Erast Petrovich Fandorin (Russian: ?????????????????? ) is a fiction Russian detective of the 19th century and the hero of a series of Russian historical detective novels by Boris Akunin.
The first Fandorin novel (The Winter Queen, rus. - ???????) was published in Russia in 1998, and the latest and the last published in November 2012 (The Black City, rus. - ???? ? ?????). More than 15 million copies of Fandorin's novels were sold in May 2006, although the novels are available for free from many Russian websites and their hard-copy is relatively expensive by Russian standards. New books in the Fandorin series usually sell over 200,000 copies in the first week alone, with the first edition unmatched 50,000 first editions for the first book up to 500,000 copies for the last.
The English translation of the novel has been critically acclaimed by, among others, Ruth Rendell.
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In the Soviet Union, detective novels enjoyed mass popularity. Although they are seen as "low genre" by communist officials, both local (like Vayner sisters and Julian Semenov), and foreign detective novels are always very coveted.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many junk detective novels were published which featured a lot of blood and sex. The wife of accountin, together with many other Russians, began to enjoy reading this literary genre. However, he does not want to appear to be reading a novel and he always wraps it in brown paper to keep people from seeing what he reads. This inspired Akunin to create a detective novel that no one would be ashamed to get caught reading, something between the literature of Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky and the slurry of a modern Russian detective novel.
He began writing cycles of Fandorin with the exploration of every subgenre of detective novels in mind, from spies to serial killers. In addition, he wanted to address the various types of human characters in his books. When Accountin identified sixteen subgenres of criminal novels, and sixteen types of characters, the novels in the Erast Fandorin series would eventually total sixteen. In December 2009, thirteen novels have been published in Russia. This series is titled > ????? ????????? ( New Detective , or New Mystery ). This title serves to organize novels regardless of the postmodernist intellectual novel as well as from the junk detective novels, but also to play subtly on the use of time in the novel.
Akunin uses a lot of historical background for his novels. He used the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire as the backdrop for The Turkish Gambit's novel ; the death of "White General" Mikhail Skobelev (as 'Mikhail Sobolev') in The Death of Achilles ; and the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and Khodynka's Tragedy for Coronation, or Last of Romanovs. Akunin uses a gap in the knowledge of this history to create an atmosphere for the mystery novels that readers can talk about.
Maps Erast Fandorin
Personal life
Biography and career
Akunin explains in The Winter Queen how Erast Fandorin became orphaned at the age of nineteen. He never knew his mother, and his father died of bankruptcy, leaving only debt. Fandorin had to abandon his education at the University of Moscow and was forced to enter the police as a scribe. Because the events in The Winter Queen occurred in the spring of 1876 (when Accountin said Fandorin was twenty years old), this put his birth some time in 1856. Further instructions to Fandoror's ancestors were given in another novel, Altyn Tolobas , one of four novels made in the present and featuring Fandorin's grandson Nicholas, where Accountin writes about how Captain Cornelius von Dorn, a German horseman, entered Russia at c. 1680. Erast Fandorin represents the 8th generation of Cornelius, the German name von Dorn that had been Russelled into Fondorin in the 18th century, and then to Fandorin in the 19th century.
In The Winter Queen , Fandorin fell in love with a seventeen-year-old girl, Elizaveta, whom she met while she was investigating her first case. On the day of their marriage, he was killed by a bomb in a package addressed to Fandorin himself. At the time of the explosion, Fandorin was chasing the person who sent the bomb and thus fled miraculously without any physical disturbance. The traumatic loss of his bride led to the longstanding stammer in Fandorin and the early grayishness of the temples.
In The Turkish Gambit , Fandorin is accused of capturing Turkish spies during the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Upon returning, he asks to be placed in a remote post, and becomes second secretary to the Russian ambassador in Japan. His adventures in Japan are described in the second part of The Diamond Chariot and in Jade Rosary Beads . In Japan, he saved the life of the fallen Yakuza, who became his servant as a token of gratitude. He studied martial arts, including ninjutsu, and trained him daily with the Time. Unbeknownst to the moment, Fandorin fathered a child with a Japanese woman during a brief but intense love affair. Fandorin tragically never learns about the survival of his lover or son, although some details of their lives are described in the novel. In The Death of Achilles Accountin explains how Fandorin returned to Russia, only to find his old friend General Mikhail Sobolev murdered. Fandorin enters the services of the Governor-General of Moscow, Knyaz Dolgoruki (fictional version of Vladimir Dolgorukov).
Fandorin rose from the Registrar Collegiate rank to Collegiate Counselor from 1876 to 1891 (XIV and VI ranks in the Ranking Table, respectively).
In the Country Counsel , set in 1891, Fandorin was accused of the murder of high-ranking official General Khrapov. After he cleared his name, Fandorin was offered the work of Oberpolizeimeister but refused, instead of withdrawing from public service and becoming a private detective. He then left for America, studying engineering at M.I.T., in 1895, as told in Jade Rosary Beads. In The Coronation , Fandorin returned to Russia in time to prevent an international scandal taking place during the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in 1896. In 1905, Fandorin protected the Trans-Siberian Train from Japanese saboteurs during the Russian War -Japan.
Alusi against Fandorin's fate was made at Altyn Tolobas . Late in life Fandorin remarried and has at least one son, Alexander, who was born in exile in London in 1920, his mother had left Russia in 1919 while pregnant, implying that Erast Fandorin died that year in the turmoil of the Russian civil war. Alexander's son, Nicholas Fandorin, was born around 1960.
Physical appearance and other characteristics
Boris Akunin gives the reader a clear picture of Erast Fandorin. Fandorin has an average height, with a thin body shape. He has a small mustache, blue eyes and black hair. His wife's death caused her hair to turn grayish in the temple almost overnight, as described in The Winter Queen. It also causes him to stammer, but this tends to diminish as tension rises. Fandorin is always well groomed and can be useless about his looks; at The Winter Queen she's wearing a corset to fix her figure. He is a gifted linguist; in various novels he speaks English, French, German and Japanese with fluency, as well as knowledge of both Serbian and Turkish work at The Turkish Gambit.
In every novel, Fandorin is described as a master of guise, which he uses to infiltrate criminal hideouts and in reconnaissance. When he's disguised, he does not stutter at all. In The Coronation , Fandorin explains that this is because he always takes on an impersonal personality, which often requires him not to stammer. At The Winter Queen , he learned to present evidence by listing: "That one, that's two, and that's three." He was brave and firm, and had to kill several people during his investigative career, but he was still sick from seeing blood. While in Japan, he studied the art of ninja (or "mute", as it is called in the novel). He is physically fit and athletic. In his last years, Fandorin became a fan of the newly discovered car.
Fandorin was very fortunate, a common trait in the Fandorin family that jumped over every other generation; allusions to this character appear in every novel. He never lost a bet, and won in all sports. But he lost his desire to gamble, because it soon became boring. He can become popular with the opposite sex, partly because he is still mourning the loss of his first wife - this sadness seems to attract women.
Allusions and references to other works
According to Akunin, he mixes some of the most sympathetic heroes of Russian literature to form the character of Erast Fandorin. One of these heroes is Chatsky from Alexander Griboyedov's Woe from Wit, from whom Fandorin inherited his sense of obligation: "To serve the cause, not the individual". Another hero Erast Fandorin is Andrei Bolkonski (from Leo Tolstoy War and Peace ), Prince Myshkin (from Fyodor Dostoevsky The Idiot ) and Pechorin (from Mikhail Lermontov > Heroes Our Time ).
