The Depiction of Poison in Female-Authored Early Russophone Crime Fiction

• In Event: 19th-Century Russophone Women Writers IV: Literary and Other Crimes and Cons

Abstract

This paper will explore depictions of poison in works of female-authored early Russophone crime fiction including K. V. Nazar’eva’s Out of the Frying Pan and into the Fire (1884) and A. Sokolova’s Without a Trace (1890). These texts feature poison used not only as a murder weapon against unsuspecting victims but also as a means of self-harm for suspects or perpetrators wishing to avoid justice. As such, poison assumes a rich multivalency. This paper will examine how Nazar’eva and Sokolova interrogate the ambiguous boundaries between victim/perpetrator, life/death, and justice/injustice that are rendered particularly salient through interactions with poison. It will briefly consider how the depiction of poison as a weapon contributes to a discussion about the nature of female agency in a patriarchal society.

Author

• Grace Leigh Docherty, U of St Andrews (UK)