Erast Fandorin is a retired state adviser who served as an official of special assignments at the Moscow Governor General. He is a collective image of aristocrats of the 19th century: charming, intelligent, incorruptible - this is how Boris Akunin portrayed him in all novels.
List of works by year of publishing
For writing a series of novels about the most interesting and mysterious hero in the literary world, Georgy Chkhartishvili began in 1998. The first four books - Azazel, The Turkish Gambit, Leviathan, and The Death of Achilles - were written in just a few months. The next two novels - “Special Assignments” (a collection of novels “The Jack of Spades” and “Decorator”) and “State Counselor” were published in 1999. The beginning of the new century was less fruitful for Akunin: he publishes the book Coronation, or The Last of the Novels.
In 2001, the author delights his fans with the works “Death Mist” and “Death Lover”. The Diamond Chariot is a novel published in 2003 that consists of the books Dragonfly Catcher and Between the Lines. "Yin and Yang" is a play written especially for Alexei Borodin, director of the Russian Academic Youth Theater. In the same, in 2006, the author publishes the book "Jade Rosary". The collection consists of ten stories. Actions take place in different countries, but mainly in the capital of Russia.
In 2009, Akunin managed to publish the thirteenth book, “The World Is a Theater,” and three years later, Black City. The press became aware that soon George Chkhartishvili, aka Boris Akunin, will fill up the list of works about Erast Fandorin with the fifteenth novel.
The appearance of the protagonist
Erast Fandorin is white-skinned, rather tall, black-haired, with blue eyes and long eyelashes. He wore a "thin black mustache, as if painted with coal." This part of the face drove crazy not only women, but also men. Sometimes it seems that the author himself admires his fictional hero (Boris Akunin). The list of works from twelve books demonstrates that Fandorin does not change much with age. Thanks to daily gymnastics, he continues to look great even at 50.
Interesting facts about the literary hero
Fandorin is incredibly lucky in gambling of any kind. The gift came to him as a result of curious circumstances: once his father, having ruined his family due to addiction to this occupation, died as a result of a heart attack. Luckily, Erast Fandorin carries with him jade rosaries that help him concentrate.
He speaks English, French, German, Turkish, Bulgarian, Japanese, Spanish and Italian, and also planned to learn Chinese and Arabic. In some books he spoke under various nicknames: he was Neymeles, Prince Genji, Kuznetsov, Yumrubash; a friend Count Zurov called him Erasmus, and classmates - Hazelnuts.
There is even an official site of Erast Fandorin, on which there is information about the history of his family, biography and some personal characteristics. Permission to create the resource was given by Boris Akunin himself. List of works and news from the author are attached.
Women and children of Erast Fandorin
The first girl of the hero was the seventeen-year-old Elizabeth von Evert-Kolokoltseva. By a fateful combination of circumstances, she dies on the wedding day, after which Fandorin acquired gray whiskey and a stuttering manner. Two years after the tragedy, Erast met the courtesan O-Yumi, who gave birth to a son from him. After another 8 years, he developed a romantic relationship with Ariadne Opraksina.
Esther Litvinova was the hero’s mistress in the novel “State Counselor”. Princess Ksenia Georgievna Romanova falls in love with Fandorin, but their relationship does not have a long continuation due to the different social status of the characters. The girl under the curious pseudonym Death is next to the hero in the work "Death Lover". Elizaveta Anatolyevna, who appeared in the novel "The whole world is a theater", in 1920 gave birth to the son of Alexander from Fandorin.
Saadat Validbekova is the last woman from the Black City book in which the hero dies. Boris Akunin could end the list of works about Erast Fandorin on the fourteenth novel, but the author decided to continue the cycle with the fifteenth collection "Planet Water", which will be released shortly.
All books about Erast Fandorin (author - Boris Akunin). List of works in order in chronology
The actions of the first three novels take place in 1876-1878. Further, the author violates the chronology, misses three years of Erast Fandorin's life, and returns to them in recent books. The reader may have some difficulties regarding the semantic perception of novels, since each of them has hints of the hero’s past and future. Maybe Boris Akunin was counting on this effect.
The list of works about Fandorin in chronological order may look like this: first you should read the first three novels, then the second story of the book “The Diamond Chariot”. Next - the first story of the collection "Jade Rosary", and then - "The Death of Achilles." After that, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the play "Yin and Yang." Next, read the second through fourth story from the collection "Jade Rosary", and then - the story "Jack of Spades"; then return to the fifth story of the collection "Jade Rosary", and then to the second part of the collection "Special Assignments".
After this, in chronology follows the sixth story of the collection "Jade Rosary", and then - "State Counselor". Next, read the seventh and eighth story of the collection "Jade Rosary." After that, you should familiarize yourself with Coronation, and then with the last two stories from the collection Jade Rosary. Next, read the eighth and ninth novel, as well as the first volume of the tenth novel. The Whole World Theater and Black City are books worth reading at the very end.
Fiction and reality in books about Erast Fandorin
Boris Akunin's favorite genres are detective stories and historical prose, but in some of his novels he does not adhere to the chronology of historical events.
The Leviathan liner, on which Fandorin uncovered a series of murders and their cause, was actually launched half a century after the events described in the novel.
Mikhail Sobolev, nicknamed Achilles, is the prototype of Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev, an outstanding military commander. The killer maniac, whose atrocities are described in the story "Decorator", later turns out to be Jack the Ripper. Governor-General Dolgoruky is the prototype of Vladimir Andreyevich Dolgorukov; Grand Duke Simeon Aleksandrovich - prototype of Sergey Alexandrovich, Moscow Governor General.
The book Coronation, or The Last of the Novels, is full of contradictions: the time of the coronation of the emperor is observed, but not the age of Princess Ksenia Georgievna and Mikhail Georgievich (in the novel, Miki, whom the villain Lind kills) - this is what Boris Akunin conceived. The list of works about Fandorin is full of real historical events, such as a crush on the Khodynka field and mass suicides in the Old Believers.