Russian noir: Alexander Molchanov’s works “The Newshound”, “The Writer”, “The Scriptwriter” as a novel cycle

   The article is a continuation of the scientific conversation about such a specific phenomenon of Russian prose as Russian noir. We explore the phenomenology of Russian noir, reveal genre-style tendencies within this voluminous contradictory phenomenon, attempting to comprehend the nature and origins of this genre-style tendency. Based on various traditions (a mystical novel, horror, psychological detective story, historical novel, utopia, dystopia, fantasy, black detective story, short story, etc.), the article proposes scientific approaches that are productive for studying the nature of the phenomenon, created at the junction of cinema and literature. The trilogy by Alexander Molchanov is investigated against the background of an extensive literary context, which is as close as possible to the genre-style model of noir.

   The subject of our scientific interest is the novel cycle of the screenwriter and writer Alexander Molchanov (the novels “The Newshound” (2018), “The Writer” (2018) and “The Scriptwriter” (2018)).

   The novel trilogy is examined from the standpoint of artistic unity.

   The need to comprehend the genre and style tendencies of the Russian noir in its differential characteristics, including the most typologically close to the aesthetics of noir, determines the relevance of our work.

   Following the ideas in the studies (including foreign ones), devoted to the poetics of cinematic noir and the previously tested analytical approach, which has demonstrated its productivity, we focus on the carriers of the genre and its cross-cutting principles that artistically unify the novels of Alexander Molchanov. As follows from the general aesthetic approaches, adopted in relation to noir, such features as its plot organization, the specifics of its protagonist, the special atmosphere, the particularities of the detail and the specific style of storytelling are significant for understanding the nature of the novel noir trilogy. The genre-style analysis of A. Molchanov’s novel trilogy makes it possible to trace the features of the noir transformation in modern Russian literature and to test productive analytical approaches to this phenomenon.

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