Akunin said he "planned along the lines of Kazuo Ishiguro Remnants of Today ". The Senka orphaned hedgehog, the He Lover of Death, is clearly based on Oliver Twist (also shown by the subtitle of the novel: Dickensian story). The first volume of The Diamond Chariot is an allusion to Alexander Kuprin Junior Captain Rybnikov , and the opening sentence The Winter Queen is a clear reference to Mikhail Bulgakov Master and Margarita . A smoother allusion to Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina , because The Winter Queen's novel began with a suicide in 1876, exactly the same year that Anna threw herself under train.. Another notion for Anna Karenina can be found at The Jack of Spades, where Fandorin's current boyfriend, who is married to another man, has the same patronymic (Arkadievna) as Anna Karenina herself. In Leviathan's murder one of the newspaper fragments was signed by G. du Roy, an allusion to journalist Georges Duroy of Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami .
In Achilles the Achilles murderer is said to have been secretly hired by the Italian government to kill an anarchist dubbed "The Jackal" who plans to kill King Umberto - but Achimas himself has a great resemblance to the assassin nicknamed "The Jackal" who plans to kill Charles de Gaulle in Frederick Forsyth's "The Day of the Jackal". Furthermore, Achimas's life reflects that of Achilles' Iliad's and the events described in the second part of the novel referring to Homer's work.
Novel
Accountin's stated objective in creating the Fandorin series is to try as many approaches as possible for detective fiction.
The Winter Queen
Moscow, 1876. 20-year-old Erast Fandorin, who recently became an orphan, entered the civil service as a clerk at the Criminal Investigation Department of the Moscow Police. When investigating an embarrassing public suicide case but apparently very easily by a rich young man, Fandorin finds a powerful and terrifying conspiracy.
Turkish Gambit
Pleven, 1877. During the Russian-Turkish War of 1877, the encrypted message was mysteriously altered, leading to a strategic advantage by Turkey. Fandorin, an agent of the Third Section (Russian secret police), was ordered to find Turkish spies before more damage to Russian causes was done.
Murder in Leviathan
Red Sea, 1878. Terrible mass killings were carried out in Paris and lead guidance of "Papa" Gauche, French police inspector on the English Leviathan steamship, sailed from Southampton to Calcutta. Fandorin, now a newly appointed diplomat for a post in Japan, is one of the passengers. Will Gauche's experience and Fandorin's talent be enough to uncover the murderer?
The death of Achilles
Moscow, 1882. After four years of diplomatic service in Japan, Fandorin returned to Moscow with his Japanese servant. He arrives just in time to hear about the premature death of war hero Mikhail Sobolev, who seems to be suffering from heart failure in his hotel room. Fandorin, who had just held the post of Vice-Governor General for Special Tasks, was very suspicious of Sobolev's death. Soon, his investigation will take him to another great man.
Custom Assignment
Dedicated (Russian: ???????????????) is a volume that contains two different novels, The Jack of Spades ( Russian language) : ?????????? and The Decorator (Russian: ?????????). They both dealt with Fandorin's services as Deputy for Special Task (hence the name) for the Governor-General of Moscow, Prince Dolgorukoi. In "The Jack of Spades", founded in 1886 Moscow, Fandorin and his assistant, Tulipov, pursued a cunning deceiver who had succeeded in deceiving the Governor-General himself. In "The Decorator", set in 1889 Moscow, Fandorin and Tulipov pursued a serial killer who might be Jack the Ripper himself.
Country Advisor
Moscow, 1891. Disguised as Fandorin, the leader of the revolutionary Combat Group who killed a reactionary general. The attack took place in the Moscow Province, the career of Prince Dolgorukoi in danger. After Fandorin was released, he tried to pursue the Combat Group and its leader, Mr. Green, a very tough and resourceful man. Police officer Prince Pozharsky, sent from St. Petersburg, took over the case and proved to be a very talented person in its own right. Pushing aside, Fandorin must find a way to save his boss's reputation.
Coronation
Moscow, May 1896. The imperial family moved to Moscow for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. However, Nicholas's 4-year-old cousin Mikhail was kidnapped and his captor demanded a diamond from the scepter as a ransom. The absence of diamonds on the stick will create an international scandal. The kidnappers are a world-renowned gang led by Dr. Lind is mysteriously international. Erast Fandorin, now a private detective, has traced Lind from America to Russia and is ready to offer his help to the imperial family.
