Erast Fandorin
Encyclopedia
Erast Petrovich Fandorin is a fictional 19th-century Russian detective
and the hero of a series of Russian historical detective novels by Boris Akunin
. The first novel was published in Russia in 1998, and the latest was published in December 2009. More than 15 million copies of Fandorin novels have been sold as of May 2006, even though the novels were freely available from many Russian web-sites and the hard-copies were relatively expensive by Russian standards. New books in the Fandorin series typically sell over 200,000 copies in the first week alone, with an unparalleled (for mystery novels) first edition of 50,000 copies for the first books to 500,000 copies for the last. In Russia, the Fandorin series rivals The Lord of the Rings
or Harry Potter
in popularity. The English translations of the novels have been critically acclaimed by, among others, Ruth Rendell
.
, detective novels enjoyed mass popularity. Although they were seen as a "low genre" by the communist officials, both local (such as Vayner brothers and Julian Semenov), and foreign detective novels have always been avidly coveted.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many trashy detective novels were published that featured a lot of gore and sex. Akunin's wife, in common with many other Russians, started to enjoy reading this genre of literature. However, she did not want to be seen reading the novels and she always wrapped them in brown paper to prevent people from seeing what she was reading. This inspired Akunin to create a detective novel which nobody would be ashamed to be caught reading, something between the literature of Leo Tolstoy
and Fyodor Dostoevsky
and the pulp of modern Russian detective novels.
He set out to write a cycle about Fandorin with an exploration of every subgenre of the detective novel in mind, from spies to serial killers. In addition, he wanted to address different types of human character in his books. As Akunin identified sixteen subgenres of crime novels, as well as sixteen character types, the novels in the Erast Fandorin series will ultimately number sixteen. As of December 2009, thirteen novels have been published in Russia. The series is titled (New detective, or New Mystery). This title serves to set the novels apart from the postmodernist intellectual novels as well as from the trashy detective novels, but it is also a subtle play on the use of time in the novels.
Akunin uses many historical settings for his novels. He uses the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire as background for the novel The Turkish Gambit; the death of the "White General" Mikhail Skobelev
(as 'Mikhail Sobolev') in The Death of Achilles; and the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II
and the Khodynka Tragedy
for Coronation, or the Last of the Romanovs. Akunin uses the gaps in the knowledge of these histories to create an atmosphere for his mystery novels to which readers can relate.
how Erast Fandorin was orphaned at the age of nineteen. He never knew his mother, and his father died bankrupt, leaving only debts. Fandorin had to abandon his education at Moscow University and was forced to enter the police force as a clerk. Since the events in The Winter Queen take place in the spring of 1876 (when Akunin says Fandorin is twenty), this places his birth some time in the year 1856. Further hints at Fandorin's ancestry are given in another novel, Altyn Tolobas, one of four novels set in the present day and featuring Fandorin's grandson Nicholas, where Akunin writes of how Captain Cornelius von Dorn, a German
hussar
, entered Russia in ca. 1680. Erast Fandorin represents the 8th generation counting from Cornelius, the German name von Dorn having been Russified to Fandorin in the 18th century.
In The Winter Queen, Fandorin falls in love with a seventeen-year-old girl, Elizaveta, whom he meets while he is investigating his first case. On their wedding day, she was killed by a bomb in a package addressed to Fandorin himself. At the time of the explosion, Fandorin was out pursuing the person who delivered the bomb and thus miraculously escaped without physical harm. The trauma of losing his bride leads to a lifelong slight stammer in Fandorin and a premature greyness at the temples.
In The Turkish Gambit
, Fandorin is charged with the capture of a Turkish spy during the war between Russia and the Ottoman empire
. Upon his return, he requests to be stationed in a remote post, and becomes second secretary to the Russian ambassador in Japan. His adventures in Japan are detailed in the second part of The Diamond Chariot
and in Jade Rosary Beads. In Japan, he saves the life of the fallen yakuza
Masa, who becomes his manservant as a token of gratitude. He learns martial arts, including ninjutsu
, and trains in them every day with Masa. In The Death of Achilles
Akunin describes how Fandorin returns to Russia, only to find his old friend General Mikhail Sobolev
murdered. Fandorin enters the service of The Governor-General of Moscow, Knyaz
Dolgoruki (a fictionalized version of Vladimir Dolgorukov).
Fandorin rises from the rank of Collegiate Registrar to that of Collegiate Counsellor over the years 1876 to 1891 (ranks XIV and VI in the Table of Ranks, respectively).
In The State Counsellor, set in 1891, Fandorin is accused of the attempted murder of the Governor of Moscow. After he clears his name, Fandorin is offered the job of Oberpolizeimeister but declines, instead resigning from public service and becoming a private investigator. He then leaves for America, studying engineering at M.I.T.
, in 1895, as told in Jade Rosary Beads. In The Coronation, Fandorin returns to Russia in time to prevent an international scandal from occurring during the coronation of Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia
in 1896. In 1905, Fandorin protects the Trans-Siberian Railway
from Japanese saboteurs during the Russo-Japanese War
.
Allusions to the fate of Fandorin are made in Altyn Tolobas. Late in life Fandorin marries again and has at least one son, Alexander, who is born in exile in London in 1920, his mother having left Russia in 1919 while pregnant, which implies that Erast Fandorin died in that year in the turmoils of the Russian Civil War
. Alexander's son, Nicholas Fandorin, is born around 1960.
almost overnight, as described in The Winter Queen. It also caused him to stammer, but this tends to diminish as tensions rise. Fandorin is always impeccably groomed and can be vain about his appearance; in The Winter Queen he wears a corset to improve his figure. He is a gifted linguist; in various novels he speaks English, French, German and Japanese with fluency, as well as a working knowledge of both Serbian and Turkish in The Turkish Gambit.
In every novel, Fandorin is described as a master of disguise, which he uses to infiltrate criminal hideouts and in stakeouts. When he is disguised, he does not stammer at all. In The Coronation, Fandorin explains that this is because he always takes on the personality of the disguise, which often requires that he should not stammer. In The Winter Queen, he learns to present evidence by making a list: "That is one. That is two. And that is three". He is brave and determined, and has to kill several men during his investigative career, but he is still sickened by the sight of blood. While in Japan, he learns the art of the ninja
s (or "silent ones", as they are referred to in the novels). He is physically fit and athletic. In his later years, Fandorin becomes an enthusiast of the newly invented automobile.
Fandorin is exceptionally lucky, a common trait in the Fandorin family that skips every other generation; allusions to this character trait appear in every novel. He never loses a bet, and wins at all sports. He has however lost the appetite for gambling, as it soon became boring. He can be popular with the opposite sex, partly because he still mourns the loss of his first wife - this sadness seems to attract women.
