Acknowledgments Notes on Transliteration 1. The Akunin Project: Introduction Elena V. Baraban and Stephen M. Norris 2. Interview with Grigorii Chkhartishvili (Boris Akunin) Part One: Postmodern Detektiv: The Erast Fandorin Series 3. In Search of a Hero: Boris Akunin’s Death of AchillesElena V. Baraban 4. Rewriting Homer: Boris Akunin’s Postmodern ApproachJudith Kalb Part Two: Amateur Detectives: The Sister Pelagia Trilogy and Adventures of Nicholas Fandorin 5. Tempting the Reader into a Search for Meaning: Boris Akunin’s Pelagia TrilogyClaire Whitehead 6. "A Little Theory": Boris Akunin’s "Crime and Punishment"Zara M. Torlone Part Three: Buried Secrets and Historical Spies in Akunin’s Works 7. The Mysteries of Moscow: In Which Boris Akunin Impersonates a French Writer and Reveals a Buried SecretElizabeth Richmond-Garza 8. Spying on the Past: Boris Akunin’s History of EspionageStephen M. Norris Part Four: Rewriting the History of Russia 9. L’etat, c’est tout: Boris Akunin’s History of the Russian State and the National History CanonIlya Gerasimov 10. An Instructional Manual for the Nation: Boris Akunin’s History of the Russian StateStephen M. Norris Part Five: New Pseudonyms and Projects: Anatolii Brusnikin and Akunin-Chkhartishvili 11. "Under the Wide-Branching Cranberry": Stiob and Allusion in Anatoly Brusnikin’s The Ninth SaviourYekaterina Severts 12. The Family Album: Ordinary People in Extraordinary CircumstancesElena V. Baraban Part Six: Boris Akunin as a Literary and Commercial Project 13. Socialist Realism Inside-Out: Boris Akunin and Mass Literature for the EliteBradley A. Gorski 14. Boris Akunin and Cross-Media MarketingNatalia Erlenkamp 15. Conclusion: A Dozen Questions for Boris Akunin Appendices: Excerpts from Boris Akunin's Untranslated Works 1. Grigorii Chkhartishvili, "If I Were a Newspaper Magnate: Notes of a Restless Cow" (1999), translated by Bradley A. Gorski 2. "A New Karamzin Has Appeared" and "General Introduction" to The History of the Russian State, translated by Stephen M. Norris 3. Excerpt from Boris Akunin, Spy Novel (2005), translated by Stephen M. Norris 4. Excerpt from Anatolii Brusnikin, The Ninth Savior, translated by Yekaterina Severts List of Works by Boris AkuninList of Contributors Index

"One fascinating feature of The Akunin Project is its intention to experiment with the traditional form of an academic collected volume as well as epitomize postmodernist aesthetics both thematically and stylistically in this project."

“A fascinating and coherent volume. Baraban and Norris’s editorial work is on par with their solo scholarship; their selection of strong contributions by other scholars shows how much value there is in bringing in different voices.”