She's the Lover of Death
Moscow, 1900. Fandorin deals with suicide clubs. The action took place simultaneously with the events of He Lover of Death . Told from the viewpoint of "Columbine", a Moscow dictator of Irkutsk, interested in decadent literature and sentimental nature may prove to be fatal. This novel theme is figurative for the short story cycle of Robert Louis Stevenson The Suicide Club.
He's A Lover of Death
Moscow, 1900. This action takes place simultaneously with the events of She Lover of Death . Told from Senka's point of view, a boy from Khitrovka slum area, who has been involved in a very dangerous criminal activity. Fandorin and Masa, in Moscow investigated suicide clubs, offered their help to Senka who refused.
Diamond Chariot
This novel consists of two parts. In the first section, which was established during the 1905 Russian-Japanese War, Fandorin, who was in charge of protecting the Trans-Siberian Train from sabotage, traced Japanese agents. In the second part, set in 1878, the arrival of Fandorin in Yokohama and his adventure there are told. Upon entering the diplomatic service, he was soon mixed into a political assassination plot and crossed a ninja clan. In a way that does not become clear until the end, the story is related to the first part of the novel.
Title ???????? ????????? ("Diamond Chariot") refers to Kong? J? school of Tantric Buddhism. The first part is arranged as a haiku, with each chapter taking the syllable, while the second part is meant to function as the "meaning between lines" of haiku.
Jade Rosary Beads
Jade Rosary Beads (Russian: ??????????) about the 19th century Fandorin adventure was published in Russia on November 21, 2006. The book contains three novels and seven short stories , some of whom took Fandorin abroad to Britain, America and France. This is illustrated by Igor Sakurov.
Each short story and novella is dedicated to different authors and includes allusions to the author's work. The short story plot in this book is as follows:
- Shigumo (??????). Stipulated in Yokohama in 1881, during Fandorin diplomatic service in Japan. Personal investigation into the death of a colleague led Fandorin to explore Japanese mysticism. The story serves as "postscriptum" for The Diamond Chariot . Dedicated to Sanyutei Encho.
- Table-Talk, 1882 (Table-Talk 1882 ????). Shortly after the events described in the Death of Achilles Fandorin was invited to a high society meeting where he presented with an unsolvable mystery six years the loss of a rich landowner's daughter. On the bet, Fandorin agreed to settle the case without leaving the room. Dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe.
- From Woodchips Life (?????????). One year into his new job as Deputy Special Duty, Fandorin was asked to investigate Russian railway tycoon poisoning. He conducts an investigation by posing as an employee at the victim company. Dedicated to Georges Simenon, because Fandorin uses a "psychological method" similar to Simenon's Maigret.
- Jade Rosary Beads (????????????). It was 1884 and Fandorin was investigating a brutal murder of an antique dealer who, among other things, sold Oriental souvenirs. The story relates to Chinese culture and is dedicated to Robert van Gulik.
- Scarpea of ​​the Baskakovs (????????????????). In the autumn of 1888, Fandorin sent his personal assistant, Tulipov to a village outside Moscow, where his inhabitants were troubled by the alleged emergence of a gigantic snake. According to legend, such snakes were to end the family of local nobles and Fandorin suspected a dirty game. The story is dedicated to Arthur Conan Doyle and contains much in common with Conan Doyle's novel The Hound of the Baskervilles.
- Tenth Percent (???? ??????????????). The story occurred in 1890 when Fandorin was investigating a real murder, but was puzzled by the lack of suspect motives. Dedicated to Patricia Highsmith.
- Tea in Bristol (????????????????). Shortly after the incident described in Country Adviser Fandorin found himself in England, contemplating his future and renting the room of a kindly old woman, Miss Palmer. The former detective grew in delight with the sharp-minded old maids and together they decided to uncover the strange loss of Lord Berkley. This dedication to Agatha Christie, while Miss Palmer is a tribute to Christie's (and anagrams) character from Miss Marple.