, from whom Fandorin inherits his sense of duty: "To serve the cause, not the individuals". Other heroes Erast Fandorin is based upon are Andrei Bolkonski (from Leo Tolstoy
's War and Peace
), Prince Myshkin
(from Fyodor Dostoevsky
's The Idiot
) and Pechorin (from Mikhail Lermontov
's A Hero of Our Time
).
Akunin said he "plots along the line of Kazuo Ishiguro
's Remains of the Day". The orphaned urchin Senka, the narrator of The Lover of Death, is clearly based upon Oliver Twist
(also pointed out by the subtitle of that novel: a Dickensian
story). The entire first volume of The Diamond Chariot
is an allusion to Alexander Kuprin's Junior Captain Rybnikov, and the opening sentence of The Winter Queen
is a clear reference to Mikhail Bulgakov
's The Master and Margarita
. A more subtle allusion exists to Leo Tolstoy
's Anna Karenina
, as the novel The Winter Queen starts with a suicide in 1876, exactly the same year in which Anna throws herself under a train. Another allusion to Anna Karenina can be found in The Jack of Spades, where Fandorin's current girlfriend, who is married to another man, has the same patronymic
(Arkadievna) as Anna Karenina herself. In Murder on the Leviathan
, one of the newspaper fragments is signed by G. du Roy, an allusion to the journalist Georges Duroy from Guy de Maupassant
's Bel Ami
.
In The Death of Achilles
the hired killer Achimas is mentioned as having been secretly hired by the Italian government to kill an anarchist nicknamed "The Jackal" who plans to kill King Umberto
- yet Achimas himself bears considerable similarity to the hired killer nicknamed "The Jackal" who plans to kill Charles de Gaulle
in Frederick Forsyth
's "The Day of the Jackal
".
Furthermore, Achimas' lifestory mirrors that of the Iliad
's Achilles
and the events described in the second part of the novel allude to Homer
's work.
Akunin's stated goal in creating the Fandorin series was to try as many approaches to detective fiction
as possible.
ed, enters civil service as a clerk in the Criminal Investigations Department of the Moscow Police. While investigating a scandalous but, seemingly, quite straightforward case of public suicide by a rich young man, Fandorin uncovers a powerful and terrible conspiracy.
, 1877. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877
, an encrypted message is mysteriously altered, leading to strategic gains by the Turks. Fandorin, an agent of the Third Section (Russia's secret police), is ordered to find the Turkish spy before more damage to the Russian cause is done.
, 1878. A terrible mass murder is committed in Paris
and clues lead "Papa" Gauche, a French police inspector on board the British steamship Leviathan, sailing from Southampton
to Calcutta. Fandorin, now a diplomat newly appointed to a post in Japan, is one of the passengers. Will Gauche's experience and Fandorin's talents be enough to uncover the killer?
, 1882. After four years of diplomatic service in Japan, Fandorin returns to Moscow with his Japanese manservant Masa. He arrives just in time to hear about the premature death of war hero Mikhail Sobolev, who apparently suffered heart failure in his hotel room. Fandorin, who has just assumed the post of the Governor-General's Deputy for Special Assignments, is very suspicious of the circumstances of Sobolev's death. Before long, his investigation will lead him to another quite extraordinary man.
s, The Jack of Spades (Russian: Пиковый валет) and The Decorator (Russian: Декоратор). They both deal with Fandorin's service as the Deputy for Special Assignments (hence the name) for the Moscow Governor-General Prince Dolgorukoi. In "The Jack of Spades", set in 1886 Moscow, Fandorin and his assistant Tulipov pursue a crafty con man
who has successfully tricked the Governor-General himself. In "The Decorator", set in 1889 Moscow, Fandorin and Tulipov chase a serial killer who might be Jack the Ripper
himself.
, Prince Dolgorukoi's career is put into grave danger. After Fandorin is cleared, he attempts to pursue the Combat Group and its leader Mr. Green, an extremely tough and resourceful man. Police official Prince Pozharsky, dispatched from St. Petersburg, takes over the case and proves to be quite a talented man in his own right. Pushed aside, Fandorin must find a way to rescue his boss' reputation.
of Tsar
Nicholas II
. However, Nicholas' 4-year-old cousin Mikhail is abducted and the kidnapper demands a diamond
from the royal sceptre
as ransom. The absence of the diamond in the sceptre would create an international scandal. The kidnappers are a world-famous gang headed by mysterious international supercriminal Dr. Lind. Erast Fandorin, now a private detective, has been tracking Lind from America to Russia and is ready to offer his assistance to the royal family.
club. The action takes place contemporaneously with the events of He Lover of Death. It is told from the point of view of "Colombina", a Moscow debutante
from Irkutsk
, whose attraction to decadent literature and a sentimental nature may prove to be fatal. The theme of the novel is an allusion to Robert Louis Stevenson
's short-story cycle The Suicide Club
.
slums, who has gotten himself mixed up in very dangerous criminal activity. Fandorin and Masa, in Moscow investigating the suicide club, offer their assistance to the reluctant Senka.
of 1905, Fandorin, in charge of protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway
from sabotage, is tracking down a Japanese agent. In the second part, set in 1878, Fandorin's arrival in Yokohama
and his adventures there are recounted. Upon entering diplomatic service, he is immediately mixed up into a political assassination plot and crosses a clan of ninja
s. In a way that does not become apparent until the end, this story is related to the first part of the novel.
The title Алмазная Колесница ("Diamond Vehicle") refers to the Kongōjō
school of Tantric Buddhism. The first part is structured as a haiku
, with each chapter taking the place of a syllable, while the second part is meant to serve as a "meaning between the lines" of the haiku.
Each short story and novella is dedicated to a different author and includes allusions to that author's works. The plots of the short stories in this volume are as follows:
The short stories are followed by three novellas.
is an original play featuring Fandorin. Subtitled A theatrical experiment, it features both a "white version" and a "black version". When a wealthy man dies, Fandorin is brought in to clarify some points of the will. After the murder of several characters, Fandorin (assisted by his manservant Masa) needs his sleuthing skills once more. The black version leads to a diametrically opposed result to that of the white version, due to some minor changes in evidence found in the beginning of the play. This play is notable for the comic element introduced by Masa's limited knowledge of Russian—he has begun copying out words from the dictionary but so far has gotten only to the letter "D". The play was commissioned by director Aleksey Borodin.
. As of 2011 all the Fandorin novels through The Diamond Chariot have been translated into English. Random House
, the American publisher, published only the first four novels. The British publisher is Weidenfeld & Nicolson, a division of Orion Publishing. The fate of future novels is uncertain; Orion Publishing is referring to The Diamond Chariot as the "finale" to the series.
Each of the first three translated novels have sold over 50,000 copies in the UK alone. The Winter Queen
has been described as the possible result if Aleksandr Pushkin
had written mystery novels, and Andrew Bromfield
was lauded as one of England's finest translators from Russian. Critics were also very favorable about Murder on the Leviathan
, but less so about The Turkish Gambit
, which offers a far slower pace than The Winter Queen. The Death of Achilles
has again been received very positively.
