2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
The concept of "Soviet detectives" is not quite clear. On the one hand, this phrase is applicable to all detective stories written by Soviet authors in the period from the 20s to the 80s of the last century. On the other hand, this is the name of the old and beloved Soviet films about the valiant police. In this article, we will talk about books.
Soviet detective stories: features of the genre
On the Soviet literature is written just offensively little. From various publications one gets the impression that at a certain period in the life of our country only "correct" works were published, telling about the party, about the fate of the simple working class, about the revolution. In fact, Soviet authors wrote quite a lot and in completely different genres, although in their books one can clearly see traces of the influence of the system that existed at that time.
Soviet detectives originated around the 20s of the last century, and the impetus for their appearance was a sharp increase in crime during the NEP. It was during this period that books were written about Mishka Yaponchik, Vaska Svista and Sonya the Gorodushnitsa.
Why do we know so little about the detective stories of that time? It's all aboutin the fact that in Soviet times the detective was considered an exclusively foreign genre, moreover, pernicious and corrupting. Maxim Gorky was especially indignant about this, who considered such works "a heap of horrors, dangers, murders, sexual perversions." By the way, almost a similar description was given in the TSB (second edition). That is why Soviet detectives hid under the guise of adventure literature for a long time. Not a single author wanted to admit that he actually wrote detective stories, since the genre itself was in disgrace.
The second stage in the development of the Soviet detective story can be considered the decade before the Great Patriotic War and the time of hostilities. During this period, various spy stories, the struggle against the class enemy within the country, and, of course, all kinds of war crimes began to serve as the basis for it.
The third stage began in 1956. At this time, the classic Soviet detectives finally appeared: with crimes, investigations, evidence and other attributes of the genre. In the next few years, several areas were clearly distinguished in the genre, in which the authors worked - these are the classic detective story, police novel, fantasy detective novel, spy novel, political action novel and military adventure works. The best Soviet detectives were created by such masters as Arkady and Georgy Vainers, Andris Kolbergs, Danil Koretsky, Viktor Pronin and many others.
However, despite the diversity, works in the genre were united by one commontrait: gentle attitude towards the reader. Although there were crimes, and fights, and murders in the books, there was not that overt frankness, like, for example, Dick Chase.
Soviet detectives: a list of the best books
Here are the best books (according to the author of the article) from the "Soviet Detective" series.
1. "Era of Mercy" Arkady and Georgy Vainers.
2. "Extenuating circumstances". Danil Koretsky.
3. "Proceed to liquidation." Eduard Khrutsky.
4. "Anonymous customer". Sergei Vysotsky.
5. "The Widow in January". Andris Kolbergs.
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