce in Narrative laughter

intention(1992), Peter which Brooks we cannot defines do plot without as “the in movingprinciple through of interconnectedness the discrete and elements— —

incidents, episodes, actions of Vladimira narrative” Propp (5). gives Following precedence in to mythosAristotle’s over footsteps, ethos the Russian Formalist

, arguing that characters are essentially agents of the action.

For Propp, what is important is how characters move the action, theirduality. E. M. placement, and their place in a sequence of actions, not their indivi

Forster defines plot as a narrative of events, with the emphasis falling on causality: “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, andy andthen detective the queen fiction died ofbecause grief” is the a plot”genre (Forster relies on 86). a process Plot is essentialof making to myster

160

posedconnections at the inbeginning order to of reach the narrative.a logical and In lookingtemporal at conclusionthe role temporality to the question plays

in detective fiction T

that the reader encounterszvetan twoTodorov stories draws—(1) on the Formalist story of theterminology, crime (fabula arguing) and

siuzhet).

Dennis(2) the investigation,Porter contends or thathow inthe detectiv eventse are fiction presented “the denouement in the narrative determines ( the

order and causality of all that precedes” it (25); therefore, the ending is aessentially detective writtennovel is first,that ofwith a novel the beginning in reverse. in Plot mind. is ofAccordingly, vital significance the structure because of each event in the narrative chain was written with the resolution in mind and each event is arranged in a specific order to reach a logical conclusion. The

and how the detective novel charts two narrative together. lines: The interplay how the eventsbetween occurred these two distinct

activitiesreader/detective in reading puts the them text provides the suspense and excitement that are so

vital to detective fiction.

ovel attracts all

Traditionally viewed as a popular genre, the detective n

kinds of readers, including those who never contemplate consuming any other

popular genre: the highbrow reader, who is drawn to the intricate plots, artisticty

aboutgratification, life in an intellectual unfamiliar stimulation, place. The lowbrow the excitement reader of is escapism, attracted byand the curiosi tightly

paced plots, escapism, and thrills of the genre (Rzepka 23). In the words of Peter

theBrooks, detective the reader narrative is “reading lies in the for pleasurethe plot.” provided Brooks argues by the that act ofthat reading attraction of

161

towards the conclusion. Brooks sees “the text itself as a system of internal

theenergies reader and a desire tensions, to compulsions, resistances, and desires” (xiv) that instills in

reach the end. The investigation is a retracing of events, which gives the reader gratification; during the investigation, the detective hero retraces, repeats, and recreates the actions of his predecessor, the criminal.

Thus, the narrative is presented as repetition and rehearsal, where the ofimportant plot as the element active isrepetition the “constructive, and reworking semiotic of arole story of inrepetition: and by discourse” the function

prehension of the original(Brooks plot25),- eventually resulting in the detection and ap

maker, the criminal (25). In S/Za somewhat different vein,

Barthes in his work on narrative theory,proairetic (1970), identifies plot as the narrativeinterplay of two different codes: the , whichhermeneutic creates suspense in

by offering unanswered questions; and the , which concerns the questions and answers that structure a story and creates suspense by the anticipation of an action’s resolution.se everything Obviously, in the story’sdetective structure story and itsinstances temporality the hermeneutic depend on the code, resolution becau of the central mystery. Based on this

narrativeschema, the the reader sense willthat keepeverything reading finally in order makes to achieve sense. Br atooks the end sums of upthe as

follows:meaning if lie “the at the motor end of narrative is desire […], the ultimate determinantsfor the end”of

, and narrative desire is ultimately […] desire at the reader(52). Here is propelled Brooks relies forward on Sigmund in the narrative Freud’s by notion an intense of the desiredeath drive,to experience in th

162

reachthe thrills the closureof the text, that yet the paradoxically ending predictably the ultimate provides. pleasure It is only for atthe the reader end thatis to the structure of the narrative becomes clear and provides meaning to what has come before. In this way Brooks associates the structural function of narrative

“closurethe knowledge with the th death drive, with the ultimate knowledge that the reader seeks, terms on the far sideat comesof death after, stands on the far side of the end, in human

Counterviews posit that” (95). while the reader is certainly motivated in

thereaching read the end so that the missing pieces eventually all fall into place, “what

er of detection desires at each step of the reading process is not its end, but its immediate continuation” (Rzepka 27). If the reader is interested only in andreaching the pleasurabl the end, then the thrill of the process of getting there hardly matters

e experience of attainment will be finished all too quickly. theIndeed, intellectual the reader chAllan derivesge of considerable trying to solve satisfaction the crime from before the the puzzle investigator element and does so. The reader more likely anticipates additional opportunities to continue this thrill than to end the game. Rzepka argues that “what we read ‘for’ in

detection is not ‘the end,’ but what the approach of the endof imaginative makes even more urgent and exciting, namely, the exercise of our powers invention” (25). The thrill of the detective narrative is the process of looking backwards and trying to reestablish the chain of events that led to the crime, andidentifying false solutions the criminal, that the and reader working constantly through encounters. all the false Theleads, genre red herrings,provides

163

both chAllange and entertainment by allowing the reader to unravel and connect—by moving backwards—the many threads that will eventually reveal the solution to the crime.

If the

success of detective fiction, along with its melodramatic elements, employeddepends on is thea “form genre’s of impediment” ability to generate (Porter suspense, 30). Detective then one novels of the are key devices constructed in such a way that they m

ust move forward towards the resolution, oftenyet, in take order unexpected to keep the digressions reader engaged along andthe pathinterested towards in thethe text,conclusion. the narratives One method of delaying the ending is the use of event that deflects or hinders progress toward the resolution, which is (Porter a discovery 32). or

Examples in the Fandorin novels include parallel intrigues in the narrative

(Fandorin works to stop Akhimas from killing again while the assassin is focused on completing his agenda in Smert’ Akhilles (); love motifs

(in Azazel’

Varvara actsFandorin an impediment is distracted to his from investigation the case by in hisTuretskii romance gambit with ( Liza,The Turkish while

Gambit); and false solutions (Azazel’ Turetskii gambit Smert’ Akhilles all

, , and offer several wrong solutions to the crime until the final, accurate resolution is announced). The criminal also slows down the action, throwing the detective off the track, threatening his life, or impeding his work through various tactics. In conductthe Holmes’ their novels, own investigations Watson and Lestrade—misguided frequently conduct misread that misleads evidence the or reader until Holmes steps in to correct their errors and resolve the case. All too often

164

the detective-

protagonist also adds an element of suspense because, at least in

the classical tradition, his thoughts and insights are withheld fromution the even assistant more

unexpected.and/or reader, thereby making the announcement of the resol 68 Finally, individual episodes typically also obstruct progress

makestowards it themuch ending harder by to providing sort through a series and of analyze genuine the and available false evidence, information. which The

chAllange of the detective novel is to maintain the momentum of forward

movement while providing a series of thrilling episodes, suspenseful scenes, and

onlysurprising gain satisfaction twists and fromturns. the Upon cerebral reaching chAllan the resolution, the reader should not experience a sensation not unlike an adrenalinege rush of solving after a thewell crime,-played but game also of sport.

The body in the library: the plot paradigm

In his seminal work Morfologiia skazki (The Morphology of the Folktale

) s a series of formulaic elements present in many fairy

1928 , Propp identifie Stories of detectiontales, and unfoldsuch a listaccording can be todrafted an organized for detective structure fiction and as well well.-known

-boiled and modern-day detective.68 Works of this type are often told from the first-person or third-person point This technique has changed with the appearance of the hard Anna of view. For the most part, the reader knows what Harry Hole, Kurt Wallander, Travis, and Adam Dalgliesh are thinking and has access to information eithers notbefore have. or as the detective discovers it. Additionally, the reader often knows what the criminal or couldsuspects accuse are thinking,Akunin of thereby not playing possessing fair with knowledge the reader. that the detective doe Fandorin’s thought process, however, remains frustratingly elusive. In that sense, one

165

conventions. The narrative op

ens with thethe introduction crime that he of isthe tasked detective, with whosolving is . either a professional or an amateur, and

Subsequently, clues are discovered concerning that crime, which can include witnesses, suspects, red herrings, and false solutions. Next, there is an investigation, which leads to the announcement of the solution, followed by an explanationAdventure of the solution, - then a denouement (Shklovskii, “Novella” 115;

Cawelti, 81 91). so involves situations that depict theAlong major with characters this basic andparadigm, their relationships the formula alto one another and to the

crime. Such characters include the victim, the criminal, the detective, and those- who are threatened by the crime, but are incapable of solving it (Cawelti 91 96).

As a narrative that poses a question at the very beginning, the detective plot has two main elements: ratiocination or detection, and mystification. The detective d hero has to work his way through the case, gathering and interpreting clues, an goesarrive without at a rational saying and that credible plots should solution hold to readers’ the question attention posed and at thesustain outset. enough It interest in the narrative that readers will continue reading. Therefore the author must be inventive in revealing clues and suspects to generate (ultimately misplaced) enthusiasm without distracting from the interplay of investigation

and mystification, or without revealing too much before the moment of revelation (Cawelti 108). Since in the classic paradigm, both the detective and the reader are engaged in a race to the end of the story, the reader cannot be distracted from the detection element for too long. In other words, the reader 166

y detective fiction

tendscannot to be elaborate too focused more on on the psychology characters, than though we findcontemporar in earlier works in the

genre.