The first ten novels have been translated into German, with the eleventh due in October 2006. Dutch
publisher De Geus has completed its announced translations of the first seven novels. Translations for the other novels have not yet been announced. In Italian and French, the first 8 novels have been translated. The first eight novels have been translated in Norwegian. The whole cycle has been translated into Polish by Jerzy Czech and have been published successively since 2003 by Świat Książki (World of Books) Publishing. All the novels have been translated into Bulgarian.
in 2003 by Alexander Adabashyan, and has also been adapted for the stage
in Russia. Reviews of the play have not been very favorable and have called it long, windy, talky and situational, or entertaining but plodding.
In 2005, two further Fandorin novels, The Turkish Gambit and The Councillor of State, were made into big-budget movies by Dzhanik Faiziyev and Filip Yankovsky respectively. The adaptation of The Turkish Gambit set a new box office
record in Russia of 19.23 million USD, beating The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
by more than 5 million USD. It was met by criticism from the Russian military, who said the film stains the memory of general Mikhail Skobelev
. The Turkish Gambit won three Golden Eagle Award
s (best art design, best costume design and best film editing), while The Councillor of State won two awards (best leading actor for Nikita Mikhalkov
and best supporting actor for Konstantin Khabensky
).
Ying and Yan
has also been performed on stage in Russia, with both versions performed back-to-back on two consecutive days. They met with critical acclaim. Prior to September 2006, all Erast Fandorin films, plays and television programs have been made in Russian only.
The Winter Queen
has also been adapted as a comic strip
by Aleksey Kuzmichev.
Paul Verhoeven owns the rights to a future English-language film version of The Winter Queen. Filming was scheduled to start in July 2007, with Milla Jovovich
as the female lead actress, but was postponed due to Jovovich's pregnancy. The film has been rescheduled for 2010, with Jovovich, Anton Yelchin
cast as Erast Fandorin, and Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk
replacing Verhoeven, who is producing.
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
and the hero of a series of Russian historical detective novels by Boris Akunin
Boris Akunin
Boris Akunin is the pen name of Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili , a Russian writer. He is an essayist, literary translator and writer of detective fiction.-Life and career:...
. The first novel was published in Russia in 1998, and the latest was published in December 2009. More than 15 million copies of Fandorin novels have been sold as of May 2006, even though the novels were freely available from many Russian web-sites and the hard-copies were relatively expensive by Russian standards. New books in the Fandorin series typically sell over 200,000 copies in the first week alone, with an unparalleled (for mystery novels) first edition of 50,000 copies for the first books to 500,000 copies for the last. In Russia, the Fandorin series rivals The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
or Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
in popularity. The English translations of the novels have been critically acclaimed by, among others, Ruth Rendell
Ruth Rendell
Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE, , who also writes under the pseudonym Barbara Vine, is an English crime writer, author of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries....
.
Concept of the series
In the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, detective novels enjoyed mass popularity. Although they were seen as a "low genre" by the communist officials, both local (such as Vayner brothers and Julian Semenov), and foreign detective novels have always been avidly coveted.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many trashy detective novels were published that featured a lot of gore and sex. Akunin's wife, in common with many other Russians, started to enjoy reading this genre of literature. However, she did not want to be seen reading the novels and she always wrapped them in brown paper to prevent people from seeing what she was reading. This inspired Akunin to create a detective novel which nobody would be ashamed to be caught reading, something between the literature of Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
and Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
and the pulp of modern Russian detective novels.
He set out to write a cycle about Fandorin with an exploration of every subgenre of the detective novel in mind, from spies to serial killers. In addition, he wanted to address different types of human character in his books. As Akunin identified sixteen subgenres of crime novels, as well as sixteen character types, the novels in the Erast Fandorin series will ultimately number sixteen. As of December 2009, thirteen novels have been published in Russia. The series is titled (New detective, or New Mystery). This title serves to set the novels apart from the postmodernist intellectual novels as well as from the trashy detective novels, but it is also a subtle play on the use of time in the novels.
Akunin uses many historical settings for his novels. He uses the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire as background for the novel The Turkish Gambit; the death of the "White General" Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev was a Russian general famous for his conquest of Central Asia and heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Dressed in white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the "White...
(as 'Mikhail Sobolev') in The Death of Achilles; and the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
and the Khodynka Tragedy
Khodynka Tragedy
The Khodynka Tragedy was a mass panic that occurred on , on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities following the coronation of the last Russian emperor Nicholas II, which resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people.- The events :...
for Coronation, or the Last of the Romanovs. Akunin uses the gaps in the knowledge of these histories to create an atmosphere for his mystery novels to which readers can relate.
Biography and career
Akunin describes in The Winter QueenThe Winter Queen (novel)
The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin...
how Erast Fandorin was orphaned at the age of nineteen. He never knew his mother, and his father died bankrupt, leaving only debts. Fandorin had to abandon his education at Moscow University and was forced to enter the police force as a clerk. Since the events in The Winter Queen take place in the spring of 1876 (when Akunin says Fandorin is twenty), this places his birth some time in the year 1856. Further hints at Fandorin's ancestry are given in another novel, Altyn Tolobas, one of four novels set in the present day and featuring Fandorin's grandson Nicholas, where Akunin writes of how Captain Cornelius von Dorn, a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
, entered Russia in ca. 1680. Erast Fandorin represents the 8th generation counting from Cornelius, the German name von Dorn having been Russified to Fandorin in the 18th century.
In The Winter Queen, Fandorin falls in love with a seventeen-year-old girl, Elizaveta, whom he meets while he is investigating his first case. On their wedding day, she was killed by a bomb in a package addressed to Fandorin himself. At the time of the explosion, Fandorin was out pursuing the person who delivered the bomb and thus miraculously escaped without physical harm. The trauma of losing his bride leads to a lifelong slight stammer in Fandorin and a premature greyness at the temples.
In The Turkish Gambit
The Turkish Gambit
The Turkish Gambit is the second novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels by Russian author Boris Akunin. It was published in Russia in 1998...
, Fandorin is charged with the capture of a Turkish spy during the war between Russia and the Ottoman empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Upon his return, he requests to be stationed in a remote post, and becomes second secretary to the Russian ambassador in Japan. His adventures in Japan are detailed in the second part of The Diamond Chariot
The Diamond Chariot
The Diamond Chariot school of Tantric Buddhism) is a historical mystery novel by internationally acclaimed Russian detective story writer Boris Akunin, published originally in 2003. It is the tenth novel in Akunin's Erast Fandorin series of detective novels...
and in Jade Rosary Beads. In Japan, he saves the life of the fallen yakuza
Yakuza
, also known as , are members of traditional organized crime syndicates in Japan. The Japanese police, and media by request of the police, call them bōryokudan , literally "violence group", while the yakuza call themselves "ninkyō dantai" , "chivalrous organizations". The yakuza are notoriously...
