Abstract
The subject of this research is a set of cycle-forming techniques used by Boris Akunin in creating “Fandorin Series” dedicated to the detective Erast Fandorin. One of such techniques is travesty, “gender transitioning” that manifests on the imagery and linguistic levels. A range of characters in the novels and stories about Fandorin disguise themselves as the representatives of the other gender; this is common to the serial criminals who have committed multiple offenses. On the linguistic level, travesty manifests in a way that some characters, having a good command of Russian language, deliberately confuse masculine and feminine genders in their speech or writing. At the same time, travesty is always accompanied by the typical detective motif: the criminal character is initially introduced to the text and conceals his true self, so the detective has foster efforts to track him down. The novelty of this study consists in determination of the two basic strategies of travesty used by B. Akunin in “Fandorin Series”, and as well as in following their realization in various novels and stories dedicated to Erast Fandorin. On both imagery and semantic levels, travesty is more characteristic to the “sealed” type of detective, when the suspect is among a limited scope of persons and gradually reveals his true nature. At the same time, the implementation of such strategy in some texts is consistent (the hero constantly changes his appearance / grammatical gender), while in other texts manifests sporadically.
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