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Jordan Center for the
Advanced Study of Russia

Keyword: Rereading Akunin Archives - Page 2 of 2 - NYU Jordan Center

A Hard Day’s Arabian Night (Turkish Gambit 5)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, June 19th, 2019



As mistakes go, it’s a brilliant one.

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Higher Powers, Lower Motives (Turkish Gambit 4)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, June 12th, 2019



Fandorin is Spencer Tracy, while Varya is Katherine Hepburn, but without the talent. 

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Epic Orientalist Smackdowns (Turkish Gambit 3)

Eliot Borenstein Thursday, June 6th, 2019



Russia to Fandorin: “It’s not you, it’s me.”

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Re-Introducing Fandorin (Turkish Gambit 2)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, May 29th, 2019



he Turkish Gambit appears to be as much an ironic sequel to Anna Karenina as it is the literal sequel to The Winter Queen.

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Aren’t Progressive Women Adorable? (The Turkish Gambit 1)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, May 22nd, 2019



When the “progressive woman” becomes a character type in the middle of the nineteenth century, she is usually a figure of fun.

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The Fridging of Poor Liza (The Winter Queen – The Final Chapter)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, May 8th, 2019



So much for the nineteenth century’s exquisite taste. 

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She Blinded Him with Science (WQ 16)

Eliot Borenstein Tuesday, April 30th, 2019



What Lady Astair does with minds, her mad scientist disciple wants to do with brains

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Progress: Threat or Menace? (WQ 15)

Eliot Borenstein Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019



We can all learn something from villains.

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Vampire Orphans Need Love, Too (WQ 14)

Eliot Borenstein Thursday, April 18th, 2019



If this were Homeland, all of the documents would be on a wall, with red threads connecting them to each other.  Of course, if this were Homeland, the detective would be a lot more compelling. 

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Fandorin Meets Dracula (WQ 13)

Eliot Borenstein Thursday, April 4th, 2019



There is precious little bloodsucking in Akunin’s oeuvre, which I’ve long considered a serious flaw.

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The Case of the Multiple Fandorins (WQ 12)

Eliot Borenstein Thursday, March 28th, 2019



Fandorin has now had enough brushes with death to start his own beauty salon.

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Cooking the Raw Youth (Akunin WQ 11)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, March 20th, 2019



This is less “The Queen of Spades” and more “Scooby Doo Meets Batman.”

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Playing with a Full Deck (Akunin WQ 8-9)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, March 6th, 2019



Fandorin returns to Pushkin and Lermontov territory

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Lady Astair’s School for Gifted Orphans (Akunin WQ 7)

Eliot Borenstein Wednesday, February 27th, 2019



Though he may grow up to be a Russian Poirot, for now he is something of a Miss Marple, underestimated by everyone around him.

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Yesterday’s Man of Tomorrow (Akunin WQ 6)

Eliot Borenstein Tuesday, February 19th, 2019



Is there anything more tedious than historical parallels, especially in Russia?

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The Sudden Death of the Romantic (Akunin WQ 5)

Eliot Borenstein Tuesday, February 12th, 2019



As Chekhov taught us, if a whalebone corset appears in Chapter One, it’s bound to get stabbed in Chapter Five.

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Luck Be a Lady Tonight (Akunin WQ 4)

Eliot Borenstein Friday, February 8th, 2019



The Winter Queen is less a first installment than it is a prequel

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The Very Long Nineteenth Century (Akunin WQ 2-3)

Eliot Borenstein Tuesday, January 29th, 2019



Iin the beginning of The Winter Queen we see all the ways in which witnesses tried *not* to see the suicide happen.

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How the Self-Made Man is Made (Akunin WQ 1)

Eliot Borenstein Tuesday, January 22nd, 2019



Erast Fandorin gets bitten by a radioactive raznochinets and is granted super-raznochinets abilities.

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Rereading Akunin: An Introduction

Eliot Borenstein Thursday, January 17th, 2019



Why reread Boris Akunin? For that matter, why read him in the first place? And, for God’s sake, why blog about it?

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