Masa, who becomes his manservant as a token of gratitude. He learns martial arts, including ninjutsu
Ninjutsu
or may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...
, and trains in them every day with Masa. In The Death of Achilles
The Death of Achilles
The Death of Achilles is the fourth novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin. Its subtitle is детектив о наемном убийце . It was originally published in Russian in 1998; the English translation was released in 2006.-Plot:Moscow, 1882...
Akunin describes how Fandorin returns to Russia, only to find his old friend General Mikhail Sobolev
Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev was a Russian general famous for his conquest of Central Asia and heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Dressed in white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the "White...
murdered. Fandorin enters the service of The Governor-General of Moscow, Knyaz
Knyaz
Kniaz, knyaz or knez is a Slavic title found in most Slavic languages, denoting a royal nobility rank. It is usually translated into English as either Prince or less commonly as Duke....
Dolgoruki (a fictionalized version of Vladimir Dolgorukov).
Fandorin rises from the rank of Collegiate Registrar to that of Collegiate Counsellor over the years 1876 to 1891 (ranks XIV and VI in the Table of Ranks, respectively).
In The State Counsellor, set in 1891, Fandorin is accused of the attempted murder of the Governor of Moscow. After he clears his name, Fandorin is offered the job of Oberpolizeimeister but declines, instead resigning from public service and becoming a private investigator. He then leaves for America, studying engineering at M.I.T.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, in 1895, as told in Jade Rosary Beads. In The Coronation, Fandorin returns to Russia in time to prevent an international scandal from occurring during the coronation of Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
in 1896. In 1905, Fandorin protects the Trans-Siberian Railway
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...
from Japanese saboteurs during the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
.
Allusions to the fate of Fandorin are made in Altyn Tolobas. Late in life Fandorin marries again and has at least one son, Alexander, who is born in exile in London in 1920, his mother having left Russia in 1919 while pregnant, which implies that Erast Fandorin died in that year in the turmoils of the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
. Alexander's son, Nicholas Fandorin, is born around 1960.
Physical appearance and other characteristics
Boris Akunin provides the reader with a vivid portrait of Erast Fandorin. Fandorin is of average height, with a thin build. He has a small moustache, blue eyes and black hair. The death of his wife caused his hair to turn grey at the templesTemple (anatomy)
Temple indicates the side of the head behind the eyes. The bone beneath is the temporal bone as well as part of the sphenoid bone.-Anatomy:Cladists classify land vertebrates based on the presence of an upper hole, a lower hole, both, or neither in the cover of dermal bone which formerly covered the...
almost overnight, as described in The Winter Queen. It also caused him to stammer, but this tends to diminish as tensions rise. Fandorin is always impeccably groomed and can be vain about his appearance; in The Winter Queen he wears a corset to improve his figure. He is a gifted linguist; in various novels he speaks English, French, German and Japanese with fluency, as well as a working knowledge of both Serbian and Turkish in The Turkish Gambit.
In every novel, Fandorin is described as a master of disguise, which he uses to infiltrate criminal hideouts and in stakeouts. When he is disguised, he does not stammer at all. In The Coronation, Fandorin explains that this is because he always takes on the personality of the disguise, which often requires that he should not stammer. In The Winter Queen, he learns to present evidence by making a list: "That is one. That is two. And that is three". He is brave and determined, and has to kill several men during his investigative career, but he is still sickened by the sight of blood. While in Japan, he learns the art of the ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
s (or "silent ones", as they are referred to in the novels). He is physically fit and athletic. In his later years, Fandorin becomes an enthusiast of the newly invented automobile.
Fandorin is exceptionally lucky, a common trait in the Fandorin family that skips every other generation; allusions to this character trait appear in every novel. He never loses a bet, and wins at all sports. He has however lost the appetite for gambling, as it soon became boring. He can be popular with the opposite sex, partly because he still mourns the loss of his first wife - this sadness seems to attract women.
Allusions and references to other works
According to Akunin, he mixed several of the most sympathetic heroes of Russian literature to form the Erast Fandorin character. One of these heroes is Chatsky from Alexander Griboyedov's Woe from WitWoe from Wit
Woe from Wit is Alexander Griboyedov's comedy in verse, satirizing the society of post-Napoleonic Moscow, or, as a high official in the play styled it, "a pasquinade on Moscow."The play, written in 1823 in the countryside and in Tiflis, was not passed by the censorship for the stage, and...
, from whom Fandorin inherits his sense of duty: "To serve the cause, not the individuals". Other heroes Erast Fandorin is based upon are Andrei Bolkonski (from Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's War and Peace
War and Peace
War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature...
), Prince Myshkin
Prince Myshkin
Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin is the protagonist of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's The Idiot.Dostoyevsky wanted to create a character that was "entirely positive... with an absolutely beautiful nature," and a good way to make such a character plausible in 19th century St Petersburg society was to make him...
(from Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
's The Idiot
The Idiot (novel)
The Idiot is a novel written by 19th century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published serially in The Russian Messenger between 1868 and 1869. The Idiot is ranked beside some of Dostoyevsky's other works as one of the most brilliant literary achievements of the "Golden Age" of...
) and Pechorin (from Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
's A Hero of Our Time
A Hero of Our Time
A Hero of Our Time is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839 and revised in 1841. It is an example of the superfluous man novel, noted for its compelling Byronic hero Pechorin and for the beautiful descriptions of the Caucasus...
).
Akunin said he "plots along the line of Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro OBE or ; born 8 November 1954) is a Japanese–English novelist. He was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and his family moved to England in 1960. Ishiguro obtained his Bachelor's degree from University of Kent in 1978 and his Master's from the University of East Anglia's creative writing...
's Remains of the Day". The orphaned urchin Senka, the narrator of The Lover of Death, is clearly based upon Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
(also pointed out by the subtitle of that novel: a Dickensian
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
story). The entire first volume of The Diamond Chariot
The Diamond Chariot
The Diamond Chariot school of Tantric Buddhism) is a historical mystery novel by internationally acclaimed Russian detective story writer Boris Akunin, published originally in 2003. It is the tenth novel in Akunin's Erast Fandorin series of detective novels...
is an allusion to Alexander Kuprin's Junior Captain Rybnikov, and the opening sentence of The Winter Queen
The Winter Queen (novel)
The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin...
is a clear reference to Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhaíl Afanásyevich Bulgákov was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.-Biography:Mikhail Bulgakov was born on...
's The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita
The Master and Margarita is a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, woven around the premise of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, and one of the foremost Soviet satires, directed against a...
. A more subtle allusion exists to Leo Tolstoy
Leo Tolstoy
Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist...
's Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, published in serial installments from 1873 to 1877 in the periodical The Russian Messenger...
, as the novel The Winter Queen starts with a suicide in 1876, exactly the same year in which Anna throws herself under a train. Another allusion to Anna Karenina can be found in The Jack of Spades, where Fandorin's current girlfriend, who is married to another man, has the same patronymic
Patronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
(Arkadievna) as Anna Karenina herself. In Murder on the Leviathan
Murder on the Leviathan
Murder on the Leviathan is the third novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin, although it was the second book in the series to be translated into English. Its subtitle is герметический детектив...
, one of the newspaper fragments is signed by G. du Roy, an allusion to the journalist Georges Duroy from Guy de Maupassant
Guy de Maupassant
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular 19th-century French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents....
's Bel Ami
Bel Ami
Bel Ami is French author Guy de Maupassant's second novel, published in 1885. An English translation titled Bel ami, or, The history of a scoundrel: a novel appeared in 1903....
.
In The Death of Achilles
The Death of Achilles
The Death of Achilles is the fourth novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin. Its subtitle is детектив о наемном убийце . It was originally published in Russian in 1998; the English translation was released in 2006.-Plot:Moscow, 1882...
the hired killer Achimas is mentioned as having been secretly hired by the Italian government to kill an anarchist nicknamed "The Jackal" who plans to kill King Umberto
Umberto
-Given name:* King Umberto I of Italy * King Umberto II of Italy * Umberto I, Count of Savoy * Umberto II, Count of Savoy * Umberto III, Count of Savoy * Prince Umberto of Bulgaria...
- yet Achimas himself bears considerable similarity to the hired killer nicknamed "The Jackal" who plans to kill Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
in Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
's "The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the Jackal is a thriller novel by English writer Frederick Forsyth, about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French terrorist group of the early 1960s, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France....
".
Furthermore, Achimas' lifestory mirrors that of the Iliad
Iliad
The Iliad is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters, traditionally attributed to Homer. Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles...
's Achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
and the events described in the second part of the novel allude to Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
's work.
Novels
| English title | Russian title | Russian original publication | English translation | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Winter Queen The Winter Queen (novel) The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin... |
(Azazel) | 1998 | 2003 | Conspiracy Conspiracy (political) In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination.... mystery |
| The Turkish Gambit The Turkish Gambit The Turkish Gambit is the second novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels by Russian author Boris Akunin. It was published in Russia in 1998... |
1998 | 2005 | Spy Espionage Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it... novel |
|
| Murder on the Leviathan Murder on the Leviathan Murder on the Leviathan is the third novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin, although it was the second book in the series to be translated into English. Its subtitle is герметический детектив... |
(Leviathan) | 1998 | 2004 | Agatha Christie Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to... -type mystery |
| The Death of Achilles The Death of Achilles The Death of Achilles is the fourth novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin. Its subtitle is детектив о наемном убийце . It was originally published in Russian in 1998; the English translation was released in 2006.-Plot:Moscow, 1882... |
1998 | 2005 | Hired killer Assassination To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be... mystery |
|
| Special Assignments Special Assignments Special Assignments: The Further Adventures of Erast Fandorin is a book by Russian author Boris Akunin, published in 2007. The book contains two novellas featuring his character Erast Fandorin: The Jack of Spades and The Decorator... |
1999 | 2007 | Comical adventure/gory thriller | |
| The State Counsellor | 2000 | 2009 | Political Politics Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the... mystery |
|
| The Coronation | (Coronation, or the Last of the Romanovs/novels (polysemantic)) | 2000 | 2009 | High society Upper class In social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :... mystery |
| She Lover of Death | (Mistress of Death) | 2001 | 2009 | Decadent Decadence Decadence can refer to a personal trait, or to the state of a society . Used to describe a person's lifestyle. Concise Oxford Dictionary: "a luxurious self-indulgence"... mystery |
| He Lover of Death | (Lover of Death) | 2001 | 2010 | Dickensian Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic... mystery |
| The Diamond Chariot The Diamond Chariot The Diamond Chariot school of Tantric Buddhism) is a historical mystery novel by internationally acclaimed Russian detective story writer Boris Akunin, published originally in 2003. It is the tenth novel in Akunin's Erast Fandorin series of detective novels... |
2003 | Planned for 2011 | Ethnographic Ethnography Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group... mystery |
|
| Jade Rosary Beads | 2006 | Different for each story in collection | ||
| All the World's a Stage | 2009 | Theatrical mystery |
Akunin's stated goal in creating the Fandorin series was to try as many approaches to detective fiction
Detective fiction
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator , either professional or amateur, investigates a crime, often murder.-In ancient literature:...
as possible.
The Winter Queen
Moscow, 1876. The 20-year-old Erast Fandorin, recently orphanOrphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
ed, enters civil service as a clerk in the Criminal Investigations Department of the Moscow Police. While investigating a scandalous but, seemingly, quite straightforward case of public suicide by a rich young man, Fandorin uncovers a powerful and terrible conspiracy.
The Turkish Gambit
PlevenPleven
Pleven is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality...
, 1877. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877
Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Eastern Orthodox coalition led by the Russian Empire and composed of numerous Balkan...
, an encrypted message is mysteriously altered, leading to strategic gains by the Turks. Fandorin, an agent of the Third Section (Russia's secret police), is ordered to find the Turkish spy before more damage to the Russian cause is done.
Murder on the Leviathan
Red SeaRed Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
, 1878. A terrible mass murder is committed in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and clues lead "Papa" Gauche, a French police inspector on board the British steamship Leviathan, sailing from Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
to Calcutta. Fandorin, now a diplomat newly appointed to a post in Japan, is one of the passengers. Will Gauche's experience and Fandorin's talents be enough to uncover the killer?
The Death of Achilles
MoscowMoscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, 1882. After four years of diplomatic service in Japan, Fandorin returns to Moscow with his Japanese manservant Masa. He arrives just in time to hear about the premature death of war hero Mikhail Sobolev, who apparently suffered heart failure in his hotel room. Fandorin, who has just assumed the post of the Governor-General's Deputy for Special Assignments, is very suspicious of the circumstances of Sobolev's death. Before long, his investigation will lead him to another quite extraordinary man.
Special Assignments
Special Assignments (Russian: Особые поручения) is a single volume containing two different novellaNovella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
s, The Jack of Spades (Russian: Пиковый валет) and The Decorator (Russian: Декоратор). They both deal with Fandorin's service as the Deputy for Special Assignments (hence the name) for the Moscow Governor-General Prince Dolgorukoi. In "The Jack of Spades", set in 1886 Moscow, Fandorin and his assistant Tulipov pursue a crafty con man
Confidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
who has successfully tricked the Governor-General himself. In "The Decorator", set in 1889 Moscow, Fandorin and Tulipov chase a serial killer who might be Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper
"Jack the Ripper" is the best-known name given to an unidentified serial killer who was active in the largely impoverished areas in and around the Whitechapel district of London in 1888. The name originated in a letter, written by someone claiming to be the murderer, that was disseminated in the...
himself.
