Elena V. Baraban is an associate professor in the Department of German and Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba.Stephen M. Norris is the Walter E. Havighurst professor of Russian History and the Director of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami University in Ohio.

• Acknowledgments Notes on Transliteration 1. The Akunin Project: Introduction Elena V. Baraban and Stephen M. Norris2. Interview with Grigorii Chkhartishvili (Boris Akunin) Part One: Postmodern Detektiv: The Erast Fandorin Series3. In Search of a Hero: Boris Akunin’s Death of AchillesElena V. Baraban4. Rewriting Homer: Boris Akunin’s Postmodern ApproachJudith KalbPart Two: Amateur Detectives: The Sister Pelagia Trilogy and Adventures of Nicholas Fandorin5. Tempting the Reader into a Search for Meaning: Boris Akunin’s Pelagia TrilogyClaire Whitehead6. "A Little Theory": Boris Akunin’s "Crime and Punishment"Zara M. TorlonePart Three: Buried Secrets and Historical Spies in Akunin’s Works7. The Mysteries of Moscow: In Which Boris Akunin Impersonates a French Writer and Reveals a Buried SecretElizabeth Richmond-Garza8. Spying on the Past: Boris Akunin’s History of EspionageStephen M. NorrisPart Four: Rewriting the History of Russia9. L’etat, c’est tout: Boris Akunin’s History of the Russian State and the National History CanonIlya Gerasimov10. An Instructional Manual for the Nation: Boris Akunin’s History of the Russian StateStephen M. NorrisPart Five: New Pseudonyms and Projects: Anatolii Brusnikin and Akunin-Chkhartishvili11. "Under the Wide-Branching Cranberry": Stiob and Allusion in Anatoly Brusnikin’s The Ninth SaviourYekaterina Severts12. The Family Album: Ordinary People in Extraordinary CircumstancesElena V. BarabanPart Six: Boris Akunin as a Literary and Commercial Project13. Socialist Realism Inside-Out: Boris Akunin and Mass Literature for the EliteBradley A. Gorski14. Boris Akunin and Cross-Media MarketingNatalia Erlenkamp15. Conclusion: A Dozen Questions for Boris AkuninAppendices: Excerpts from Boris Akunin's Untranslated Works1. Grigorii Chkhartishvili, "If I Were a Newspaper Magnate: Notes of a Restless Cow" (1999), translated by Bradley A. Gorski2. "A New Karamzin Has Appeared" and "General Introduction" to The History of the Russian State, translated by Stephen M. Norris3. Excerpt from Boris Akunin, Spy Novel (2005), translated by Stephen M. Norris4. Excerpt from Anatolii Brusnikin, The Ninth Savior, translated by Yekaterina SevertsList of Works by Boris AkuninList of Contributors Index

"One fascinating feature of The Akunin Project is its intention to experiment with the traditional form of an academic collected volume as well as epitomize postmodernist aesthetics both thematically and stylistically in this project."- Olga Breininger-Umetayeva, Higher School of Economics (The Soviet and Post-Soviet Review)