This master's thesis will explore the ways in which the fictional and real world blends with detective stories readers. In the methodological part, the author will focus on theoretical problems associated with perception of cult literary works, readers' activity and further expansion of fictional worlds. The phenomena the author will explore are, for example, fan clubs, fan fiction, fan art, naming real entities according to fictional characters and places, and searching for fictional entities in the real world. The practical part of this thesis will be devoted to three detective stories authors - A. C. Doyle, A. Christie and M. Jennings, and their functioning as cultural phenomena both in the Czech and world context.

L’objectif de cette Thèse consiste à accroître nos connaissances sur la société argentine par une approche particulière. Nous sommes persuadés que la littérature policière est une métaphore de la société contemporaine et qu’à travers son analyse nous parviendrons à mieux comprendre son fonctionnement. Notre travail ne cherche pas à donner une vision globale du genre mais à confronter la production dans deux étapes critiques de l’histoire argentine : la Décennie Infâme (1930-1943) et la crise postménémiste (de 1999 à nos jours). Suivant le modèle créé par Karl Marx (« Le 18 brumaire de Louis Bonaparte ») nous les avons appelées Tragédie et Farce. En effet, nos recherches nous ont permis de découvrir les résonances qui existent entre les deux périodes. Cette Thèse s’inscrit dans le cadre de la sociocritique. La lecture socio-historique des textes nous fera passer en revue tout le vingtième siècle, des préceptes modernistes du Siècle des Lumières à l’hypermodernisme de Gilles Lipovetsky ou à la modernité liquide de Zygmunt Bauman. Nous avons organisé notre travail selon trois éléments principaux et indissociables : la ville, la figure du détective et la société ; à travers ces pages nous avons suivi leur évolution. / The objective of this Thesis is to increase our knowledge of Argentinian society by a specific approach. We are convinced that detective literature is a metaphor of the contemporary society and that through its analysis we will arrive at a better understanding of it. Our work does not seek to give a comprehensive view of this literature but to confront literary production with two critical periods of Argentinian history: the Infamous Decade (1930-1943) and the post-Menemist crisis. Following the model created by Karl Marx (“The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoléon”) we have called them Tragedy and Farce. Our research shows the resonances between these two periods. Our research consists of a sociological approach. A sociohistorical reading of the literary texts brings us to review the whole of the twentieth century, from the modernistic precepts of the Age of Enlightenment to the hypermodernism of Gilles Lipovetsky or the liquid modernity of Zygmunt Bauman. We have organized our work according to three principal and indissociable elements: the city, the figure of the detective and the society; throughout these pages we have followed their evolution.

Boris Akunin’s historical detective novels have sold more than eight million copies in Russia, and have been translated into nearly a dozen languages. Boris Akunin is the pen name of literary critic and translator Grigory Chkhartishvili. Born in 1956 in the republic of Georgia, he published his first detective stories in 1998. His first series of novels, beginning with Azazel’ and followed by Turetskii gambit, feature a dashing young police inspector, Erast Fandorin. Fandorin’s adventures take place in the Russian Empire of the late nineteenth century, and he regularly finds himself at the center of key historic events. The first book takes place over one summer, May to September 1876, as the intrepid Fandorin, on his first case, unveils an international organization of conspirators—Azazel’—bent on changing the course of world events. The second takes place two years later from July 1877 to March 1878 during Russia’s war with the Ottoman Empire. The young detective again clashes with Azazel’, as he unravels a Turkish agent’s intricate plan to weaken and destroy the Russian state. Both adventures have proven wildly popular and entertaining, while maintaining a certain literary value. The exploration of time and space in Russian literature was once a popular subject of discourse, but since the 1970s it has been somewhat ignored, rarely applied to contemporary works, and even less to works of popular culture. Akunin’s treatment of time and space, however, especially given the historical setting of his works, is unique. Azazel’, for example, maintains a lightning pace with a tight chronology and a rapidly changing series of locales. Turetskii gambit presents a more laconic pace, and, though set in the vast Caucasus region, seems more claustrophobic as it methodically works towards its conclusion. Both works employ a seemingly impersonal narrator, who, nonetheless, speaks in a distinctly 19th century tone, and both works cast their adventures within the framework of actual historical events and locations. This thesis analyzes core theories in literary time and space, applying them then to Akunin’s historical detective literature.

Boris Akunin’s historical detective novels have sold more than eight million copies in Russia, and have been translated into nearly a dozen languages. Boris Akunin is the pen name of literary critic and translator Grigory Chkhartishvili. Born in 1956 in the republic of Georgia, he published his first detective stories in 1998. His first series of novels, beginning with Azazel’ and followed by Turetskii gambit, feature a dashing young police inspector, Erast Fandorin. Fandorin’s adventures take place in the Russian Empire of the late nineteenth century, and he regularly finds himself at the center of key historic events. The first book takes place over one summer, May to September 1876, as the intrepid Fandorin, on his first case, unveils an international organization of conspirators—Azazel’—bent on changing the course of world events. The second takes place two years later from July 1877 to March 1878 during Russia’s war with the Ottoman Empire. The young detective again clashes with Azazel’, as he unravels a Turkish agent’s intricate plan to weaken and destroy the Russian state. Both adventures have proven wildly popular and entertaining, while maintaining a certain literary value. The exploration of time and space in Russian literature was once a popular subject of discourse, but since the 1970s it has been somewhat ignored, rarely applied to contemporary works, and even less to works of popular culture. Akunin’s treatment of time and space, however, especially given the historical setting of his works, is unique. Azazel’, for example, maintains a lightning pace with a tight chronology and a rapidly changing series of locales. Turetskii gambit presents a more laconic pace, and, though set in the vast Caucasus region, seems more claustrophobic as it methodically works towards its conclusion. Both works employ a seemingly impersonal narrator, who, nonetheless, speaks in a distinctly 19th century tone, and both works cast their adventures within the framework of actual historical events and locations. This thesis analyzes core theories in literary time and space, applying them then to Akunin’s historical detective literature.