Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский

El Doble / The Double

Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Double (Hesperus Classics)

Hannah Yang

The Double is brilliant, but agonizing to read due to the constant, repetitive dialogue that occurs when Golyadkin speaks or thinks. Because I believe that this was a choice to represent Golyadkin's neurotic nature and this novel does an incredible job of illustrating Golyadkin's descent into madness while preserving the reader's sympathy for the character, reading this made me want to read much more Dostoevsky (and to explore Gogol!) despite never wanting to read The Double again.

A (relatively brief!!) excerpt to illustrate: "No, sir, this you haven't heard, Anton Antonovich. This is something else, Anton Antonovich, this is a good thing, truly good, and pleasant to hear... I've voiced the idea, as I explained earlier, Anton Antonovich, that Divine Providence has created two perfectly similar men, and the beneficent authorities, seeing Divine Providence, have given shelter to the two twins, sir. That's a good thing, Anton Antonovich. You can see that that's a very good thing, Anton Antonovich, and that I'm far from freethinking. I accept the beneficent authorities as a father. It's like this, so to speak, beneficent authorities, and you, you know... so to speak... a young man needs to work... Give me your support, Anton Antonovich, stand up for me, Anton Antonovich... I'm all right, sir... Anton Antonovich, for God's sake, one more little word... