Doctoral defence: Marina Bulakhova „Генезис русской уголовной прозы 1860–1890 гг“

On 8 September 2025 at 16:15, Marina Bulakhova will defend her doctoral thesis „Генезис русской уголовной прозы 1860–1890 гг“ („Generic Roots of Russian Crime Fiction, 1860–1890s“) for obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Russian Literature.

Supervisor:
Roman Leibov, University of Tartu (Estonia)

Opponents:
Ilya Vinitsky, Princeton University (United States of America)
Claire Eugenie Whitehead, University of St Andrews (Great Britain)

Summary

This doctoral thesis explores the evolution of Russian crime fiction between 1860 and 1890, focusing on its generic, cultural, and social characteristics. The aim is to reconstruct the internal logic of early Russian crime prose and situate it within a broader international context. The study employs literary-historical, narratological, and sociological approaches to analyze how the genre evolved in dialogue with legal reforms, the media landscape, and the poetics of realism.

The Introduction addresses the genre's Western European background, examining the evolution of Roman-feuilleton and Anglo-American detective fiction and their impact on Russia. Special attention is given to the unique starting point of Russian crime prose: thick literary journals (tolstye zhurnaly), which shaped the genre’s early identity as a socially critical and psychologically nuanced form of realist writing.

Chapter One investigates the emergence of crime themes in 1840s literature and analyzes early proto-crime texts that engage with justice, legal reform, and the moral dimensions of wrongdoing. It also examines the role of censorship and the influence of Western literary models.

Chapter Two traces the shift from urban “physiologies” to ethnographic sketches, showing how depictions of crime moved from the city to rural and carceral settings. It emphasizes the interplay between environment and narrative form.

Chapter Three focuses on “investigator’s notes” – texts narrated by legal officials such as judicial investigators. It explores how authors like P. A. Stepanov and N. M. Sokolovsky framed the investigator as a new protagonist tasked with interpreting signs and restoring justice.

Chapter Four analyzes the emergence of other investigative hero types – police detectives and benevolent philanthropists – comparing them with their Western counterparts (e.g. Gaboriau’s Lecoq) and highlighting local adaptations in works by A. A. Shklyarevsky, A. P. Chekhov, and others.

The study draws on approximately one hundred novels, novellas, short stories, and sketches, most of which have remained outside the scope of scholarly attention. By mapping this largely unexamined corpus, the dissertation fills a major gap in the study of 19th-century Russian popular literature and offers a new model for understanding its genre dynamics and cultural significance.