double

Author's name: Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's second novel, The Double, was published in early 1846, just days after the huge success of Poor Folk. This book explores the theme of madness, one of Dostoevsky's favorite themes in his later major novels. It depicts the inner conflict within Yakov Petrovich Goliath.

Dekin, an employee in one of the departments of the city of St. Petersburg, has his life turned upside down when a person who looks exactly like him appears, plotting against him and gradually taking over his position at work and at home, until his life is driven to complete collapse. Perhaps the most striking thing that affected Mr. Golyadkin and astonished him was that the people around him, led by his boss and his servant Petrushka, did not seem shocked by the appearance of this doppelganger. They considered him simply a man who looked like him and treated him accordingly.

Dostoevsky's extensive reliance on the technique of internal dialogue in this novel enabled him to explore the depths of his hero's personality and penetrate his psyche, which was altered by the entry of this other, thus consecrating his genius in analyzing the human psyche. Nietzsche said of him: "Dostoevsky is the only writer from whom I learned something of psychology."

Although The Double is not one of Dostoyevsky's most famous works, it is considered the cornerstone of his unique style. Vladimir Nabokov even said it was "the greatest book Dostoyevsky wrote."

From the novel

We are born of deformity and die of pain

“ I am self-sufficient, and that’s enough. I don’t want to know anyone, and I don’t want to care about anyone. I want to stay as I am .”

Mask wearers have become so numerous in our time that it has become difficult today to recognize the person behind the mask.