HYPERTEXTUAL CODES IN “FANDORIN’S MACROCYCLE” BY B. AKUNIN

Abstract

The article deals with an issue of compositional organization of supertextual unity through the text on the example of two macrocycles of the modern writer B. Akunin – the cycle about Erast Fandorin and his ancestors and descendants and the cycle “History of the Russian state”. In 2023, B. Akunin published the book “Yama”, dedicated to the previously unknown adventures of Fandorin, and this book is a “bridge” text that unites the “Fandoriana” with the “History of the Russian State”. In the history of both Russian and world literature, B. Akunin’s projects are among the most grandiose in terms of volume of cycles of prose and dramatic works. With the “Yama” “Fandorin’s super-cycle” has 51 works, “History of the Russian State” – 14 works. The cross-cutting hero, present in the last work of both cycles as of 2023, allows us to talk about their unification by the author into an even larger textual unity organized like a hypertext with references for an attentive reader who can independently choose whether to follow them or not. The article considers the means of organizing the largest textual unity and the functional features of texts designed to serve as a unifier for two series of works. A structural connection with the methods of fastening cinematic supercycles is noted, and significant differences are identified, which consist in the use of the strategy of playing with the reader, the principle of the quest.