Criminal matters

: nonhuman things and relational agency in late imperial Russophone detective fiction

Abstract

This thesis explores the depiction of agency and the nonhuman in works of late imperial Russophone detective fiction (1860-1917). Specifically, it will examine agency and interactions between humans and nonhumans within literary-fictional narratives in terms of relationality. As contended in new materialist theory, to be outlined below, agency is not dependent upon or granted by the human subject but is relational. In light of this contention, action can be understood in terms of assemblages, or the interaction of many bodies and forces, both human and nonhuman. This thesis challenges existing anthropocentric approaches to detective fiction as a means of interrogating the boundaries between various binaries, such as subject-object, knower-known, past-present, and animate-inanimate. In so doing, this thesis will offer new ontological and epistemological approaches to the detective fiction genre and literary studies more broadly.

Date of Award	3 Dec 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of St Andrews
Supervisor	Claire Whitehead (Supervisor), John Harries (Supervisor) & Herve Menard (Supervisor)