Criminal Matters: The Role of Objects and Agency in Late Imperial Russian Detective Fiction

研究问题-对象如何在俄罗斯侦探小说叙事中行使代理和权威？俄罗斯侦探小说中对客体代理的关注如何重塑当代人类和客体代理理论，使之朝着有利于传统上被颠覆的演员的包容性主体性发展？关于物品在犯罪和调查中的作用，以及物品在塑造社会与这些活动的关系中的作用，物质人工制品能揭示什么？这个项目将从新唯物主义的角度分析帝国时代晚期俄罗斯侦探小说中的对象代理。该项目挑战权威演员的人类中心主义观念，从而重塑当代侦探小说和文学研究的方法。该项目主张对代理的广泛包容的理解，认识到在传统上公认的权威表达（如言语和动作）之外运作的行动者的重要性。该项目分析了在鲜为人知的文学叙事中对犯罪和调查的物质人工制品的描述，将询问作为理解社会与犯罪关系的一种手段的调查对象的影响。侦探小说中的权威问题之前已经从知识的角度进行了分析，侦探的权威来自于他们获得真相的能力，从而缩小了犯罪故事与调查故事之间的差距（托多罗夫，1966；波特，1981）。学者们讨论了侦探小说叙事中的物质性，关于特定的物体如何通过扩展人类的能力来帮助文学侦探找到证据和解决案件（Thomas, 1999; Sweeney, 2003）。因此，工具和物证被认为对侦探来说是必不可少的，与赋予他们权力的特殊方法直接相关。现有的关于侦探小说的学术研究仅仅强调了物体的使用，并假设侦探处于一个等级制度的顶端。另一方面，这项研究将研究对象如何与侦探保持平等的权威。该项目将以新唯物主义的观点为基础，将物体重新思考为具有影响事件能力的重要行动者，而不是作为社会和人类行为的被动或惰性背景。这些观点包括行动者网络理论（Latour, 2005）和集合理论（Deleuze and Guattari, 1980; DeLanda, 2016），它们将行动概念化为依赖于许多物体和力量的相互作用（Bennett, 2010）。例如，在某些侦探小说的叙述中，侦探通过收集、整理和展示证据来表达他的专业知识，而与此同时，物品本身也包含着重要的信息。通过这一互动过程，展出的藏品和侦探共同创造了调查权威。主要素材将首先包括r.l. Antropov， A. E. Zarin， A. P. Chekhov， A. A. Shkliarevskii， S. A. Panov， N. P. Timofeev和N. M. Sokolovskii的帝国晚期犯罪故事。我将评估物品在叙事中的影响，以及它们与人类角色的互动，重点是侦探。我将运用新唯物主义的观点，探讨俄罗斯侦探小说叙事中人类和非人类代理人是如何构成权威的。所涵盖的资源范围将允许一个广泛而彻底的理解对象是如何描绘在早期俄罗斯侦探小说与不同文本之间的比较机会。章节可能的重点领域包括：侦探收藏；物证在破案中的作用授予侦探访问权限的对象；伪装;空间美学；以及涉及视觉或测量的检测技术。

Research questions - How do objects exercise agency and authority within Russian detective fiction narratives? How can a focus on the agency of objects in Russian detective fiction reshape contemporary theories of human and object agency towards an inclusive subjectivity that benefits traditionally subverted actors? What can material artefacts reveal about the agency of objects in crime and investigation as well as the role of objects in shaping society's relationship to these activities?This project will analyse the agency of objects within late Imperial-era Russian detective fiction from a New Materialism perspective. This project challenges anthropocentric conceptions of authority actors, thereby reshaping contemporary approaches to detective fiction and literary studies. Asserting a broadly inclusive understanding of agency, this project recognises the significance of actors that operate outside traditionally acknowledged expressions of authority such as speech and movement. Analysing the depiction of material artefacts of crime and investigation within little-known literary narratives, this project will interrogate the impact of objects within investigation as a means of understanding society's relationship to crime.The question of authority in detective fiction has been previously analysed in terms of knowledge, where detectives' authority is derived from their ability to obtain truth and thus close the gap between the story of the crime and that of the investigation (Todorov, 1966; Porter, 1981). Scholarship has discussed materiality in detective fiction narratives, regarding how particular objects aid literary detectives in locating evidence and solving cases by extending human capabilities (Thomas, 1999; Sweeney, 2003). Therefore, instruments and material evidence have been recognised as essential to detectives, directly tied to the special method which grants them authority.Existing scholarship on detective fiction merely highlights the use of objects, operating under the assumption that the detective is positioned atop a hierarchy. This study, on the other hand, will examine how objects assert equal authority alongside the detective. The project will be informed by New Materialism perspectives that rethink objects as significant actors with the ability to influence events, rather than as a passive or inert background in social and human action. These perspectives include Actor-Network Theory (Latour, 2005) and assemblage theories (Deleuze and Guattari, 1980; DeLanda, 2016) that conceptualise action as dependent upon the interaction of many bodies and forces (Bennett, 2010). Within certain detective fiction narratives, for example, the detective expresses his expertise through collecting, sorting, and displaying evidence, while at the same time the objects themselves hold significant information. Through this process of interaction, displayed collections and detectives co-create investigative authority. Primary source material will initially include the late Imperial-era crime stories of R. L. Antropov, A. E. Zarin, A. P. Chekhov, A. A. Shkliarevskii, S. A. Panov, N. P. Timofeev, and N. M. Sokolovskii. I will evaluate the impact of objects within the narratives and their interactions with human characters, with emphasis on the detective. I will interrogate how authority is constituted by both human and nonhuman agents within Russian detective fiction narratives, applying a New Materialism perspective. The scope of sources covered will allow a broad yet thorough understanding of how objects are portrayed in early Russian detective fiction with opportunities for comparison between different texts. Possible areas of focus for chapters include: collections held by detectives; the role of material evidence in solving cases; objects that grant the detective access; disguises; the aesthetics of space; and technologies of detection involving sight or measurement.