The short stories were followed by three novels.
- The Valley of Dreams (?????????). In 1894 and Fandorin lived in America, studied engineering at MIT. But his fame as a detective followed him there and soon he went to Wyoming to help a local figure get out of a difficult situation. The work is written in a Western genre and dedicated to Washington Irving.
- Before the End of the World (?????????????). Set in 1897, this story follows Fandorin to Northern Russia, where he observed the first census of the Russian Empire. Local Old Believers are opposed to government initiative and someone moves them. Fandorin, naturally, involved in this religious-themed mystery, is dedicated to Umberto Eco.
- Tower Prisoner, or a Beautiful But Short Trip of Three Wise Men (??????????, ?????????????? Set at the beginning of the new century (December 31, 1899), the story is dedicated to Maurice Leblanc and his short story Herlock Sholmes Late arrivals in northern France, a local nobleman was terrorized by the famous blackmailer, ArsÃÆ'¨ne Lupine.In despair, the nobles sent for Sherlock Holmes and Erast Fandorin to help him out of a seemingly impossible situation This story is told from two points of view, namely Holmes's companion, Dr. John Watson and Masa, Japanese servant Fandorin.
All Stage World
Moscow, 1911. Someone threatened the main actress of "Noah's Ark Theater" Eliza Altairskaya-Lointaine. First he found a poisonous snake in his flower. So all the men, who loved him, died or were killed. The 55-year-old Fandorin tried to investigate this mystery and help Eliza, but fell in love with herself. To get Eliza's heart, she wrote a drama for "Noah's Ark Theater", where Eliza had the front. Will Fandorin be able to set his mind on the villain, or will he be completely captured by the object of his affection?
Black City
Baku, 1914. This is a novel about the advent of Erast Fandorin in the city of Baku (the center of the oil industry in the Russian Empire), before the First World War. The enemy is one of the main leaders of the Revolutionary movement, responsible for financing the "Party".
Planet Air
Three novels: "Planet Water", "The Lonely Sail" (taking place in the remote Zavolzhsk province), and "Where Shall We Go" (took place in Warsaw, Poland Russia, December 31, 1912)
Not Say Goodbye
The sixteenth, and perhaps last, book of the Erast Fandorin Series, consisting of three novel sets between 1917 and 1918. With the subtitle "The Eras Fandorin Adventure of the XXth Century, the second part", the Russian release of the novel is scheduled for February 8, 2018.
Stage
Ying and Yan is an original game featuring Fandorin. Subtitle Theater experiments , features both "white version" and "black version". When a rich man dies, Fandorin is brought in to clarify some points from the will. After the assassination of several characters, Fandorin (aided by his Manservant Period) required his sleuthing skills once again. The black version leads to results that are contrary to the white version, due to some minor changes to the evidence found at the beginning of the game. The game is famous for the comic elements introduced by the limited knowledge of the Russian period - he has begun to copy the words of the dictionary but so far only got the letter "D". The drama is commissioned by director Aleksey Borodin.
Typography
Akunin uses typography to improve the story being told. The stories of newspapers are arranged in different fonts (see Gambit Turkey ). He even goes so far as the chapters written from a Japanese perspective (see Leviathan ) are played ninety degrees to give the illusion of traditional Japanese writing. (This effect is omitted in the American edition of Leviathan .)
Translation
The novel of the Erast Fandorin series has been translated into over 30 languages. Since Accountin sees the English-speaking market as the key to the rest of the world, he is very careful when selecting people who are allowed to translate the Fandorin novel into English, eventually selecting Andrew Bromfield. In 2011 all the Fandorin novels through The Diamond Chariot have been translated into English. Random House, an American publisher, only publishes the first four novels. British publisher is Weidenfeld & amp; Nicolson, a division of Orion Publishing. The fate of the future novel is uncertain because Orion Publishing refers to The Diamond Chariot as the "cover" for this series. After a long hiatus, in September 2017, All the World's a Stage was released, and Black City is expected in November 2018.