As Iurii Tynianov asserted many decades ago, genres inevitably evolve

Traditioover time (“The Literary Fact” (1924) and “On Literary Evolution” (1927)).

nal detective fiction elevates plot above all else, relegating character development to a subordinate status. Since then, however, the genre-driven has bifurcated into two kinds of detective novels: (1) the familiar plot -

detective story, which subordinates characters to the plot, and (2) the character

based plot, which focuses on the detective protagonist and other characters,

their work.personal Whereas lives, and this the variant ways explores in which how people’s the cri emotionalme and the problems investigation affect

influence everyone’s psychological makeup, and changes that occur to the

characters after the crime, in the more traditional paradigm the most importantlving

elements are collecting and interpreting clues, investigating the case, and so

informationthe crime. Since is provided here the about detective’s it because personal such life knowledge is not the would focus, only not muchserve to

distract from the focus of the narrative. The amateur private investigator from

the Golden Age

of detective fiction is a general example of the first kind of plot,

while the modern investigator, with a plethora of personal problems and issues,

favorsis an example the vertical. of the second. The first privileges the horizontal axis, the second

167

In the plot- —

even the investigativedriven protagonist detective— narrative, the presentation of characters

is shallow; usually “a few details are given,

Holmesand a general is recognizable summary byof thehis person’s nature suffices” (Knight 124). Sherlock

physical features, his intellect, his pipe, and his

witheccentric a Belgian behavior. accent Hercule and peculiar Poirot ismannerisms all surface detail:and habitual vain, fussy, phrases and (“ foppish,Mon ami ,”

his “little grey cells functioning as pawns”). Knightwithin thesees larger classic game detectives of the mysteryas “marionettes” plot in which (124), they

play a part (Scaggs 36). Yet Scaggs contends that it is “because of this flatness of character, rather than in spite of it, that Poirot, like most of the other Golden Age

associationsdetectives, is about so memorable” the detective’s (36). physicalThe genre and relies verbal on featuresmetonymy, that establishing settle in

h piercing eyes and a hawk-like

nose;readers’ Poirot memories: has a ‘funny’ Holmes foreign is tall accent and thin, and wit foppish mannerisms. For the most

part, these characters have no depth and remain constant during the course of

the narrative. Holmes, Poirot, and Miss Marple stay essentially the same, do not

significant.noticeably age, and show no shifts in their personal lives that are in any way

the flashyThere aristocratic are exceptions sleuth todramatically this rule, however, matures such in both as Lordoutlook Peter and Wimsey: personal

life from his first appearance in Whose Body? Busman’s

Honeymoon (1923) to the much later

(1937). As discussed in Chapter Azazel’Three, Fandorin also undergoes a

marked transformation from the first novel, (1998), to the latest 168

installment in the serie Chernyi gorod [Black City his overall appeal becauses, the reader is anxious to 2012],see how a processthe investigator that adds will to

stillcontinue largely to composeddevelop. However, of surface even detai though Fandorin grows and matures, he is nor do we get to know much about him.l. We never get into his head for very long,

This of exteriorizing his hero allies Akunin with the Golden Age of detective fiction rather than with his contemporaries abroad. The latter reflect the changes in criminal detection and the nature of investigatory work since the mid-nineteenth century. Perhaps one of the most profound developments is the dramatically increased attention given to the investigator’s personality and inner world. As examined in Chapter One

, the reader frequently is invited to enter the mind of the detective, is privy to knowledge about the investigator’s past, which provides valuable insight into how the protagonistlante’s behaves Anna Travis and how is the investigative process unfolds. For instance, Lynda La P a fully developed character whose personal history, numerous insecurities, internal struggles, and countless professional mistakes hinder her progress whduring the investigation, yet they also make her much more appealing to readers

o also experience many of the same problems as Travis; Jo Nesbo’s Harry

Hole is a psychological and physical mess, but by virtue of being acquainted with hethe is significant today—an events understa in hisnding past, that the in reader many understands ways makes whatHole moremade human Hole what and sympathetic; and Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander’s troubled childhood is a

crucial element to her erratic and paranoid behavior. However, the basic plot 169

paradigm has remained the same: the story opens with a crime, the detective theappears, story anwinds investigation up. takes place, a solution is found, and soon afterwards

With the appearance of more violent and diversehave criminals access (serial to more killers, terrorists, international crime bosses), who, moreover, business.dangerous There weapons is a plethora and deadly of different devices, detectionplotlines inhas police become procedurals a serious today

theythat serve several functions: their variety makes for original, unusual suspense;

allow for successes and failures in solving the crimes, thereby emphasizing the fact that the detective is also prone to human frailties and errors. In addition, themore suspense central charactersand complicating can be theput action.into dangerous Since the situations, contemporary thus investigatoramplifying

usually works with a team, there are more individuals involved in each case who opportunitiesare assigned to to specific kill off roles,more charactersdepending oron devise their set complicated of skills, thereby relationships. expanding

The police investigator today is a professional, but, perhaps what is more-day important in comparison to the Golden Age detective, is that modern investigators are ordinary people with families, children, and careers who, in an increasingly darker and more complex world, are struggling to do their job effectively. Unlike Holmes, Poirot, , or Miss Marple, they are not protecinvolved in a game of detection for their own pleasure. Rather, they are

ting the public from dangerous threats, which often stem from situations that reflect problems in the world today: terrorism, murder for profit, organized 170

withcrime, potentially human trafficking. globa In short, detection has become a perilous occupation

l repercussions, a far cry from the ratiocination of

localamateurs murders. who, generally remote from crimes’ perpetrators, tackled essentially

Hide and seek: Akunin’s plots

The plot structure in Akunin’s Fandorin novels is a mixture mainly of

classical detective fiction, where -the plot drives the action and the characters, theand, plot to a forward lesser extent, and he individual driven plots, when Fandorin’s actions propel

evolves, changes, and makes mistakes. The primary focus in the novels is the mystery, the gathering and analysis of clues, and the whenresolution, Fandorin which appears usually in contains the next an installmen unexpectedt he twist. is older The and case perhaps is solved, less yet

idealistic, but otherwise remains largely unchanged by the specific events in the previous novel(s), although those events are sometimes referred to andlice characters recur in subsequentSmert’ novels. Akhillesa For instance, Fandorin’s first po playsmentor, a role Grushin, in Turetskii reappears gambit in and meets a tragic; Fandorin’s end; General friend Sobolev Count isZurov a commanding presence at the Russian army camp during the Bulgarian campaign and his murder lies at the heart of Smert’ Akhillesa; the professional assassin

Akhimas appears in both Azazel’ and Smert’ Akhillesa; and the Azazel’ case is referred to in Turetskii gambit. Exceptions to the ‘unchanging character’ paradigm include Fandorin’s prematurely grey temples and the stutter he

171

ofacquires sadness in that the firstsurrounds novel afterhim throughoutthe death of the his early young novels; wife; thehis subsequentgrowing aura

awareness that the government he serves is not entirely honorable; and his

decision finally to leave government service to strike off on his own as a private

investigator. These personal changes come about as a direct result of incidents

providedrelated in in the the plots narrative of the correspondingto fully understand novels, to whatyet not extent enough Fandorin’s information various is

encounters have on his psychology and precisely how they motivate his

disillusionment?subsequent decisions. As discussed What precisely in Chapter accounts for his maturation and eventual

Three, the mystery and melancholy thesurrounding depths of Fandorin his inner addworld. to his appeal, yet the reader never really understands

Akunin’s plots tackle sundry crimes varying in significance. The novels

aopen strange with event. a crime, Azazel’ a murder, begins a withquesti a onablestudent’s death, dramatic suspicious suicide circumstances, just outside the or

Kremlin’s walls; the mystery plot in Turetskii gambit is launched when a crucial

place name is changed in a telegram warning of a pending Turkish attack; the

beginning of Leviafan describes the murder of Lord Littleby and his household;

and Smert’ Akhillesa

depicts the mysterious death of General Sobolev, ahe Russian

war hero, who has just arrived in Moscow. While these events launch t

narrative and provide the catalyst for Fandorin’s investigations, they are really

investigationonly signs of a into deeper the suicidecriminal in conspiracy, Azazel’ eventually evil design, uncovers or ultimate a plot formotive. world The

172

Turetskii gambit reveals a

governmentdomination; conspiracythe quest to targeted discover at the inflicting Turkish devastating spy in political and economic

harm on Russia; the criminal plot in Leviafan reveals a devious plan hatched by

an international criminal to steal a treasure of precious Indian stones; and

General Sobolev’s murder in Smert’ Akhillesa eventually brings to light a

government conspiracy that was behind the general’s death because of his

political activities.

This revelation is a not-so-veiled reference to the notorious series of

bestpolitical- assassinations and persecutions in the 2000s in Russia: to name but the

apartmentknown, bui the investigative journalist- Anna Politkovskaia, murdered in her

lding (2006); the ex FSB secret service agent Aleksandr Litvenko, who died from radioactive poisoning in London, likewise in 2006; the oligarch fabricatedMikhail Khodorkovskii, charges of tax imprisoned evasion; and and the serving two sentences on partly in April 2013 from brain damage and otherjournalist injuries heMikhail suffered Beketov, after being who died

Much like his historical allusions (discussed in Chapter Two) 69 attacked in 2008.

Khimki69 newspaper. He campaigned against the construction of a highway through the A crusader against government corruption, Beketov was founder and editor of the

Khimki forest near Moscow and, presumably because of his investigations, was attacked on 13 November 2008 outside of his home by two men with an iron bar. As a result of athe result attack, of hisBeketov’s injuries. right (See leg Shaun was Walker’samputated, piece he forlost the most Independent of the fingers newspaper on his left hand, publishedsustained severeon 11 brain damage, and was left unable to speak. He died on 8 April 2013 as Torment in Pursuit of the Truth.” April 2013, “Russian Journalist Mikhail Beketov-journalist Endured- amikhail Life of- beketov-endured-a-life-of-torment-in-pursuit-of-the-truth- tion (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russian 8569285.html)) In addi - to journalists, human rights activists and members of the opposition movement have also been imprisoned and/or killed in Russia under the Putin regime. The number of so 173

familiar to the in the Fandorin series, Akunin’s plots partially evoke events contemporary Russian reader (political conspiracies, mysterious deaths, moderngovernment Russia corruption, reality. shady financial schemes), which make them relevant to

A number of plot devices common to the detective genre are used to complicate the narrative’s action in order to delay the resolution and to sustain

the reader’s interest in the narrative. Shifting suspicions, false solutions, red helpherrings, to cr misleading trails, coincidences, , , and setbacks

eate an atmosphere of suspense and anticipation while, at the same misledtime, contributing in almost every to the case narrative’s (often by overall his criminal intellectual opponent puzzle. or aFandorin self-serving is

o often he initially suspects the wrong person governmentbefore he eventually official), tiesand the all tothreads of the case together. In Azazel’ first suspects Amaliia Bezhetskaia before Brilling convinces him that, Fandorin Count

manipulatesZurov is the most the young likely sleuth culprit into behind traveling the murders. to LondonSubsequently, ostensibly on Brilling official business (though Brilling actually plans to send Fandorin to his death) and creates a series of false leads for the Russian police officer to follow. Fandorin eventually figures out that Lady Ester is the mastermind behind the plot for world domination and that Brilling is one of her loyal followers. In Smert’

called political assassinations continues to rise. The death of the exiled oligarch Boris Berezovskii at his estate outside London on 23 March 2013 provoked widespread as a suicide. speculation that he was murdered. British police, however, are investigating his death

174

Akhillesa

Khurtinskii’s, Fandorin notebo drawsok and two discovers false conclusions, more clues andthat it Fandorin is only after starts he to finds put the pieces of the case together.

