Naslov
Dissipation Leads to no Good!’ Detective Story Gone Awry: Chekhov's ‘The Swedish Match

Autori
Pandžić, Maja

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
18th Young Forum of Slavic Literary Studies (JFSL)

Mjesto i datum
Graz, Austria, 29.09-01.10.2022

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, The Swedish Match, parody, crime genre elements

Sažetak
In September 1883 in his letter to Nikolai Leikin, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov admitted he was tempted by an invitation of St. Petersburg’s weekly magazine “Dragonfly” (Strekoza) to write a literary work that would fit into the magazine’s satiric style and humorous framework. His contribution was “The Swedish Match” (Shvedskaya spichka), which, he said, was in its essence a crime story parody. Certain scholars such as Peter Moiseev, who analyzed Chekhov’s story, claim that the main and single element of parody is its ending, which reveals there was no murder committed, in fact, the “victim” is found indulging in food and drink, locked away in a bathhouse by none other than the police superintendent’s wife, his lover. The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze numerous other crime genre concepts Chekhov imitated, shifted, twisted or deliberately exaggerated for comic effect, such as the concept of locked room mystery, planting red herrings, introducing multiple suspects, etc. The parody elements, as will be shown, are found throughout the entire story: they are integrated in the very plot built on the bases of a minor character’s claim ; as well as in the characterization and shifted relationship of protagonists – the senior investigator Chubikov and his young assistant Dyukovsky ; in the roles of support characters ; in the investigative methods detectives (do not) employ ; in the depiction of clues and alibis as well as in Dyukovsky’s hypotheses on potential motives for the murder. On the other hand, the comic conclusion of the story will be shown as having at least one other purpose apart from inducing laughter, indicating that Chekhov was indeed one of the most talented and socially aware authors of his time.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija, Književnost

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