Научный диалог (Sep 2019)

Artistic Interpretation of the Concept of WINE DRINKING in a Series of Detective Novels by Boris Akunin “The Adventures of Erast Fandorin”

  • O. A. Dimitrieva

DOI
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2019-9-56-72
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 0, no. 9
pp. 56 – 72

Abstract

Read online

The features of the concept representation of wine drinking in the artistic version of Boris Akunin are considered on the example of a series of detective stories “The Adventures of Erast Fandorin”. The work is a continuation of the author’s research in the field of artistic interpretation of Bacchic discourse by various writers. The connection between the creation of a bacchic artistic image and the type of culture (soteriological and eudaimonic) is noted. Among the artistic features of Akunin’s work is a description of the crimes that were committed with “grace and taste”. The author of the article claims that this feature affects the choice of means of creating a bacchic picture of the world in the work. It is noted that the introduction of elements of the wine drinking situation is used by Akunin as a means of reconstructing the background “picture” that performs a descriptive function, and as a plot-modeling component. In the Akunin model of a city street of the XIX century, the “classical” composition of the characters includes not only “a janitor”, “a tradeswoman”, “a cabman”, etc., but also a “drunken cornball”. A “character model” is described, including a set of his characteristics, which can be called a “card index” of his weaknesses and habits. Among the elements of this “card index” the presence of a tendency to wine drinking, which is a character's vulnerability, is noted. The character traits include such features as appearance (face, eyes, weight), olfactory characteristics (smell as a marker of social status or national identity), speech (voice, its timbre, register and manners), wine variety as a business card of the hero, his weaknesses and habits.

Keywords