Lost detectives : intermedial adaptation of nineteenth-century Russian crime fiction. A conversation

Abstract

This discussion between Carol Adlam, artist and writer, and Dr Claire Whitehead, Reader in Russian, University of St Andrews, covers the history of early Russian crime fiction, the challenges of adaptation, and the crossover space between academia and creativity. It was recorded in St Andrews between April-May 2023. The framework for the discussion is the ‘Lost Detectives: Adapting Old Texts to New Media’ project, led by Whitehead, on which Adlam is the Contributing Artist. The project is funded by the University of St Andrews’ Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fund. Between 2019 and 2023 Adlam made five cross-media adaptations: 1) The Bobrov Affair (2019): exhibition and proof-of-concept graphic material adapting Semyon Panov’s 1876 novella Tri suda, ili ubiistvo vo vremia bala [Three Courts, or Murder at the Ball]; 2) Spade and Sand (2019): libretto adaptation of Nikolai Timofeev’s short story ‘Ubiistvo i samoubiistvo’ [‘Murder and Suicide’]; 3) Today in 1864 (2020): 45-minute audio drama adaptation of Nikolai Timofeev’s 1872 Zapiski sledovatelia [Notes of an Investigator]; 4) Curare: 45-minute audio drama adaptation of Aleksandr Shkliarevskii’s 1872 ‘Sekretnoe sledstvie’ [‘A Secret Investigation’]; and 5) The Russian Detective: a 110-pp. graphic novel (Jonathan Cape, 2024).