Each of the first three translation novels has sold over 50,000 copies in the United Kingdom alone. The Winter Queen has been described as a possible outcome if Aleksandr Pushkin has written a mystery novel, and Andrew Bromfield is hailed as one of the best English translators of Russia. Criticism is also very favorable about the Leviathan murder, but less so about the Turkish Gambit, which offers a much slower pace than The Winter Queen . Achilles' death has been re-received very positively.
All novels to "Black City" have been translated into French, Serbian and German. Dutch publisher De Geus has completed the announced translation of the first seven novels. Translation for other novels has not yet been announced. The first eight novels have been translated into Norwegian. The entire cycle has been translated into Polish by Jerzy Czech and has been published successively since 2003 by "wiat Ksi" ki (World of Books) Publishing. All novels have been translated into Bulgarian. The first ten novels have been translated into Hebrew. Only the first 7 novels (up to "Coronation" included) and "The diamond chariot" have been translated into Italian.
Adaptations
Azazel was filmed for television in 2003 by Alexander Adabashyan, and has also been adapted for the stage in Russia. The reviews about the play were not so fun and calling it long, windy, chatty and situational, or entertaining but slow.
In 2005, two more Fandorin novels, Turkish Gambit and Country Counselors , were made into a big budget film by Dzhanik Faiziyev and Filip Yankovsky respectively. Adaptation Gambit Turkey set a new box office record in Russia 19.23 million USD, beating The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by more than 5 million USD. It was greeted by criticism from the Russian military, who said the film was stained with the general memory of Mikhail Skobelev. The Turkish Gambit won three Golden Eagle Awards (best art design, best costume design and best film editing), while the State Council won two awards (best principal actor for Nikita Mikhalkov and best supporting actor for Konstantin Khabensky).
In 2005, the BBC Radio Adaptation on Murder in Leviathan was made starring Simon Robson as Fandorin.
Ying and Yan have also appeared on stage in Russia, with both versions alternating on two consecutive days. They meet with critical acclaim. Before September 2006, all Erast Fandorin films, dramas, and programs were made only in Russian.
The Winter Queen has also been adapted as a graphic novel by Aleksey Kuzmichev.
Paul Verhoeven has the rights to a future English-language film version of The Winter Queen . The filming is scheduled to begin 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 playing the role of Erast Fandorin, and Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk replacing Verhoeven, who produces.
In 2012, author, Boris Akunin has announced on his own blog that The Diamond Chariot book will be adapted into TV Series, a production project from Central Partnership. Sergey Ursulyak is set to direct the series. In 2013, the Slovokino Production Company began work on the adaptation of the book "Special Assignment". Danila Kozlovsky has served as Erast Fandorin in the movie "The Decorator" which is expected to air in 2017.
Awards
- The British Crime Writers Association nominated Accountin for the 2003 Kris Award for The Winter Queen , Azazel's novel translation .
- The murder of Leviathan was nominated for The Best European Crime Novel of the 2005 Gumshoe Award.
- Coronation, or Last of Romanovs won the Russian Anti-Booker 2000 in Brothers Karamazov category.
See also
- Russian history, 1855-1892
- Russian history, 1892-1920
References
External sources
- Dmitry Babich, "The Return of Patriotism? ", taken August 17, 2006.
- Rebecca Reich, The St. Petersburg Times, " Plot Akuninn Thicken ", taken August 17, 2006.
- Author Website: www.akunin.ru Includes full text, in Russian, of the first six Erast Fandorin novels.
- Fandorin.ru fan site
- Erast P. Fandorin Virtual Museum
- The Moscow News, " Boris Akunin: Killing by Cliches ", was taken September 7, 2006.
- Leon Aron, "Champion for the bourgeoisie: rediscovering virtue and citizenship in Boris Akunin novels" in The National Interest, Spring 2004, taken September 29, 2006.
- The Accountin website containing Russian texts from all of Erast Fandorin's novels through The Diamond Chariot
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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