Relying on a common found in the and tales coincidencesof adventure toan propel the plot forward, Akunin populates his narratives with conversations ord encounterchance occurrences: individuals characters most unexpectedly overhear randomand not always convincingly. Fandorin just happens to glimpse Akhmas’s ‘pale’ eyes as he is driving away from the wedding; the characters in Leviafan are constantly

Turetskiioverhearing gambit and Fandorinwitnessing receives events, information many of which from they people misinterpret; who eavesdrop in or

hasrun hadinto withsomeone va by chance. For example, Varvara often relays conversation she with valuable (albeitrious sometimespeople to Fandorin, not so reliable) little realizing intelligence. that she is providing him

Employing the format of nineteenth-century detective fiction that

subheading that appeared in serial publications, Akunin’s chapters have a withforeshadows a what or will tension happen-filled in that moment section, that and propels the chapters the reader often to concludeturn the page fr quickly so as to learn what happens next. As one may predict, Fandorin is andequently left to drownleft in ain dangerous the murky situation waters of at the the Thames; end of a engagedchapter: intied a fightup in to a sackthe death with Akhimas; knocked unconscious (“everything suddenly just went

— …”). Just like today’s black”/“для него просто наступила чернота внезапно 175

viewers of popular

TV serials, the reader has to wait for the next installment or

periloussubsequent situation. chapter to find out how the protagonist manages to get out of a

During the investigation Fandorin also faces countless setbacks that delay

the solution and regularly throw both the sleuth and the reader off the track.

Fandorin is attacked and almost killed several times in Azazel’; he is mistaken a

number of times about the identity of the culprits in Turetskii gambit and Smert’

Akhillesa; he falls victim to the Marie Sanfon’s cunning lies in Leviafan that divert

devicehis attention employed to other to keep suspects. t Not only retardation, but also foreshadowing is a

Byron corset will save his helife reader during engaged the Azazel’ in the case; narrative: Turkish Fandorin’sspy Anvar- efendi’sLord

newspaper articles, written while he was workingwn undercoverand uncover as his a Frenchreal identity; thejournalist, hideous eventually grandfather help clock Fandorin Fandorin to track wins do on the Leviafan will play a key role in the story’s denouement. These plot elements keep the detective and reader looking ahead while retracing the perpetrator’s steps.

Often li -plotted detective novels capture

terally hard to put down, well pursuitreaders’ of imagination the perpetrator’s and curiosity, identity. stimulating Akunin’s narratives their forward are no momentum exception. in The

Russian author fills his narratives w

ith plot twists, rapid action, sudden, unexpected moves, exciting chases, and surprising appearances that make it hard to stop reading. SuspicionAzazel’ shifts, sometimes at lightning speed, from one suspect to another: in , the list of prime suspects moves from Zurov, to 176

Cunningham Ester; there are at least three majorBezhetskaia, suspects to in Smert’ Akhillesa, and finally to Lady strangers show up—sometimes at: Fandorin’sHerr Knabe, very Khurtinskii, door—to Akhimas. shed light Mysterious on the

case: General Sobolev’s sister, Countess Mirabeau, visits Fandorin to provide tellsinformation Fandorin about that aa secretbriefcase meeting, containing and Sobolev’s a great deal mistress, of money Ekaterina has gone Golovina, missing.

Fandorin also chases

suspects through the streets of Moscow, endures a grueling physical fight with Akhimas (which, for Fandorin, also serves as a personal act of

Russiarevenge in against record thetime man to intercept responsible a telegram for the death sent from of his London wife), races in Azazel’ back to

, chases a German secret agent through nocturnal Moscow while dodging bullets, is locked in a cellar by “Little Misha,” the dwarfish ‘king’ of Moscow’s-class salon criminal of a luxury oceanunderworld, liner. Despite and is outplayed the sometimes by Maria incredible Sanfon predicaments in the first that Akunin thinks

up for his detective hero, Fandorin, like the proverbial Saturday morning cartoon hero, always manages to escape danger and emerge largely unscathed from enthusiasmdangerous situations. of numerous Indeed, bloggers. he is a compelling hero, as indicated by the

A melodramatic element is frequently injected into the novels through femmethe anticss fatales of Fandorin’s. The Cleopatra numerous- female admirers, some of whom are genuine

like Amaliia Bezhetskaia first seduces, then tries to kill Fandorin before running away with Count Zurov; Fandorin falls hopelessly in love with Liza, only to watch her die on their wedding day; the emancipated 177

Varvara Suvorova tries (almost successfully) to seduce the attractive Fandorin

Stampon the Bulgarianimpulsively front, declares but ultimately her love for returns the elusive to Russia Russian with sleuth; her fiancé; Fandorin Clarissa is

attracted to the chanteuse Va

Female love interests serve thenda, purpose who is of deeply distracting involved the in Russian the Sobolev sleuth affair. from

the case, complicating the plot, and providing romance.alone. Yet throughout the

series, inSubplots the end, slow Fandorin down emergesthe narrative from in the the case Fandorin novels and distract the

Russian sleuth from focusing on the investigation. In Azazel’

, the romance

providesbetween Fandorina melodramatic and Liza interlude is important as Fandorin for the strugglesplot in several to untangle respects: the it case; it

offers a logical conclusion to the fervent passions of the young romantic

protagonist

plays a pivotal, who role eventually in Fandorin’s marries development the woman as he a characterloves; and since the relationship the death of

neverhis young analyzed bride orproves discussed to be inone s of the defining momentsTuretskii in his gambit life, though

Varvara and Fandorin romantic ubsequenttriangle distracts works. theIn reader from Fandorin’s, the Petia,

, investigation. Moreover the narrative frequently follows Varvara’s actions and travels, while Fandorin disappears for long periods of time. In Fandrin’s absence, theVarvara’s reader observations, about what the trips, main and suspects experiences are up relay to. The important atmosphere information of suspicion to

on a luxury linercreated while by forcingmurders a groupcontinue of strangersto mount tocreates remain a great in close deal quarters of the tension in

178

Leviafan. Gauche and Fandorin’s investigation is complicated by the fact that the

bothpassengers th are hiding information about their pasts, which serves to mislead

e reader and the detectives,- especially Gauche. The background stories of

Clarissa Stamp, Reginald Milford Stokes, Gintaro Aono, Renata Kleber (aka Marie

Sanfon), and Lieutenant Renierthout mucheventually impact reveal on the secrets main theyplot (excepthave striven in the to case keep hidden, although wi of Sanfon and Renier). However, since these stories are divulged slowly, the whilevarious also subplots fleshing deflect out other and createcharacters. suspicion This plotabout device the guilt helps of toeach hide character, the identity of the true culprits until the end of the narrative. In Smert’ Akhillesa

, the theAkhimas narrative , to depict or parallel the professional plot, interrupts killer’s the backg actionround at a pivotalstory and moment reveals in information relevant to the tragedy of Fandorin’s personal life that launched him on his path to becoming a police investigator.

Although the plot in the Fandorin series steadily progresses in tension- filled episodes towards the re more leisurely pacing. The plotsolution, slows down Akunin usually punctuates during the scenes narrative in which with

periodFandorin to investigate.is privately analyzingThere are agaps case, in is the injured, tempo orral departs structure for of a relativelyAzazel’; for long

example, when Fandorin recovers from his knife wound; two weeks are lost moment;while he travelsand in Turetskiito London, gambit the events Fandorin only disappears revealed to for the months reader at a timelater to conduct his investigation into the Turkish spy. Fandorin is usually brought up to

179

speed by a colleague who informs him what has taken place during his absence

forwardor illness.-lo Foroking instance, police investigatorGrushin recounts newly the arrived arrival from of Brilling, the capital; the brilliant in Statskii and sovetnik (The State Counsellor Prince Pozharskii fills in Fandorin on what occurred after he almost died in1999), the attack at the bania. A similar deceleration accompanies Fandorin’s

ruminations about the case: he retreats to his bath, sits head.drawing Japanese hieroglyphs, or reviews the details of the investigation in his

their harebrainedThough fans moments find the —seriesFandorin exciting is captured and inventive, in a mechanized Akunin’s plots chair; have his head is almost cut into by the evil Dr. Blank; a ‘ghost’ in the form of Bezhetskaia appears to Fandorin in Azazel’; Akhimas steals the briefcase containing the money in Smert’ Akhillesa simply by donning a police those plots stimulate the hermeneutic reader’s desire to resolve, and the so enigma forth. Yet presented in the opening chapters and “transform[s] the activity of reading the

nt novel into the search for an answer” (Porter 86) to this initial question. Inte on following the plot, the reader keeps reading in order to make connections and bridge the gaps “in the chain of cause and effect” (Scaggs 35). By and large

Akunin’s plots are carefully provide constructed, both aesthetic usually and intellectual make sense, enjoyment. emphasize Judging the bypuzzle the saleselement, figures and for the series and fan expectation for continuing

installments, Akunin has found a plot structure that works.

180

The investigation: Fandorin’s calculated moves and interpretation of clues

Much of the reward in reading a detective story is the satisfaction the reader experiences in competing with the detective trying to solve the puzzle and figuring out the solution. For the reader to unravel the mystery before the

detective does, several prerequisites are necessary. According to the genre’s classical notion of ‘fair play,’ not only must the reader have access to each clue or knowspiece of in evidence, or but s/he also must have a good idea of what the detective the detectiveder uses to besigns engaged that function in the game. as signposts During onthe the course road of towards the investigation, the explanation of the mystery. The intelligent detective’s extraordinary ability to interpret clues highlights his capacity to put seemingly unrelated pieces of a puzzle together to discover the truth. John Reilly posits that clues function on

whiletwo levels on another in the narrative: level they “Cluesare means offer for structure the author to description to entice the of reader’sdetection,

forinterest” it appears (78). to The have clue no is reason a curious for objectbeing wherefor both it isthe and detective for being and what the itreader, is.

Marty Roth contends that the detective’s task is to analyze the various clues and

pieces of evidence in order to discover the missing links, put all the elements together, and decipher the new narrative they create: “The task of theal anddetective is so to interpret and integrate the clue that, far from being accident peripheral, it will become the central fact of a new history” (Roth 188). Franco

Moretti posits that “clues are more often metonymies: associations by contiguity

(related to the past), for which the detective must furnish the missing term” 181

(Signs

146). The detective has to look at a clue and decide what is significant

place.about Poirot’sit, for a clue famously by nature line “Thisis out isof significant” place, which is isimportant why it is becausenoticed in “he the finds first

himself before

Signs something that transcends the usual, literal meaning” (Moretti

clue (i.e.146). its Theultimate detective meaning must for establish the investigation) the links between and the the identity significance of the of the

person who left it (i.e. the perpetrator)—a process that rescues him from the

darkness of unknowing into the illumination toward which the narratives

moves.

