Russian Pulp: The Detektiv and the Way of Russian Crime by Anthony s> Olcott (review)

Abstract

732 SEER, 8o, 4, 2002 Olcott, Anthony. RussianPulp. The Detektivand the Way of RussianCrime. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MA, and Oxford, 200I. X+ 205 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. $75.00; $24.95. THIS is a splendid book. Anthony Olcott is associate professorof Russian at Colgate University, but also the author of some of the best and most true-tolife mysterynovels set in the last years of the USSR. As such, he is admirably well placed to embark on this study of the detektiv, Russia's own distinctive 'take' on the mystery genre, and through this shed light on idiosyncrasiesof both Soviet and modern Russianculture. These lurid pulp fictions are a ubiquitous sight in Russia. Tracing their pedigree fromthepinkertony that emerged as literacyspreadaroundthe turnof the last century, through the rathermore earnest mysteriesof the Ig6os and 1970s, they have now become a veritable publication phenomenon. Freewheeling and mafiya-ridden modern Russia has not only proved a fine market for these works, but the genre has even spawned sub-sets, such as the offensivelyand ludicrouslyviolent boyeviky, whose protagonists -often known simply by some nickname as Yray ('Savage') or Beshenyy ('Rabid') -smash and kill their way through flimsyplots in a manner that would leave Rambo lookingpositivelyeffete. Olcott begins by defining this genre, and in particular explaining what makesitdistinctfromtheWesternmysteryorwhodunnit,inparta reflectionof ideologicalpressures,inpartculturaldistinctiveness,andin partthe characteristics of Soviet law enforcement. In this section, as in many other chaptersof the book, Olcott shows his excellent understandingof Soviet and Russianlaw and policing, which he explains in a clear and lucid way. This is especially evident in the second chapter, 'The Peculiaritiesof Russian Crime', in which he also widens his focus to consider what the detektivy say about Russian attitudesto gender,propertyandthe natureof evil.A compelling themewhich emerges through the book is that the Soviet 'police state' was often anything but, aspolice officersandprosecutorsaliketurneda blind eye to some offences while goingout of theirwaytopursueothers.This wasnot necessarilytheresult of corruptionorpoliticalpressure -though bothundoubtedlyplayedarole butbecauseofafundamentalculturalpredispositiontobelievethatspravedlivost, righteousness, is more important than mere zakon,law. This is a powerful theme, as importantfor explaining the moral economy of the pre-Emancipation serf as the apparenttolerance of the use of the mafiya today as protector, enforcerof contractsand all-roundproviderof services. It perhaps goes without saying that Olcott is well-informed on the detektiv genre and Russian culturalpredispositionsalike. It is also worth noting that he is even-handed in his analysis, devoting his last substantive chapter to Westerncrime fiction set in the USSR and Russia. This could so easily have become an exercise in self-indulgenceand back-scratchinggiven his own role within the field, but instead it proves a wonderfullyacerbic but also insightful dissection of what is, after all, an often shoddy and two-dimensional body of work. He gleefully highlights the poor research and crass assumptions too often made by Westernauthors,aswell as the more importantideological and culturalprejudicesdisplayed. REVIEWS 733 Overall, then, this is much more of a book than may appear at firstsight. It manages to pull offthat greattrickof takingsome relativelyesoterictopic and genuinely opening it up as a window throughwhich to look at Russia'speople and theircultureand valuesin general. Organized Russian& Eurasian Crime Research Unit MARKGALEOTTI Keele University Sarsenov, Karin. PassionEmbracing Death.A Reading ofNina Sadur's Novel'The Garden'. Lund Slavonic Monographs, 3. LundUniversity,Lund, Sweden, 2001. X+ 252 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Price unknown. WITH PassionEmbracing Death, Karin Sarsenov breaks new ground by presentingthe firstmonograph analysingNina Sadur's I997 novel TheGarden. Though initiallyknown as a dramatist,Sadur continues to garner praise for and attention to her prose works;the non-linear, highly disjointedplot of 7he Garden may account for the sparse criticism of the novel in any language. Narratorsand charactersall are unreliableor deficient in some way, and the text repeatedlyfailsto conform to the reader'sexpectations. Sarsenov's text consists of a close reading followed by several chapters of analysis. Leitmotifsreveal links and patterns not only within 7The Garden but also to Sadur'sother dramaticand prose workswith recurringimages, verbal clusters, and even characters. It is in this way that the novel achieves its coherence and meaning is generated. A progressive analysis of attributesof the garden itselfis one particularlyeffectiveaspectof Sarsenov'sclose reading in its illustrationof the significanceof leitmotifs. In her close reading of the three parts of...