The State Counsellor
Moscow, 1891. Disguised as Fandorin, the leader of a revolutionary Combat Group murders a reactionary general. The attack having occurred in Moscow ProvinceMoscow Province
Moscow Province refers to:*Moscow Oblast, a federal subject of Russia*Moscow Governorate, an administrative division of the Russian Empire...
, Prince Dolgorukoi's career is put into grave danger. After Fandorin is cleared, he attempts to pursue the Combat Group and its leader Mr. Green, an extremely tough and resourceful man. Police official Prince Pozharsky, dispatched from St. Petersburg, takes over the case and proves to be quite a talented man in his own right. Pushed aside, Fandorin must find a way to rescue his boss' reputation.
The Coronation
Moscow, May 1896. The imperial family moves to Moscow for the coronationCoronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of Tsar
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
Nicholas II
Nicholas II of Russia
Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Prince of Finland, and titular King of Poland. His official short title was Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias and he is known as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer by the Russian Orthodox Church.Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until...
. However, Nicholas' 4-year-old cousin Mikhail is abducted and the kidnapper demands a diamond
Diamond (gemstone)
A diamond is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones...
from the royal sceptre
Sceptre
A sceptre is a symbolic ornamental rod or wand borne in the hand by a ruling monarch as an item of royal or imperial insignia.-Antiquity:...
as ransom. The absence of the diamond in the sceptre would create an international scandal. The kidnappers are a world-famous gang headed by mysterious international supercriminal Dr. Lind. Erast Fandorin, now a private detective, has been tracking Lind from America to Russia and is ready to offer his assistance to the royal family.
She Lover of Death
Moscow, 1900. Fandorin deals with a suicideSuicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
club. The action takes place contemporaneously with the events of He Lover of Death. It is told from the point of view of "Colombina", a Moscow debutante
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
from Irkutsk
Irkutsk
Irkutsk is a city and the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, one of the largest cities in Siberia. Population: .-History:In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for the collection of fur taxes from the Buryats. In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov...
, whose attraction to decadent literature and a sentimental nature may prove to be fatal. The theme of the novel is an allusion to Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
's short-story cycle The Suicide Club
The Suicide Club (Stevenson)
The Suicide Club is a collection of three 19th century detective fiction short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson that combine to form a single narrative...
.
He Lover of Death
Moscow, 1900. The action takes place contemporaneously with the events of She Lover of Death. It is told from the point of view of Senka, a boy from the KhitrovkaKhitrovka
Khitrov marketplace , also known as Khitrovka , was a square in the centre of Moscow from 1820 to 1930. This square was located in place of today’s house №11a in Podkolokolny sidestreet. In the second half of the 19th century Khitrovka became a bawdy place of Moscow, a den for thousands of...
slums, who has gotten himself mixed up in very dangerous criminal activity. Fandorin and Masa, in Moscow investigating the suicide club, offer their assistance to the reluctant Senka.
The Diamond Chariot
This novel consists of two parts. In the first part, set during the Russo-Japanese WarRusso-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
of 1905, Fandorin, in charge of protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway
Trans-Siberian Railway
The Trans-Siberian Railway is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East and the Sea of Japan. It is the longest railway in the world...
from sabotage, is tracking down a Japanese agent. In the second part, set in 1878, Fandorin's arrival in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
and his adventures there are recounted. Upon entering diplomatic service, he is immediately mixed up into a political assassination plot and crosses a clan of ninja
Ninja
A or was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, and assassination, as well as open combat in certain situations...
s. In a way that does not become apparent until the end, this story is related to the first part of the novel.
The title Алмазная Колесница ("Diamond Vehicle") refers to the Kongōjō
Shingon Buddhism
is one of the mainstream major schools of Japanese Buddhism and one of the few surviving Esoteric Buddhist lineages that started in the 3rd to 4th century CE that originally spread from India to China through traveling monks such as Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra...
school of Tantric Buddhism. The first part is structured as a haiku
Haiku
' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...
, with each chapter taking the place of a syllable, while the second part is meant to serve as a "meaning between the lines" of the haiku.
Jade Rosary Beads
Jade Rosary Beads (Russian: Нефритовые четки) about Fandorin's adventures in the 19th century was issued in Russia on 21 November 2006. The book contains three novellas and seven short stories, some of which take Fandorin abroad to England, America, and France. It is illustrated by Igor Sakurov.Each short story and novella is dedicated to a different author and includes allusions to that author's works. The plots of the short stories in this volume are as follows:
- Shigumo (Сигумо). Set in YokohamaYokohamais the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
in 1881, during Fandorin's diplomatic service in Japan. A private investigation of a former colleague's death leads Fandorin to explore Japanese mysticism. The story serves as a "postscriptum" to The Diamond Chariot. Dedicated to Sanyutei EnchoSanyutei EnchoSanyutei Encho was a Japanese author / rakugo performer of the late Edo and early Meiji eras. Notable works include Japanese horror classics, Kaidan botan dōrō , and Kaidan Kasane ga Fuchi .-External links:* at Aozora bunko....
. - Table-Talk, 1882 (Table-Talk 1882 года). Shortly after the event described in The Death of Achilles Fandorin is invited to a high-society gathering where he is presented with a six-year-old unsolved mystery of a disappearance of a rich land-owner's daughter. On a bet, Fandorin agrees to solve the case without leaving the room. Dedicated to Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. - From the Lives of Woodchips (Из жизни щепок). One year into his new job as a Deputy for Special Assignments, Fandorin is asked to investigate the poisoning of a Russian railroad tycoon. He undertakes the investigation by going undercover as a clerk in the victim's company. Dedicated to Georges SimenonGeorges SimenonGeorges Joseph Christian Simenon was a Belgian writer. A prolific author who published nearly 200 novels and numerous short works, Simenon is best known for the creation of the fictional detective Maigret.-Early life and education:...
, as Fandorin uses a "psychological method" similar to that of Simenon's MaigretMaigretJules Maigret, Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" , created by writer Georges Simenon.Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and...
. - Jade Rosary Beads (Нефритовые четки). The year is 1884 and Fandorin is looking into the brutal murder of an antiques salesman who, among other things, sold Oriental souvenirs. The story deals with Chinese culture and is dedicated to Robert van GulikRobert van GulikRobert Hans van Gulik was a highly educated orientalist, diplomat, musician , and writer, best known for the Judge Dee mysteries, the protagonist of which he borrowed from the 18th-century Chinese detective novel Dee Goong An.-Life:Robert van Gulik was the son of a medical officer in the Dutch...