A clue is presented in a number of ways: it can it canbe found be a trifle lying or somewhere minutia

that(a briefcase, is simply a outbutton, of place; a piece it can of thread, come in a thegold form pin); of witnesses’ testimony; or it

-

can be a nagging suspicion that “something is just not quite right” (Roth 179

204). Akunin places clues in his narratives that Fandorin seemsAzazel’to find quite

easily. For instance, he discovers Kokorin’s hidden will early in , which suspectsplaces the— ostensible ‘suicide’ into question and leads the sleuth to his first

F the beautiful Amaliia Bezhetskaia and the student Nikolai Akhtyrtsev.

andorin later discovers telegrams, secret ledgers, and diplomatic reports, all of which eventually enable him to piece together the case. In his subsequent investigations, Fandorin gfinds on his out formidable information intuition through (the accounts Russian relayed sleuth by has an various people, by relyin theastonishing Turkish spyability Anvar to read- people, which proves invaluable in his unmasking of

efendi and the Belgian opportunist Marie Sanfon), by 182

selective , by close observation, and by a thorough examination of everycrime detailscenes. in In his this initial last investigations.respect he resembles Holmes, who scrutinizes each and

No doubt much of the appeal of the Fandorin novels hinges on this puzzle element, yet a major problem in the series is that, even though the reader knows the clues that Fandorin discovers, s/he knows very little, if at all, about how

Akunin/Fandorin solves the cases. Despite Fandorin’s trademark “raz, dva, tri”

(‘one,deduction. two, three’)When after method the offact logical Holmesreasoning, explains the to Watsonseries suffers how he from arrived a dearth at a of

ofgiven the solution,process for he the(or reader.Watson on his behalf) simultaneouslyo has little clarifies interest eachin revealing stage the various stages that graduallyNot leadso Fandorin, him to the wh solution.

In general, Fandorin operates by close observation, orderly thought, andingenious deceives moves, s and lucky breaks. Additionally, the Russian sleuth misleads course of the investigation.uspects, conceals In Smert’ important Akhillesa information, he tricks andVanda sets into traps unwittingly during the betraying the location of Akhimas’s hideout; he, goes undercover in disguise; and

intentionally leaves the window open on board the

Levaifanhe sets traps, as when he

so that the Indian shawl will fly out, thus thwarting Marie Sanfon’s inultimate these situations plan and preventing Fandorin takes anyone the else initiativ frome acquiringand helps theto move treasure. the plotAlthough

forward, in general he responds to a series of events and is propelled along by the action of the story rather than by his own force. Not unlike the prototypes 183

erebral

activitydeveloped in sortingby Poe throughand Doyle, the the pieces way ofFandorin’s a case are mind largely works concealed and his behind c a

explainmysterious, to the closed reader exterior. what the Yet Russian in Akunin’s sleuth case, there is no Watson figure to

Fandorin’ is doing, for the role played by

provides comics sidekick relief. Masa is that of a sparring partner and trusted confident, who

The few glimpses Akunin offers into the sleuth’s deductive methods rely

andheavily ma rtialon interiority. arts training Fandorin’s have instilled years inin himJapan, a reverence immersion for in the Japanese traditions culture, of

Confucius and have provided him with an inner calm. These tenets help

Fandorin to meditate and to focus his thoughts. On board the Leviafan

Japanese passenger Gintaro Aono say , the

s that Fandorin-European has abilitya profound, to see almost a

Japanese intellect, and “possesses the most un ails

phenomenon in all its fullness, without- losing his way in the maze of petty det

and technicalities” (89) (“Фандорин сан обладает неевропейской

способностью видеть явление во всей” его полноте). In Smert’, не Akhillesaувязая в мелких

деталях и технических подробностях (93) , he focuses his deepthoughts meditation. by drawing Later Japanese in the series hieroglyphs, Fandorin exercising has a jade with rosary Masa, that and he through holds in

tohis analyze hand, and the he data fingers that hethe has beads gathered. when heIdeas tries or to statements think something made by through other or people often trigger an insight or connection in his mind; Azazel’, a chance remark by Fräulein Pfühl about a slouching studentfor instance,with a pince in -nez

184

leads Fandorin to Akhtyrtsev; in Smert’ Akhillesa

provides Fandorin with information that allows him, an undercoverto recognize Russian and follow agent

theHerr same Knabe, time without which Fandorin’s missionto see would what have is right been in unsuccessful. front of him orAt

is about to happen, Fandorinhe does is sometimes not suspect slow that Marie Sanfon will shoot Inspector

:

Gauche when the two areEster locked are inthe a leaderscabin; he of doesthe global not realize conspiracy; that Brilling, and he

Cunningham, and Lady

adoes mistake not discover that almost the identityresults in of Varvara’s the Turkish death spy at in the time hands to prevent of Anvar more-efendi. killings, In

hisshort, oversights Fandorin’s humanize extraordinary him. success notwithstanding, he is not infallible, and

supply a wealth of details about his detective’s deductive proce Not one to draws on the ‘Watson’ device to give the reader an account of

ss, Akunin in Turetskii gambit developments. For example, , Varvara affords a rather withoutcomprehensive understanding record ofwhy Fandorin’s he behaves movements as he does. and In actions Smert’ Akhillesain the army camp,

relays a list of Fandorin’s actions that are aimed at thwarting the Caucasia, Akhimasn

agent. And the narrator in Azazel’ offers an objective description of Fandorin’s movements in London without knowing or explaining why Fandorin is visiting and staking out certain places. Such accounts can be problematic because they not only deny the re confuse the narrative.ader Leviafan access is to a Fandorin’s good example thoughts, of how but this also structure decelerate can beand clever and irritating simultaneously. The narrative is taken up from the point of

185

whom have their own personalities and

prejudicesview of several about characters, what they all are of seeing. As in ’

—often considered the first British detective novel—and Akira

Kurosawa’s(1868) Rashomon

perspe (1950), one event is told from several different

ctives. This technique adds to the suspense and overall mystification of

confrontingthe narrative, the but reader. it calls into question the reliability of the information

multi-stage deductive process during the courInstead of sorting through a clear, told that Fandorin undergoes a

“dramaticse change of the investigation,is “struck by the an readeridea is lively imagination or “suddenly” realizes,” a connection. Thoughor thought,” Fandorin has notices a “ details and is a ,”

readers have no idea how he puts the pieces of the puzzle together.careful observer, Unless Fandorin is “thinking aloud” s have no opportunity to become familiar with how his famousin a section, deductive reader method works.

rom the obligation of elaboratingWithholding the this step information,-by-step explanation of course, frees that isAkunin central f to the majority of detective fiction. Cer Akunin never gives his readers a clear mapping of

tainly, how Fandorin solves his cases other than through sheer luck, by stumbling upon a solution, or by thinking aloud, which seems is left to somewhatlead magically confused to intelligent and and correct deductions. In the end, the reader foraysdisappointed into Fandorin’s in the unraveling thought processes.of the mystery, In that despite sense theAkunin text’s violates occasional the principle of ‘fair play’ with his readers.

186

The villains: Fandorin and devious plotters

The heart of the detective story restsdistractions in the crime, the perpetrator the protagonist’s erects to

avoidsearch detection for the criminal, and manipulate and the cunningthe detective hero. Heroes of detection 70

narratives react to a series of moves enacted by criminals, who, in an attempt to

anticipatingavoid exposure, the possibility“camouflage that and someone manipulate might or investigatedistort the signstheir transgof theirression” crimes,

(Pyrhö

nen 65). In an effort to escape detection and to control the movements of

storythe detective of the crime protagonist, and the thedeceptive criminals one(s)” create (Pyrh at least two stories, “the authentic

several önen 65). Criminals have

main plot functions: to drive and manipulate the plot; to determine the

final outcome; and, through their decisions and actions, to affect many of the criminal have changed70 to reflect the shifting moral values and emerging threats in the world. For As the genre has developed, the nature of the crime and the type of Allange the detective’s superb intellect in a instance,nail- early detectives such as Dupin and Holmes needed a clever, almost superhuman, criminal who was able to ch biting battle of wits with the detective, while Poirot and Miss Marple, whoThe solved crimes not so much with a superb intellect, but through close observation and common ordinarysense, investigated people motivated crimes orchestrated by revenge against by a criminal the victim with for a lessersomething intellect. done to them in criminals in G. K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, Christie, and Ngaio Marsh were mostly the criminalpast; the incrimes contemporary were usually detective directed fiction against is often one person,much more were sinister cleverly and conc ealed, and after the resolution life more or less was restored to its former state. By contrast,l dangerous, and not only threatens the detective’s life, but also the entire loca personalcommunity. history While of the the criminal in of modern the criminal detective in Holmes, fiction Christie,play an integral or other role Golden Age detective narratives is usually revealed at the conclusion, the personality and the throughout the investigation. Indeed, it is the attempt by the detective to ‘get inside the andcriminal’s it is this head’ increasing that contributes tension that to the drives suspense, the narrative. because The the battleinvestigator of intellects is trying to unmask and discover the criminal before another, often horrific, crime is committed, between the detective, his/her opponent (a battle engaging the reader) is an essential component in detective fiction, both in traditional and modern versions. 187

Akunin’s criminals are

craftedcharacters in the in thevein narrative, of the nineteenth including- the detective hero.

century villain; they are quite cunning and, at times, almost outwit his intrepid detective. Mixing the Doyle (intellectually populatesbrilliant) and his Christieseries with (concoctor villains wofho clever devise crimes) clever type plots of to criminal, throw Fandorin Akunin off

the scent, hide in plain sight, and remain several steps ahead of the Russian mostsleuth. unlikely In tune suspects. with the Anglophone tradition, they usually turn out to be the 71 One of the more common motifs in detective fiction is criminal

cooperation between two persons working in tandem to control the detective’s

movements (Pyrhö Leviafan

the scheming pair ofnen lovers 175). who In orchestrate, Marie the Sanfon events andtaking Charles place Renier on the areship.

Renier, acting on the orders of Sanfon (who holds the real power in their

connivingpartnership), pair commits as Gauche a series and Fandorin of murders tighten designed the noose to deflect around suspicion the passengers’ from the

necks. Greed motivates the couple as they resort to murder to obtain fabulous

wealth. In the tradition of the Holmes-

Moriarty duel, Sanfon plants a number of In Azazel’ Ester in her role as the ‘friendly schoolmarm’ and head of the 71orphanage deftly deflects suspicion from her position as the mastermind behind the global conspiracy, Lady to take over highly placed government positions. Even when Fandorin meets Lady Ester to confront her about his suspicions concerning her butler

“SoCunningham, it he fails to put the pieces of the case together until the final moment: “Erast Fandorin stared back unblinking at her in silence, stunned by his hideous realization.— wasn’t Cunningham…”he— whispered.— “It was you all the time…You!” (212) (‘А Эраст Петрович молча уставился на нее, сраженный страшной догадкой. Так это не Каннингем…, прошептал он Это все вы…Вы сами!’ (196).

