Hermeneutics of Thriller: From William Shakespeare to Dan Brown

Abstract

The author analyzes some philosophical subtexts of popular culture. As a result, we show the immanent presence of the hermeneutic problematics in the genre of thriller, and define some tendencies in its development. The hermeneutic problematics of a thriller is multilayered, some thrillers have «anagogical» level, treating the world itself as the text to be deciphered. This refers to the medieval hermeneutic tradition. Some of Shakespeare’s works can be seen as proto-thrillers with considerable hermeneutic potential; he has also introduced a set of character-types, used in almost every thriller since. The next stage of development of the hermeneutic problematics within the genre is found in the works of John Buchan. Nowadays emerges a new sub-genre of culturological thriller, popularized by Dan Brown.