Pinkertonism is a detective - adventure literature of the first decades of the 20th century , negatively evaluated by critics, but extremely popular among readers. Named for the protagonist - detective Nat Pinkerton . The main features: “antipsychologism and efficacy, plot tension and sensational-criminal themes” [1] .
It originated in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century and quickly spread to European countries, including Russia. The predecessors were the French feuilleton novel ( fr: Roman-feuilleton ), the English “ Newgate novel ” ( en: Newgate novel ) and the American “ tenth cent novel ” ( en: Dime novel ). The name of the phenomenon was given by the protagonist of the most famous cycle - “the king of detectives,” Nat Pinkerton, whose prototype was the American detective Alan Pinkerton . In addition to Pinkerton, the heroes of such books were Nick Carter, Sherlock Holmes (who had nothing in common with Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle ) and many others less visible. Books about the adventures of Ivan Dmitrievich Putilin , signed by the pseudonym Roman Dobry, were also published in Russia, under which the writer R. L. Antropov was hiding. Especially popular books about Pinkerton and other detectives were among teenagers. Critics were very negatively related to the “Pinkertonism”, a large article by Korney Chukovsky “Nat Pinkerton and Modern Literature” is known, where the consumer of such books is compared with the savage – hottentot.
In 1923, Nikolai Bukharin published an article in the Pravda newspaper, in which he urged Soviet writers to create the “Pink Pinkerton” - adventure literature to promote revolutionary ideas. In response to this appeal, several novels were written, including “ Mess-Mend, or Yankees in Petrograd ” by Marietta Shaginyan (1923), “The Trust D. E. The History of the Death of Europe ” (1923) by Ilya Ehrenburg , “ Iperit ” by Vsevolod Ivanov and Viktor Shklovsky (1925) and others. The mystery novel Master and Margarita (1929 - 1940) by famous Bulgakov was also created in a detective manner, and Soviet poet Ivan Bezdomny , a sample of the pre-war Komsomol member of the 1930s, was introduced as Pinkerton. yo