188

pointmisleading that he clues has intomade Fandorin’s a mistake investigation, and bemoans leadingthe fact himthat to he remark has always at one been a

step or more behind the criminal (‘ - —

Кажется .—, я д допустил ошибку ,

пробормотал … Эраст, сделав шаг к двери Я все времяAzazel’на шаг, на полшага presumablyотстаю от acting’ (209)). on A instructions similar pattern from is Lady employed Ester in , as Brilling,

, creates a trail of clues that

Fandorin follows, first to London, then to St. Petersburg, and back to Moscow. theThe detect connivingive’s Brillinguncanny plots luck to that murder he escapes Fandorin the numerousin London, attempts and it is onlyon his due life. to

theIn this deceptive first case, trail Fandorin designed is bypassive, the Azazel’ easily criminal manipulated, group. and obediently follows

Controlling events behind the scenes unti

l the very end of the narrative, thoughthe villain she frequently is to allow determines Dr. Blank to the experiment final outcome on Fandorin’s in Akunin’s brain plots. and Prepared later die

Ester takes pity on the young policeman after he together with him, Lady Ester allows him to leave the basement declares his passionate love for Liza, and Ester continues to direct the plotroom until before the the final bomb moment explodes. when In she this decides instance, to spare Fandorin. Despite her

Esterdevious’s ‘motherly plans for instincts’world domination seemingly and win the out blood in the that end. is Akuninon her hands,designs Lady a plot structure where the villain’s character traits can be invoke

d to save a life, thus making moral judgments more difficult, since- efendithe criminal releases can Varvara and does after display moments of compassion. For instance, Anvar 189

holding her hostage at gunpoint, and in a surprising behavioral twist, as he lies

information.dying, the assassin Akhimas provides Fandorin with a piece of crucial

In Turetskii gambit -efendi manipulates events to

divert suspicion from himself, Turkish while spy he ingeniouslyAnvar devises way to get rid of his

s he ‘leaks’ false

intelligenceenemies: masquerading that results ina thethe RussianFrench reporterarmy attacking D’Hevrais, at the wrong moment; he

lookkills Countas though Zurov the and two army killed officer each other;Kazanzaki, and he then orchestrates stages their the death final to train make ride it

into San Stefano. Though Fandorin eventually exposes him as the Turkish spy

-efendi who controls events until the very

before the dramatic climax, it is Anvar and killing himself. endAlthough after heAnvar takes- Varvara hostage, eventually releasing her guided by his devotionefendi tofulfills the Ottoman the function Empire of the and criminal/enemy, by his loyalty to his his actions leader; are in

sia. this respect, he resembles-efendi Fandorin,acts according with histo a faithful moral codeservice of honorto Rus—he spares

Additionally, Anvar

toVarvara’s his superiors. life, succeeds Thus the in villainhis mission here notto break only determinesRussia’s power, the outcome and remains of the loyal

narrative,Agency but emerges likewise justlies aswith heroic the conspirat as Fandorin,ors inif notSmert’ more Akhillesa so. hire a

, who

professional killer to eliminate General Sobolev,dorin causing discovers Fandorin during to the cope with a

investigationgroup of faceless that adversaries. he is engaged However, in a complicated Fan game of ‘hide and seek’ with a

190

very devious and cunning adversary. In many ways, the killer, Akhimas, is iculty

FandorinFandorin’s has moral in tracking and polar him opposite, down and which, unraveling perhaps, the accounts clues left for by the the diff

Caucasian hit man. Heta Pyrhö

nen posits that “ever since Poe, doubling between

Akunindetective suggests and criminal in Azazel’ has becomeTuretskii a gambitrecurrent patternSmert’ in Ahillesa the genre” that (32),the criminal and

, , and

is often Fandorin’s mirror image (same but reversed), simply more violent. The

arealternate evidence plots of depicting this plot device. Akhimas, who, in many respects, is Fandorin’s double,

while Akhimas is driven by vengeance.Fandorin Both lives are by professional the moral code in their of the respective samurai,

‘employment’; both are permanently scarred by past tragedies and dead lovers;

Azazel’ wo are destined to meet again. This

‘convergingand, once their destiny’ lives intersectis emphasized in in the, the structure t of Smert’ Akhillesa narrative is interrupted just over halfway through in order to describe, whenthe the events of Akhimas’s life.

The dual narratives come together o

nce again at the end, when Fandorin and Akhimas fight to the death on a superhuman scale; neither seems able to die, theand protagonist helpers spring and as the if byvillain makes from for the a sidelines.specific struc Indeed,ture. the Through parallelism the of

presentation of the story (siuzhet

suspense as Fandorin is repeatedly), Akunin outmaneuvered provides bymomentum, Akhimas while excitement, tracking and

him down; yet it is Akhimas’s backstory that provides the key to the killer’s

mode of life and choices. The chronological order of events (fabula) that shaped

191

Akhimas’s character needs to be fully revealed before the narrative’s

denouement in order for the reader to understand the assassin’s actions. This

knowledge helps the reader to sy

mpathize with Akhimas, whose tragic

degreechildhood of understanding and death of the from woman the reader. he loved Akhimas’s help to humanize final words him, to elicitingFandorin a are

Fandorin live and

a warning of sorts, revealing that the conspirators will not let

betweenthat the sleuth these shouldtwo adversaries flee the country. will eventually Moreover, help the Fandorin final confrontation put his wife’s

Akhimasmurder behind continues him toand direct allow Fandorin’s him at last fate to movefrom beyondforward the emotionally. grave—or Tellingly,at least

timeuntil toFrol, prevent the Moscow Fandorin Governor and Masa General’s from leaving assistant, Russia. arrives just in the nick of

Most of Akunin’s plots have Fandorin not only facing a number of cunning

ing with law enforcement and government officials who try tovillains, impede but his also investigation. battl During the investigation on the Leviafan Fandorin

and Inspector Gauche are constantly at each other’s throats with Fand, orin

, s the

pompousoutperforming French and police ‘outdeducing’ officer Gauche at every turn, which make

extremely angry. Fandorin frequently has to

investigationconvince his superiors is uncoverin thatg evidencehe is progressing that higher in the officials correct would manner, like toeven see if the

remain hidden. Fandorin is sometimes removed from the

Additionally,

theinvestigation mystery. halfway throughSmert’ the case, Akhillesa after which he works is actually on his placed own tounder solve

For instance, in , Fandorin 192

suchhouse an arrest, obstacle. but Inmanages an acknowledge to find a wayment to of continue the current his investigation level of corruption despite in

Russia and of the double lives led by many ‘trusted’ public officials subject to

various whichinsatiable often greed, officials under whom Fandorin worksin Azazel’ are corrupt, turns out to beleads Lady to theirEster ’sdownfall trusted orassistant suicide. and For Fandorin instance, is forced to, Brilling kill his adored mentor (albeit by accidentally impaling him on an elm branch!); in Smert’

Akhillesa secret

, Khurtinskii, head of the secret police, discovered. hangs himself Some contemporary after his detectivedealings, promptednarratives by delve financial into criminals’ greed, are psyches in an attempt to make their

Examplesmotivations include more Lisbethunderstandable Salander’s and attempted their crimes, killing perhaps, of her sadisticpardonable. father in

Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Played With Fire clandestine murder of the man who attacked and(2006) maimed and DCS him James with a Langton’s machete in

Lynda La Plante’s Clean Cut kunin does not follow this trend; he leaves no doubt that his (2007). A metimes escape justice. villains fully deserve punishment, even if they so

The resolution: justice restored and paradise regained?

The criminal is the driving force for much of the action in a detective

is not recognized and revealed as such until the end of the narrative.novel, yet s/heThough the reso

lution may come as a surprise or even a shock, it usually is the culmination of a series of “carefully prepared hints, suggestions, 193

and implications” that reveal a secret most readers may have suspected all along

(Rzepka 11). W. H. Auden sees in the ending the restoration of the “Great Good

Place” and society’s return to its state before the crime. In this kind of “healing

withact,” thewhat evil has has happened. been eradicated Since the and genre the communityis “committed can to start to come to terms

an act of recovery, inmoving the narrative forward when in order the to results move of back” the investigation (Porter 29), the are denouement explained and is the point temporal-logical gaps filled in.

It is at this juncture that the detective is able

to reestablish the sequence and causality of the crime, and often retellsnouveau the roman crime of and the its offered subsequent evidence events, he or[the as detective] one critic constructsphrases it, a“out traditional of the readable novel that ends up telling the

explainsstory of the his crime”deductive (Porter reasoning 30). Moreover, and reveals this how is frequently he came to when the solution. the detective It is

conalsofesses the moment and explains when the motivationcriminal, often behind in front the crime.of the otherThe resolution suspects, is

frequently a reversal or a moment of illumination, when the detective and reader finallyrealize fallthat into they plac havee. The been ‘shock’ viewing of manythe case endings in the is wrong often way,a thrilling and all moment the pieces for the reader. Agatha Christie was one of the first authors to employ a surprise

Theending Murder that notof Roger only shocked,Ackroyd but alsois angered one of Christie’s some readers, most controversial who felt betrayed. novels because the startling twist(1926) of the ending reveals the narrator as the

194

murderer. Readers felt indignant not only because Christie violated the

unwritten rules of ‘fair play’ standard for the detective genre at

because in most genres of fiction the narrator functions as the trustworthythe time, but guide also

in the created world of the text.

Marty Roth writes that “detective fiction ends with the embodiment of the

criminal as a graspable object” (162); therefore, once the criminal isFandorin’s in the

investigationsdetective’s hands often or resulthas been in such unmasked, the story is basicallyt at which over. Fandorin reveals

the villain a resolution, a poin ation for committing

the crime—’s anidentity, element and necessary explains forthe theperpetrator’s fulfillment motiv of readers’ genre

expectations.

