Aspects of the integrity of B. Akunin’s collection of stories Love of History

The nature of integrity in B. Akunin’s collection of stories Love of History is defined as ambiguous, directed both at integrating the text and at disintegrating it, at openness, connection with modernity, with Internet blog. Essential in B. Akunin’s collected stories is the aim of the anecdote connected with the opposition to officialdom and with the destruction of the dictatorial narration. The reader is involved in the aesthetic discourse via drawing historical analogies with facts of modern reality, creating an image of the world in which everything is interconnected. Historical miniatures are united into a cohesive narration by the image of the author-storyteller. The paper draws the conclusion that Love of History is a biography of sorts, in which the anecdote creates the illusion of approaching the hero, of a direct conversation with him. The presence of the image of a narrator, the depiction of a historical time in its connection with modern times, the genre traditions of an anecdote, a novel (a diary, an epistle) contribute to the formation of a more cohesive unity than a collection; in a way, a metagenre unity is formed. Love of History balances on the border between documental and belletristic discourse, the genre of anecdote and novel with elements of confession. A chain of anecdotes, particular stories grouped around the personality of the narrator creates a generalized picture of the world, history and man.

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