. - The Scarpea of the Baskakovs (Скарпея Баскаковых). In the fall of 1888 Fandorin sends his personal assistant Tulipov to a village outside of Moscow, where the populace is disturbed by an alleged appearance of a giant snakeSnakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
. According to a legend, such a snake is to bring the end to the local noble family and Fandorin suspects foul play. The story is dedicated to Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
and contains many parallels to Conan Doyle's novel The Hound of the BaskervillesThe Hound of the BaskervillesThe Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of four crime novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country and tells the story of an...
. - One Tenth Percent (Одна десятая процента). This story takes place in 1890 as Fandorin is investigating an apparent murder, but is baffled by the suspect's complete lack of motives. Dedicated to Patricia HighsmithPatricia HighsmithPatricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short-story writer most widely known for her psychological thrillers, which led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her first novel, Strangers on a Train, has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951...
. - Tea in Bristol (Чаепитие в Бристоле). Shortly after the events described in The State Councillor Fandorin finds himself in England, mulling over his future and renting a room from a kindly old lady, Miss Palmer. The ex-detective grows fond of the sharp-minded spinsterSpinsterA spinster, or old maid, is an older, childless woman who has never been married.For a woman to be identified as a spinster, age is critical...
and together they decide to unravel the curious disappearance of Lord Berkley. The dedication is to Agatha ChristieAgatha ChristieDame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
, while Miss Palmer is an homage to (and an anagram of) Christie's character of Miss MarpleMiss MarpleJane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...
.
The short stories are followed by three novellas.
- Dream Valley (Долина Мечты). The year is 1894 and Fandorin is living in America, studying engineering at MIT. But his fame as a detective follows him there and soon he is off to WyomingWyomingWyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
to help a local bigwig out of a difficult situation. This piece is written in the genre of a WesternWestern (genre)The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
and is dedicated to Washington IrvingWashington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
. - Before the End of the World (Перед концом света). Set in 1897, this story follows Fandorin to the Russian NorthVologda OblastVologda Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is Vologda. The largest city is Cherepovets.Vologda Oblast is rich in historic monuments, such as the magnificent Kirillo-Belozersky Monastery, Ferapontov Convent , medieval towns of Velikiy Ustyug and Belozersk, baroque...
, where he is observing the first censusCensusA census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of the Russian Empire. The local Old BelieversOld BelieversIn the context of Russian Orthodox church history, the Old Believers separated after 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church as a protest against church reforms introduced by Patriarch Nikon between 1652–66...
are opposed to the government's initiative and somebody is stirring them up. Fandorin, naturally, gets involved into this religious-themed mystery, dedicated to Umberto EcoUmberto EcoUmberto Eco Knight Grand Cross is an Italian semiotician, essayist, philosopher, literary critic, and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory...
. - The Prisoner of the Tower, or A Short But Beautiful Journey of Three Wise Men (Узница башни, или Краткий, но прекрасный путь трех мудрых). Set at the dawn of the new century (31 December 1899), this story is dedicated to Maurice LeblancMaurice LeblancMaurice Marie Émile Leblanc was a French novelist and writer of short stories, known primarily as the creator of the fictional gentleman thief and detective Arsène Lupin, often described as a French counterpart to Arthur Conan Doyle's creation Sherlock Holmes.- Biography :Leblanc was born in...
and his short story Herlock Sholmes Arrives Too Late. In a stately châteauChâteauA château is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions...
in northern France, a local noble is terrorized by the famed extortionExtortionExtortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
ist Arsène LupinArsène LupinArsène Lupin is a fictional character who appears in a book series of detective fiction / crime fiction novels written by French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television such as Night Hood, stage play and comic book adaptations.- Overview :A...
. In desperation, the noble sends for both Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
and Erast Fandorin to help him out of the seemingly impossible situation. The story is told from two points of view, those of Holmes' companion Dr. John Watson and Masa, Fandorin's Japanese manservant.
All the World's a Stage
Moscow, 1911. Somebody is menacing the leading actress of the "Noah's Ark Theatre" Eliza Altairskaya-Lointaine. At first she discovers a viper in her flowers. Then all men, who love her, either die or get killed. The 55-year-old Fandorin tries to investigate this mystery and help Eliza, but falls in love himself. In order to gain Eliza's heart he writes a play for the "Noah's Ark Theatre", in which Eliza has the leading part. Will Fandorin be able to set his mind on the villan, or will he be completely captured by the object of his affection?Stage
Ying and YanYing and Yan
Ying and Yan is a play by Boris Akunin written for the director Alexey Borodin, edited by Zaharov in 2006. This play features Akunin's character, the Russian detective Erast Fandorin along with his Japanese manservant Masahiro "Masa" Sibata and is placed shortly after Fandorin's return from Japan...
is an original play featuring Fandorin. Subtitled A theatrical experiment, it features both a "white version" and a "black version". When a wealthy man dies, Fandorin is brought in to clarify some points of the will. After the murder of several characters, Fandorin (assisted by his manservant Masa) needs his sleuthing skills once more. The black version leads to a diametrically opposed result to that of the white version, due to some minor changes in evidence found in the beginning of the play. This play is notable for the comic element introduced by Masa's limited knowledge of Russian—he has begun copying out words from the dictionary but so far has gotten only to the letter "D". The play was commissioned by director Aleksey Borodin.
Typography
Akunin uses typography to enhance the story that is being told. Newspaper stories are typeset in a different font (see The Turkish Gambit). He even goes so far that chapters written from the perspective of a Japanese (see Leviathan) are rotated ninety degrees to give the illusion of traditional Japanese writing. (This effect is omitted in the American edition of Leviathan.)Translations
Novels from the Erast Fandorin series have been translated into more than 30 languages. Because Akunin saw the English-language market as key to the rest of the world, he was very cautious when selecting the person who was allowed to translate the Fandorin novels into English, eventually choosing Andrew BromfieldAndrew Bromfield
Andrew Bromfield is a British editor and translator of Russian works. He is a founding editor of the Russian literature journal Glas, and has translated into English works by Boris Akunin, Vladimir Voinovich, Irina Denezhkina, Victor Pelevin, and Sergei Lukyanenko, among other writers.-Bibliography...
. As of 2011 all the Fandorin novels through The Diamond Chariot have been translated into English. Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, the American publisher, published only the first four novels. The British publisher is Weidenfeld & Nicolson, a division of Orion Publishing. The fate of future novels is uncertain; Orion Publishing is referring to The Diamond Chariot as the "finale" to the series.
Each of the first three translated novels have sold over 50,000 copies in the UK alone. The Winter Queen
The Winter Queen (novel)
The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin...
has been described as the possible result if Aleksandr Pushkin
Aleksandr Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
had written mystery novels, and Andrew Bromfield
Andrew Bromfield
Andrew Bromfield is a British editor and translator of Russian works. He is a founding editor of the Russian literature journal Glas, and has translated into English works by Boris Akunin, Vladimir Voinovich, Irina Denezhkina, Victor Pelevin, and Sergei Lukyanenko, among other writers.-Bibliography...
was lauded as one of England's finest translators from Russian. Critics were also very favorable about Murder on the Leviathan
Murder on the Leviathan
Murder on the Leviathan is the third novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin, although it was the second book in the series to be translated into English. Its subtitle is герметический детектив...