(Lady Ester At this-ef juncture, Akunin’s criminals either provide a full confession

, Anvar endi, and Marie Sanfon) and/or reveal a crucial piece of

killedinformation Sobolev that—with had beena poison missing: extracted for instance, from an AkhimasAmazonian tells fern Fandroin—and that how a he secret government tribunal sentenced the general to death. After all

sinceexplanations there is arenothing over, left the for narrative the detective usually to ends do once or leads the caseto a briefis solved. epilogue, Azazel’ concludes with a summary of what happened to Lady Ester’s cult of ‘orphans’

Turetskii gambit reviews the

resultsafter the of Moscow Anvar- headquarters was destroyed;

efendi’s suicide and the consequences of the Treaty of San

platform.Stefano for The Europe, dete then closes with Fandorin and Varvara’s parting on a railway

ctive is embarking on a journey to Japan, where he will take

up a diplomatic post and Varvara is returning to Russia with Petia, her fiancé. 195

Smert’ Akhillesa

stopped at the lastsimilarly minute concludes from (relu onctantly) a railway leaving platform, Russia. where And LeviafanFandorin is

finishes with the defeat of Marie Sanfon.

itYet is innoteworthy analyzing thatwhat some the conclusions of the endings of Akunin’s differ from novels those reveal of the about classical the

world, detective story, where everything is resolved and justice triumphs. Instead, isAkunin’s not always detective punished. protagonist Lady Esteroften experiences a loss or defeat, and the villain 72 never found (she may perhaps returnis t oblown hatch up another by a bomb, conspiracy); but her Anvarbody is-

efendi’s gambit pays off, though he loses his life in the process; Marie Sanfon’s

fate remains unclear, but given her pregnancy and presumedhough plea Fandorin of temporary kills

insanity, she will likely face a short prison sentence; and, t Smert’ Akhillesa

remainAkhimas, at thelarge government to meddle conspiratorsin politics at somewho drive future the point. plot Akunin’sof endings in

many ways resemble nto

the realities of modern life, where justice no longer fits i

a clear and precisely defined framework and frequently is simply unattainable.

In this way, Akunin’s resolutions are more in line with contemporary detective

andfiction, the where com evil is not always eradicated, the criminal is not always punished,

munity does not experience a reassuring sense of security. Yet the

72 It is also important to point out that in an era when xenophobia is again on the rise across the globe—and Russia is no exception to this phenomenon—many of Akunin’s Ester is British; Anvar-efendi is Turkish; Marie Sanfon is mothervillains arefrom foreigners: the Caucasus; Lady and the evil Dr. Lind in Koronatsiia (Coronation) is British. Belgian; Akhimas, who was born and raised in the Caucasus, has a German father and a

196

detective hero is usually able to return in the next installment to continue his (at times seemingly hopeless) fight against crime.

Conclusion

tti argues that between the beginningIn discussing and end of detective the fiction, is aFranco long wait; More and “the fabula narrated by the detective in his reconstruction of the facts brings us back to the beginning; that

Signs storiesis, it abolishes are “anti narration”- ( 148). Moretti posits that, in this sense, detective

literary” (148) and view narration as deviation, moving in a circular vector back to the start. And yet, he claims, fabulathis deviation without is a extremelysjuzet important because “a solution without a mystery, a [sic], plottedwould be series of no of interest” twists and (148). turns The in readerorder to is reachpropelled the conclusion. along through Typically a cleverly

closure entails the identification of the criminal, followed by a valid commentary on the world. The question posed at the beginning of the narrative has to be answered satisfactorily at the end; otherwise the reader feels betrayed that s/he has not received what s/he ‘contracted for’ ryat theunfolds outset. an exciting chain of events

As a popular genre, the detective sto that entertain its audience. At the same time, however, it differs little from

‘serious fiction’ inasmuch as it tackles issues of morality, human nature, and the humanage in which behavior we live.and Theits complexities genre questions in an norms effort toof goodmakeand sense evil, of andwhy examines we do the

things we do. Mikhail Bakhtin wrote that through laughter, the rogue, , and 197

hidden buffoon help to remove the masks worn by society, laying bare the truth behind them. In the same way, the solution of the detective narrative tears off the hiding the dark aspects of society that many prefer to ignore, in an vouchsafingattempt to expose those murky areas. The detective genre, by no longer always sometimes evena comforting provokes solution, a public conversationhas begun to engageabout those current pressing issues concerns. and,

Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series highlights such ‘uncomfortable’ social issues as

violence against women, Sweden’s Nazi past, and government conspiracies.

Akunin engages government corruption, questions of patriotism, the moral duty of citizens, and lessons history can provide for the currentter Russian an exciting state. and In wellshort,- on one level the readers of detective novels encoun thinkplotted about moral narrative behavior of suspense; and personal yet, on responsibility a higher level, in they an increasingly are also forced to violent and alien modern world.

198

Conclusion The test of history: the legacy of Akunin’s genre project

“Я должен- написать еще две книги про Эраста Фандорина.Interview И с удовольствиемwith Boris Akunin это сделаю. Но 73 вообще то детективный жанр мне поднадоел.” “We do not expect popular literature74 to be great

mystery and humour also ministers to essential humanliterature, needs.” but fiction which provides excitement, Taking About Detective Fiction

“…popularP.D. literatureJames, expresses and reflects the aesthetic and social values of its readers.” P From Lowbrow to Nobrow

eter Swirski, The Akunin phenomenon My study has analyzed the phenomenon of Akunin’s series within the

context of Russia’s detective fiction and post-Soviet market conditions. It has

contextualized Akunin’s works in both classical and contemporary detective

fiction to gauge what departures from other examples of the genre make

Akunin’s oeuvre distinctive and probably account for the author’s popularity.

Akunin uses a traditional and popular genre to reengage the Russian past by

tapping into a post-

Soviet Russian society haunted by the turbulent Yeltsin 73 “I need to write two more books about Erast Fandorin. And I’ll happily do so. But in genre.” Interview with Boris Akunin on 21 March 2013 in the Moscow daily MK (Moskovskii komsomolets74general, I’m tired). (“Boris of the Akunin detective— -boris-akunin-mk- detektivnyiy-zhanr-mne-podnadoel.html).‘MK’: ‘Detektivnyi zhanr mne podnadoel’) (http://www.mk.ru/culture/article/2013/03/20/828937

199

years—a society that is nostalgic for an idealized past and that yearns to

escape nd

everyday reality. To achieve his aims, Akunin relies on a familiar a

providingpredictable a sensegenre ofthat stability ends with absent moral from judgments modern Russianand legal social consequences, and political

structures.

My study has also addressed serialization and the role of ‘zlobodnevnye voprosy’

(‘current issues’) in historical fiction: a popular serial hero will keep affairsreaders if coming the author back makes for subsequent the subject installments matter relevant and discussionsto contemporary of current readers .

In explaining the widespread appeal of Akunin’s novels

, I have argued that it

derives in part from a unique combination of factors: an engagement with the

tensionpast, the- familiarity of a popular genre (yet ‘raised’ to the level of ‘literature’),

filled plots, and, perhaps most significantly, the sui generis protagonist,

Fandorin, who has become the objecthe values of a veritableembodied cult. in Fandorin and their

relevanceFinally, to modern I have Russianexamined society t so as to determine why Fandorin has

become such a compelling literary hero and ‘celebrity’ in his own right.

Tellingly,

Fandorin is not only a hero for contemporary Russia, but also for the late

nineteenth century; his moral qualities remarkable capture alike. the spirit of two ages that are

outwardly different, but inwardly

200

Akunin’s appeal: mixing history, heroics, and action

The collapse of the Soviet Union heralded a turbulent decade

characterized by economic collapse, socialtatus. upheaval, As Russians government struggled corruption, to come to

rapid inflation, and loss of a superpower s

becameterms with a national the new imperative. reality, reappraisals Prompted of by the his country’s own interest glorified in history imperial and past the

Akunin set his Fandorin

desire among Russians for social and political security,

novels in an era widely perceived as a time when Russia was powerful,— theits late

economy was strong, and social order prevailed.—not only His plays period to ofthe choice nostalgia many

Rnineteenth century (starting circa 1876)

withussians the Golden have for Age this of seemingly detective fiction.prosperous That age,period but was also dominated evokes associations by such

famous and beloved amateur private investigators as Edgar Allan Poe’s C.

Émile Gaboriou’

SherlockAuguste Dupin, Holmes. Akunin’s Fandorins Monsieur series reliesLecoq, on and readers’ Arthur recollection Conan Doyle’s of

these iconic and the defining features of their sleuthing

ented) to recreate an

earlierprocedures age after (methodical, which many deductive, readers and hanker. scientifically Akunin orimanages to depict a

convincing picture of late nineteenth-century Russia in the first four Fandorin

detanovels. He establishes a credible temporal setting, complete with historical

ils,A period famous clothing, literary linguistic detective markers, is usually and associated cultural withand political a specific references. time and

201 place; Dupin is coupled with Paris, Holmes with a foggy and sinister London, and

Miss Marple with a

exclusively tied to Moscow.conservative and rural England. By contrast, Fandorin is not 75 Instead, Akunin relies on various genres within

detective fiction to diversify setting:ring the the crimes Russo in- the series occur in Moscow, in linerBulgaria, sailing Romania, from France and Turkey to the duOrient [sic]. TheseTurkish choices war, allow and Fandorin on a luxury to

philosophies.travel, bringing Fandorin’s him into contactadventures with give a wide Akunin array the of opportunityindividuals, ideologies,not only to and engage with current issues purvey ‘exotic locales.’ and comment on Russian society today, but also to

In order for a popular detective series to be successful and remain

popular over time, a charismatic hero must stand at its core, a protagonist who

captures readers’ attention and incites them to keep reading subsequent

Russianinstallments. literature. In Fandorin, He is a newAkunin kind has of craftedhero for a aliterary post- protagonist unique in

Soviet Russia that requires

Unlikea moral many and upstanding of the fictional individual, characters one depictedwhom readers in Akunin’s will strive Fandorin to emulate. series or real- has stronglife figures moral in the Russian government today, Akunin’s detective protagonist law- values, works as a law enforcement official, and stands out as a

abiding citizen. Fandorin’s intelligence, deductive skills, integrity, and

-century ‘first’ Russian capital in75 Akunin’s Fandorin series is populated with people from all across the Russian Empire whoIn ahave parallel flocked with to contemporary the golden- Moscow, the nineteenth standard of living. Fandorin represents the ‘new Muscovite’ middle class—a group domed city to find work, more utsecurity, also contribute and a better to the varied aspects of Moscow’s rich cultural life. whose experiences and travels not only shape202 the individual, b

andphysical unprofessionalism. prowess set him He apart lives from t those driven by rampant greed, corruption, according to his own strict moral ocode serve— anand internal protect barometer Russia, yet that he does is not so based

solely on Russian values, but also on his experiences intes the the East. best In values a sense, and

Akunin has it both ways, for his detective hero incarna qualities of two radically different worlds.

