Translating the transition: the translator-detective in Post-Soviet fiction

Authors

  • Brian James Baer Kent State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52034/lanstts.v4i.139

Keywords:

Boris Akunin, anxieties, Polina Dashkova, detextive fiction, Dar'ia Dontsova, Dostoevky, Aleksandra Marinina, Post-Soviet literature, resistance, West

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which the figure of the translator-detective in contemporary Russian literature functions to express and neutralize a range of fears and anxieties engendered by the post-Soviet transition. Tracing the roots of the motif of the translator in Russian literature back to F. M. Dostoevsky ’s Crime and Punishment, the paper then examines the translator-hero in the detective fiction of the best-selling contemporary authors Aleksandra Marinina, Boris Akunin, Dar’ia Dontsova, and Polina Dashkova. Representatives of the embattled Russian intelligentsia, their translator-detectives embody resistance to mindless cultural borrowing from the West.

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Published

25-10-2021

How to Cite

Baer, B. J. (2021). Translating the transition: the translator-detective in Post-Soviet fiction. Linguistica Antverpiensia, New Series – Themes in Translation Studies, 4. https://doi.org/10.52034/lanstts.v4i.139

Issue

Vol. 4 (2005): Fictionalising Translation and Multilingualism

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2021 Brian James Baer

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