, but less so about The Turkish Gambit
The Turkish Gambit
The Turkish Gambit is the second novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels by Russian author Boris Akunin. It was published in Russia in 1998...
, which offers a far slower pace than The Winter Queen. The Death of Achilles
The Death of Achilles
The Death of Achilles is the fourth novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin. Its subtitle is детектив о наемном убийце . It was originally published in Russian in 1998; the English translation was released in 2006.-Plot:Moscow, 1882...
has again been received very positively.
The first ten novels have been translated into German, with the eleventh due in October 2006. Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
publisher De Geus has completed its announced translations of the first seven novels. Translations for the other novels have not yet been announced. In Italian and French, the first 8 novels have been translated. The first eight novels have been translated in Norwegian. The whole cycle has been translated into Polish by Jerzy Czech and have been published successively since 2003 by Świat Książki (World of Books) Publishing. All the novels have been translated into Bulgarian.
Adaptations
Azazel was filmed for televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
in 2003 by Alexander Adabashyan, and has also been adapted for the stage
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in Russia. Reviews of the play have not been very favorable and have called it long, windy, talky and situational, or entertaining but plodding.
In 2005, two further Fandorin novels, The Turkish Gambit and The Councillor of State, were made into big-budget movies by Dzhanik Faiziyev and Filip Yankovsky respectively. The adaptation of The Turkish Gambit set a new box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
record in Russia of 19.23 million USD, beating The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
by more than 5 million USD. It was met by criticism from the Russian military, who said the film stains the memory of general Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Skobelev
Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev was a Russian general famous for his conquest of Central Asia and heroism during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. Dressed in white uniform and mounted on a white horse, and always in the thickest of the fray, he was known and adored by his soldiers as the "White...
. The Turkish Gambit won three Golden Eagle Award
Golden Eagle Award
The Golden Eagle Award is an accolade by the Russian National Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences of Russia to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, directors, actors, and writers...
s (best art design, best costume design and best film editing), while The Councillor of State won two awards (best leading actor for Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, actor, and head of the Russian Cinematographers' Union.Mikhalkov was born in Moscow into the distinguished, artistic Mikhalkov family. His great grandfather was the imperial governor of Yaroslavl, whose mother was a Galitzine princess...
and best supporting actor for Konstantin Khabensky
Konstantin Khabensky
Konstantin Khabensky is a Russian actor best known in the West for starring in the films Night Watch and Day Watch as the lead character Anton Gorodetsky....
).
Ying and Yan
Ying and Yan
Ying and Yan is a play by Boris Akunin written for the director Alexey Borodin, edited by Zaharov in 2006. This play features Akunin's character, the Russian detective Erast Fandorin along with his Japanese manservant Masahiro "Masa" Sibata and is placed shortly after Fandorin's return from Japan...
has also been performed on stage in Russia, with both versions performed back-to-back on two consecutive days. They met with critical acclaim. Prior to September 2006, all Erast Fandorin films, plays and television programs have been made in Russian only.
The Winter Queen
The Winter Queen (novel)
The Winter Queen is the first novel from the Erast Fandorin series of historical detective novels, written by Russian author Boris Akunin...
has also been adapted as a comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
by Aleksey Kuzmichev.
Paul Verhoeven owns the rights to a future English-language film version of The Winter Queen. Filming was scheduled to start in July 2007, with Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich
Milla Jovovich December 17, 1975)is an American model, actress, musician, and fashion designer. Over her career, she has appeared in a number of science fiction and action-themed films, for which music channel VH1 has referred to her as the "reigning queen of kick-butt".Milla Jovovich began...
as the female lead actress, but was postponed due to Jovovich's pregnancy. The film has been rescheduled for 2010, with Jovovich, Anton Yelchin
Anton Yelchin
Anton Viktorovich Yelchin is an American film and television actor. He began performing in the late 1990s, appearing in several television roles, as well as the Hollywood films Along Came a Spider and Hearts in Atlantis...
cast as Erast Fandorin, and Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk
Fyodor Bondarchuk
Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk is a Russian film director and actor. He is the director of the acclaimed film The 9th Company, and producer of the 2006 film Heat, where he starred as himself with his mother Irina Skobtseva....
replacing Verhoeven, who is producing.
Awards
- The Crime Writers' AssociationCrime Writers' AssociationThe Crime Writers Association is a writers' association in the United Kingdom. Founded by John Creasey in 1953, it is currently chaired by Peter James and claims 450+ members....
of Britain nominated Akunin for the 2003 Dagger AwardsGold DaggerThe Gold Dagger Award was an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association for the best crime novel of the year.For its first five years, the organization's top honor was known as the Crossed Red Herring Award....
for The Winter Queen, a translation of the novel AzazelAzazelAzazel or Azazael or Azâzêl is a term used three times in the Hebrew scriptures, and later in Hebrew mythology as the enigmatic name of a character....
. - Murder on the LeviathanMurder on the LeviathanMurder on the Leviathan is the third novel in the Erast Fandorin series by Boris Akunin, although it was the second book in the series to be translated into English. Its subtitle is герметический детектив...
was nominated for Best European Crime Novel in the Gumshoe AwardsGumshoe AwardsThe Gumshoe Awards are an American award for popular crime fiction literary works. The Gumshoe Awards are awarded annually by the American Internet magazine Mystery Ink to recognize the best achievements in crime fiction. The nominated books were chosen from those published for the first time in...
2005. - Coronation, or the Last of the RomanovsCoronation, or the Last of the RomanovsThe Coronation is a historical mystery novel by internationally acclaimed Russian detective story writer Boris Akunin, published originally in 2000. It is subtitled великосветский детектив...
won the Russian Anti-Booker 2000 in the category Brothers Karamazov.
External sources
- Dmitry Babich, "The Return of Patriotism?", retrieved 17 August 2006.
- Rebecca Reich, The St. Petersburg Times, "Akunin's plot thickens", retrieved 17 August 2006.
- Author's Website: www.akunin.ru Includes the complete texts, in Russian, of the first six Erast Fandorin novels.
- Official Website: Fandorin.ru
- Erast P. Fandorin Virtual Museum
- The Moscow News, "Boris Akunin: Murder by Cliches", retrieved 7 September 2006.
- Leon Aron, "A champion for the bourgeoisie: reinventing virtue and citizenship in Boris Akunin's novels" in The National Interest, Spring 2004, retrieved 29 September 2006.
- Akunin website containing the Russian texts of all Erast Fandorin novels through The Diamond Chariot