Fandorin’s popularity rests on a remarkable set of traits quite apart from his impeccable morality: intellectual skills, formidable intuition, athletic heprowess, personifies good aluck figure and whose good looksexistence, all enhanced is improbable by a mysteriousin today’s world. past. In Asked short, in

a 2011 interview to account for his hero’s phenomenal popularity, Akunin respondedI think as follows:the reason lies in that E

rast Fandorin has many qualities that are

sadly lacking in- our people. Opposites, as we know, attract. Fandorin is

reserved, cold blooded, scrupulous, and does not consider the authoritieso be

liketo be him. something (Tveritina) sacred. It seems that, deep down, my readers want t

By understanding the needs of his readers and the Zeitgeist

of the late 1990s and the first decade of the 2000s, Akunin limned a hero whose qualities competemet the withrequirements the likes of folkthose heroes times. ( bogatyriIndeed, his fictional protagonist could

), historical figures, literary protagonists, comic book figures, and child heroes for the title of ‘hero of our time.’ Yet 203

whether Fandorin will stand the test of time and secure a place among such exalted fi

gures is a question that only the future can answer.

Where to now?

The constraints of the dissertation do not allow a more extensive study of the Fandorin novels than the one I have presented. My post-doctoral plan is to transform this thesis into what will be the first monograph on Akunin’s Fandorin series. The process will entail exploring the changes that have taken place in

latestRussia since the first Fandorin novel was the published country has in 1998,gone from to the defaulting release of on the

installment, in Novemberliving 2012 through: toits experiencingforeign debt inan 1998 economic and boom on the backthe failed of skyrocketing presidency commodity of Boris Yeltsin,

witnessing the emergence of a nascent middle class (at least in the major prices, contending with the meteoritic rise of Vladimir Putin and his increasingcities), andly autocratic rule. How do the Fandorin novels reflect these changes?

How have Akunin’s thinking and allegiances responded to

moral issues in Russia shifting political, social, and ? In the early novels, Fandorin is dedicated to facedgovernment with a vastservice conspiracy and follows of corruption the directives in Statskii of his superiors,sovetnik (The but State when he is

Counselor he decides to follow his conscience and leave government service —and1999) Russia, — returning to Russia onlyto intermittently strike out on hisat the own behest as a private of the governmentinvestigator, when his detecting change in attitude towards

services are required. In part, Fandorin’s 204

who— initiallythe Russian an unknown government figure reflects society’s shift in opinion about—has Putin, become controversial because of his, yetincreasingly one who inspiredrepressive confidence policies. Akunin’s trajectory

whileof success producing has made one himFandorin a respected mystery member after another of the intellectual he has striven community, to write and more ‘serious literature.’ How have Akunin’s political activity and his desire to be seen as a more serious author affected the Fandorin series?

Akunin developed as an author? My envisioned monograph willHow, explore if at these all, has

. questionsRather than limiting himself to detective fiction Akunin has branched out into comic boo film. When, revising my dissertation I intendks, graphic to add novels, a chapter theater, on the and two films and the one television miniseries adapted from Akunin’s works so far Azazel’ (2002; Dir. Aleksandr

Adabash’ian); Turetskii gambit (The Turkish Gambit: nik Faiziev); and Statskii sovetnik (The State Counsellor 2005; Dir. Dzha the film adaptations 2005; Dir. Filipp Iankovskii). enhance orHow do

, for which Akunin wrote the screenplays,will employ Robert Stam’s anddiminish Linda Akunin’s Hutcheon’s novels? In examining these works, I made to his narrativestheories in bringing of adaptation, the bestselling focusing novels on to the the changes screen. Akunin Of

differeparticularnt actors interest, have given realized the centrality that persona of Fandorin in celluloid. in the series, is how three

205

“I’m ceasing to be a detective writer”

Inevitably, the time comes when a decision must be made about how to end a popular series of novels, television serials, or a movie franchise. In 1893,

Conan Doyle wanted to work“The Finalon other Problem” projects, he sohas he him decided plunge to off kill the off Sherlock

Holmes. Accordingly, in disappointedReichenbach Fallsand angry with his readers arch ,forced Doyle Dr. Moriarty. to resurrect But Holmes appeals ten from years later. Agatha Christie killed off Hecule Poirot in Curtain

(1975), a novel she wrote in the early 1940s, but did not publish until some thirty years later in writeorder aboutto stave Poirot’s off reader adventures animosity while and, knowing most likely, how soit wouldthat she all could end. Bycontinue contra to

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling said from the outset that there would be sevenst,

novels and that the final chapter had already been written, thus clearly imperativeindicating that to end there would be a definite end to the series. In other words, the individual author’sa plans series and is universal, preferences. but the way to do so depends on the

Akunin has stated that he will write two more books about the Russian

vprivateolumes detective, he is “ceasing but no to more. be a detective He claims writer” that after (“ the completion of those two

). Я перестаю быть —a historyдетективщиком” of the RussianIndeed, state that Akunin is projected has already to consist moved of on eight to his or next nine project volumes in which he comments on the creation and development of the Russian government from its earliest recorded history to the nineteenth century. Such an

206

endeavor brings the Fandorin series full circle and reconnects Akunin with

- -volume Istoriia gosudarstva

RossiiskogoNikolai Karamzin [History (1766 of the1826), Russian whose State twelve-

, 1816 26] is Azazel’one of the first histories published of the country. In his first Fandorin novel, , Akunin,Bednaia in Liza one ( Poof orhis

Lizacharacteristic intertextual feats, cites Karamzin’s short story — both 1792)instantly via recognizablethe names Erast to the and Russian Liza as reader.well as Inthe fact couple’s tragic romance

LiveJournal blog , in a recent post on his dreamed of becomingAkunin the wrote: new Karamzin” “I (the time (“ has come to admit it) have always

Я (пришло время в этом 76 признаться) The switch всегда to aмечтал pseudo стать- новым Карамзиным”-fiction genre (20indicates March that 2013). Akunin

historical, non

will continue to engage history to make sense of the present, and do so in a way

respectablethat is accessible and highbrow to the average reader. Tellingly, by undertaking a more

‘more serious’ writer. Sincegenre, most Akuninof his popular seems novelsto be positioning are set in the himself historical as a

On his Live historical76 project. “I think a new Karamzin is needed precisely because historians have written ‘Ru Journal website, Akunin explained his decision to embark on this large except for students and those who have a deep interest in the past. When a country’s ssian history’ for the past two hundred- years, and very few people read them profes —which is history is not told by scholars, but by an amateur popular writer, he, in line with his sion, strives to make sure that the book makes for interesting reading what Nikolai Mikhailovich [Karamzin] did.” (“Новый Карамзин, на мой взгляд, нужен затем, что уже двести лет «истории России» пишут именно что ученые- историки, а их кроме студен тов и людей, углубленно интересующихся прошлым, мало кто читает. —Когда же историю страны рассказывает не(Borisученый, Akuni а дилетантLiveJournal Marchбеллетрист, 2013. Seeон в силу профессии заботится о том, чтобы книгу). было нескучно читать как это делал Николай Михайлович.”) n, , 20 http://borisakunin.livejournal.com/94544.html

207

adoptpast and the deal same with approach reappraisals with his of history,more recen however,t work it on looks history. as though he will

In general, Akunin seems to be trying out various creative possibilities. In

(Novemberwww.borisakunin.livejournal.com 2010, he launched a blog on his Live eJournal writes siteshort posts about

), in which h historical figures and events. Notably, he chooses not only Russian figures and events, but also international Aristonomiiafigures whose stories Akunin feels compelledhe name to

Akuninretell. In-Chkhartishvili; June 2012, his thenovel work is a five-hundredcame out,-page written philosophical under t novel

blogabout posts the Russian called Liubov’ Revolution. k istorii Also (A inLove 2012, of History Akunin 2012) published a collection of his feuilleton-like stories dealing with historical and everyday, a heroes collection as well of as

detectivegender issues, hero inand addition his jaunts to philosophical through pre- musings. As he sets aside his celebrity kinds of new facts and figures will Akunin Revolutionarydiscover to offer Russian to the history,Russian what public? It will be interesting to watch how Akunin engages with centuries of

Russian history in his attempt to draw moral lessons for the present.

l accolades over

The long list of accomplishments, book sales, and critica hasthe pastmade fifteen an immense years leave contribution no doubt to that contemporary Grigorii Chkhartishvili, Russian literature as Boris and Akunin,

markeculture.t whereHis Fandorin piracy andseries illegal alone downloads has sold more were than the norm 25 million only acopies few years in a ago.

He not only has played a significant role in the revival of the Russian book

208

market, but also has branched outhere into to reachother anmedia, ever including-increasing cinema, audience. video He has games,lent his comics,celebrity and status the blogospto the struggling protest movement that is chAllanging

Putin’s policies. And now Akunin has decided to try to instill a love and knowledge of history in a people who have been denied historical truth for

decades. As a strong critic of the Russian political system, Akunin, like his remainsprotagonist to be Fandorin, seen whether is trying he tocan be continue a moral tocitizen delight in anreaders immoral in Russia age. It and ab thatroad he haswith created his stylish in Fandorin prose and a characterintriguing perceived characters, by but millions there asis noan doubtideal

isworthy clear— offor emulation. the first postWhatever- fate Akunin has in store for Fandorin, one thing

Russian way.’Soviet generation the Russian sleuth represents ‘truth,

justice, and the

209

Works Consulted

Almaznaia kolesnitsa

---Akunin,. Azazel’ Boris. . Moscow: Zakharov, 2004. Print.

---. Chernyi. Moscow:gorod Zakharov, 2001. Print.

---. The Death of Achilles. Moscow: Zakharov, 2012. Print.

. Trans. . New York: , ---. Koronatsiia,2006. Print. ili poslednii iz Romanov

---. Leviafan Print.. Moscow: Zakharov, 2000. Print.

---. Liubovnik. Moscow: smerti Zakharov, 2001.

---. Liubovnitsia smerti. Moscow: Zakharov, 2001. Print.

---. Murder on the Leviathan. Moscow: Zakharov, 2001. Print.

. Trans. Andrew Bromfield. New York: Random ---. NefritovyeHouse. chetki2005. Print.

---. Osobye porucheniia. Moscow: Zakharov, 2007. Print.

---. Smert’ Akhillesa . Moscow: Zakharov, 1999. Print.

---. Statskii sovetnik. Moscow: Zakharov, 2002. Print.

---. Turetskii gambit. Moscow: Zakharov, 1999. Print.

---. The Turkish Gambit. Moscow: Zakharov, 2001. Print.

