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ABSTRACT
The article deals with the stereotypical portrayal of certain Russian fictional characters in English literature from the mid-nineteenth century up to post-1991 fiction. An attempt is made to highlight particular popular tropes that recur in the characterisation of Russians or associated caricatures. Passing reference is made to other literary traditions in Western Europe, in order to establish peculiarities extant in English language cultural traditions as distinct from other contemporaneous European cultures. It is argued that during this period Russian fictional characters were mainly to be found in detective fiction, and that these would have had a more significant cultural impact, primarily due to the popularity of those authors at the time. The most representative authors in this genre – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie – both write Russian characters into their work. Their depictions were influential due to their broad readership, and drew, it is argued, from cultural stereotypes popular in their day. The repetition and re-depiction of familiar characters in crime fiction bring about tropes that are drawn on in the production of theatre and film. A selection of these tropes is apparent in nearly all significant works of English language fiction. Many of them are perceived as negative, while few, if any, are on the positive side. Cultural peculiarities are exploited as plot devices. One enduring feature of the works analysed here, is the phenomenon of ‘fake’ Russians. The implications of the stereotypes depicted here go far beyond detective fiction.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Moser, The Cambridge History of Russian Literature.
2 Fox, Watching the English. The Hidden Rules.
3 Gudzenko, Russkii mentalitet.
4 Flaubert, Sentimental Education.
5 Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
6 Poe, The Premature Burial. Stories, 135.
7 Dickens, Little Dorrit.
8 Collins, The Moonstone.
9 Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
10 Ibid.
11 Conan Doyle, The Adventure of Red Circle.
12 Ibid.
13 Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
14 Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
15 Christie, Murder on the Orient Express.
16 Whitley, “Introduction,” 8.
17 Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
18 Conan Doyle, The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, 286.
19 Conan Doyle, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
20 Conan Doyle, The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, 804.
21 Ibid., 725.
22 Boichuk et al., “Local Color in Oscar Wilde's Play,” 93–5.
23 Conan Doyle, Brigadier Etienne Gerard.
24 Christie, The Big Four.
25 Kravchenko, Sociologicheskij enciklopedicheskij russko-anglijskij slovar, 362.
26 Fleming, Dr No. Moonraker. Thunderball, 427–565.
27 Christie, Murder on the Orient Express.
28 Ibid., 29–30.
29 Ibid., 207.
30 Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
31 Gutsenko and Kovalyov, Pravookhranitel'nye organy.
32 Dostoyevsky, “Selections from the House of the Dead.”
33 Aleksandrov, “Delo Zasulich.”
34 Bernanos, “Journal d’un curé de campagne,” 67.
35 Dumas, Vaninka.
36 Ibid.
37 Razvesistaia kliukva, Wikipedia.
38 Jones, “The Grenadier Public House”; London's Most Evocative Pubs.
39 Evans, It’s Not What You Think, 25–7.
40 Conan Doyle, The Complete Stories of Sherlock Holmes, 948.
41 Gertsen, Byloe i dumy, 609.
42 Orwell, The English People.
43 Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
44 Ibid.
45 Christie, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
46 Christie, Murder on the Orient Express, 29.
47 Ibid.
48 Ibid., 149.
49 Kristi, Vostochnyi ekspress. Radiopostanovka. Chast’ 1.
50 Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
51 Christie, The Big Four.
52 Souvestre and Allain, Arsène Lupin et Fantômas.
53 Ibid., 211–23.
54 Burgess, A Clockwork Orange.
55 Smith, Gorky Park.
56 Smith, Polar Star.
57 Burgess, Honey for the Bears.
58 Clancy, The Hunt for Red October.
59 Wright, Spycatcher.
60 Meldrum, The Semonov Impulse.
61 Savenkova, Rossiia i russkie v publitsistike S. Moema.
62 Nolan, Red Centre.
63 Montefiore, Sashenka.
64 McMahon, The Rose of Sebastopol.
65 Berry, The Amber Room.
66 Revich, “Detektivnaia literatura,” 90–1.
67 Narkevich, “Detektivnaia literatura,” 67.
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