. Trans. Andrew Bromfield. New York: Random House, 2005. Print.

210

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Appendix: Plot Summaries

Azazel’: the first case A young aristocrat shoots himself in front of numerous witnesses on 13

May 1876 in Moscow’s Alexander Gardens. As thetwenty police -investigateyear-old clerk the ofpuzzling aristoccase, Erast Petrovich Fandorin, an impoverished,

ratic lineage, is assigned to help. The persistent sleuth discovers that Petr fortuneKokorin, to the the young mysterious man who and committed bewitching suicide, beauty hasAmalia inexplicitly Bezhetskaia. willed During his vast the course of the investigation Fandorin’s main source of information and Kokorin’s

-eyed assassin.close friend, Fandorin Nikolai is Akhtytsev, also stabbed is attacked in the attack and killed(although by a hismysterious fashionable white Lord

Byron whalebone corset miraculous cries out the mysterious name “Azazel’!”ly saves his life), during which the murderer

celebrityOnce detective Fandorin Ivan recovers Brilling fromis brought the attack in from and St. returns Petersburg to work, to take the charge of the investigation. Fandorin admires this new modern man from the capital

and becomes his eager pupil, eventually pinpointing Bezhetskaia as the afterinstigator the attack of Kokorin’s on Akhtytsev. suicide, Bril partiallyling sends because Fandorin she flees to London Russia toimmediately find

-forced

Bezhetskaia, where, after a series of adventures that result in his near 221

globaldrowning terrorist in the plot Thames,— Fandorin manages to stumble upon andcal unravel figures. a

bent, he thinks, on assassinating key politi

Upon his return to Russia, Fandorin presents his findings to Brilling, who,

(whoseduring their code conversation, word is ‘Azazel’’) reveals and that tries he to is kill a member Fandorin. of In the a daringsecret organizationdisplay of b andravery, reassesses Fandorin the kills situation. Brilling Fandorin (by inadvertently figures out impaling that the secrethim on organization an oak tree) is actually a global conspiracy that is steadily taking over key government positions and traces the organization to a series of orphanages established by the British Lady Ester. Initially convinced that one of her employees is the head

herselfof the organization, who is the mastermind Fandorin eventually behind the realizes conspiracy. that it During is the noblewomantheir

Ester locks herself in a basement room with Fandorin and sets off confrontation, Ester a time bomb. At the last moment, pities the youthful Fandorin, who t out confesses that he is hopelessly in love, and sets him free. Fandorin makes i

Esterin the nick of time as the bomb explodes, eviscerating the basement and Lady suggesting(although that sheher maybody return is never in found,the future only to a wreckpiece of more silk havoc).from her Fandorin dress, has uncovered the c

onspiracy, destroyed its centralized power, and broken up the unknownnetwork of and orphanages, free. yet most of the organization’s members remain

The ambitious Fandorin is decorated and promoted for his role in breaking up the terrorist cabal and is reassigned to St. Petersburg. During the 222

aristocratcourse of the Elizaveta narrative, von FandorinEvert-Kolokoltseva meets and (orfalls Lizan’ka). in love with The the story young ends with

ortant

their wedding, which is attended by Muscovite socialites and imp

politicians. However, at the reception a package is delivered to Fandorin that

turns out to be a bomb. Just after he receives the package, Fandorin happens to

whiteglance- eyedout of ass the window to see the delivery carriage depart, driven by the killing Lizan’ka.assin. The novel As Fandorin ends with races Fandorin after the wandering carriage, the bombstreets explodes, of Moscow

in a comatose state and having acquired he is now his signature ready to embark white temples. on what Fandorin’s will youthful is gone, and

hisbecome life alone a successful (until book career 13). as a police investigator, though he is fated to spend

Turetskii gambit: unmasking the enemy spy

The Russian army is advancing through Bulgaria in June 1877, steadily

defeatingpushing its the way Ottoman towards Empire. the ultimate After fighting goal of conqueringfor the Russian Constantinople cause in Serbia and and

his subsequentaking capture his wayby the to Turks,the Russian Fandorin, army who command has been with released secret from

intelligencecaptivity, is mthat the Turks are preparing to capture the small Bulgarian town of

Plevna in order to slow down the Russian advance. On his way to the Russian

ressive telegraphist Varvara

military camp, Fandorin meets the young, prog 223 Suvorova, who is clandestinely travelling to army headquarters to join her

fiancé, Petr Yablokov. After rescuing Varvara from some Bulgarians ruffiansarmy and

a horde of Turkish raiders, Fandorin and Varvara encounter some Russian

scouts, and are taken to the Russian camp.

is filledBecause with a mixture the Romanian of nationalities army is aidingand a groupthe Russians of international in their war, journalists. the camp

Once Fandorin relays his intelligence to his

superiors, a warning telegram is sent

to military command about the attack. However, an enemy spy in the camp

Russiansmanages tooccupy change the ‘Plevna’ wrong townto ‘Nikopol’ and the in Turks the telegram. manage Consequently,to capture Plevna. the

Fandorin is tasked with discovering the identity of the Turkish spy. As the young

sleuth gathers evidence and narrows down the list- of suspects, he is undercovercontinuously in thwarted the camp by as the the Turkish French journalistspy, Anvar Charlesefendi, d’Hevrais.who is working Suspicion shifts from one suspect to another after each one is killed through Anvar-efendi’s devious plots.

Eventually, Fandorin identifies the spy just as the Russians, under the command of Major General Mikhail Sobolev, a decorated war hero, are poised to

Austriamarch into- Constantinople, a move that would trigger- a war with Britain and would haveHungary. plunged This Russia war, whichinto another was part major of Anvar conflictefendi’s that it plans could all hardly along, have

relegatedafforded, bothRussia in tomonetary the status and of human a second terms,-rate andworld the power conflict for would a long have time.

However, Fandorin manages to avert disaster at the last minute, saves Russia 224

and its army from

a catastrophic move, and stays true to the moral code of serving his country. The novel ends with Varvara and Petr returning to Moscow, diplomaticwhile Fandorin post. embarks on a journey to Japan, where he will take up a

Leviafan: murder on a floating Behemoth

French Inspector Gauche boards the luxury liner Leviafan in the midst of

a major investigation: the murder of Lord Littleby, a British aristocrat who, along sailewith ten of his staff and servants, was killed in Paris a few weeks before the ship

d. Working from a pivotal clue left at the scene of the crime, Gauche upperidentifies- four major suspects on board, and, having isolated them in the ship’s murderer.class Six salon other and people cabins, joi tries to figure out which one of them is the who is sailing to Japan to take nup the a diplomatic small group post of suspects, after his successincluding at Fandorin,solving a spy case in Bulgaria (see Turetskii gambit). During the course of the

Gauche and Fandorin eliminateinvestigation, the suspectsthe murders one continueby one. It tois mount,eventually while revealed that the motive behind the murders concerns an Indian rajah’s treasure of precious gems and a shawl that is the key to finding the fortune. After sorting through a number of

false clues, red herrings, fake identities, and contrived confessions, Fandorin takes over from Gauche, who has managed to get himself- killed. Fandorin solves the mystery, and unmasks the real murderer in a nail biting final scene,

225

complete with gunshots a

the denouement. nd a grandfather clock, which plays a decisive role in

Smert’ Akhillesa: Fandorin unravels a tangled web

Collegiate Assessor Fandorin returns to Moscow with his devoted

mostly

Japanese manservant, Masa, in tow after living abroad for six years,

thrownworking into for thea mystery. Russian Hero diplomatic of the recent mission Russo in Japan,-Turkish to find war himself and national immediately idol

apparentGeneral Mikhail hea Sobolev, who was in excellent health, has died suddenly of an

rt attack in his hotel armchair. But Fandorin, who knew Sobolev ofintimately natural causes. during Initiallythe Bulgarian skeptical campaign, about the suspects story toldthat bythe the general general’s did notloyal die circle of guards and advisors

Moscow’s Governor General Prince, Fandorin Vladimir expresses Dolgorukoi his doubts puts to Fandorin the police. on the

discoverscase and makes that Sobolev him a deputy actually for died special in the assignments. arms of a lounge In time, sin Fandorin

ger, information andthat, posthumous if leaked to the memory. press, Aswould Fandorin do irreparable reconstructs harm the to events Sobolev’s leading reputation up to

chanteuse internSobolev’sational death conspiracy and interviews against Vanda, Sobolev the that voluptuous includes German secret, he discovers agents. an

Just as the police think they have solved the case after the German agent

aboutHerr Knabe a missing is mysteriously briefcase full killed, of money Sobolev’s that hasfiancée disappeared appears andfrom tells the Fandoringeneral’s

226

ishotel revealed room. that In a Sobolevscenario is similar the leader to events of a new in Russia nationalist and Europe political in movement the 2000s, it

-European thatpath envisionsfor Russia. a HisRussia group for hasRussians, been plotting a united a Slavicmilitary world, putsch and that a non would oust the current regime of Alexander III and establish a new Russia.

severalAs high Fandorin- goes in search of the missing briefcase, he discovers that

ranking officials in the police force, including the head of the secret police, have succumbed to greed and plan to steal the money. He exposes them butand, Fandorin with this issatisfactory no solution, the police think that the mystery is solved, various aspects of tthe convinced. case. His Workinginvestigation unofficially, leads to he the continues conclusion to followthat a up on

counter conspiracy had formed against Sobolev,hat a an aggressiveand the general’s Russia powerfulunder a

Sobolevopponents government had ‘taken would him out,’ spark fearing a war t with Germany and Austria- which would be catastrophic for Russia. Hungary,

Eventually, Fandorin’s investigationhired leads by him the to Tsar’s the hotel brother room to of remove

Akhimas, a professional assassin who was - eyedthe Sobolev man is threatthe person to the responsible throne. Fandorin for his realizeswife’s death. that thisDuring tall, a blond, dramatic white fight in which Fandorin displays his newly developed ninja ski kills Akhimas. Thus Fandorin not only removes a threat tolls, Russia the Russian (Akhimas sleuth had

killed the country’s national hero), but also finds a kind of justice in killing the names the man responsible for his wife’s death. Before he dies, Akhimas reveals 227

of the people behind the conspiracy and Fandorin realizes just how high up the

corruption goes. Fearing for his life, Fandorin plans, with Masa, to flee Russia, a

Frcountry that has betrayed him. At the last minute, however, they are stopped by

ol, Dolgorukoi’s loyal servant, who tells the duo that Moscow’s Governor

FandorinGeneral, and is no Fandorin’s longer in newdanger protector, of arrest. has smoothed everything over and that

228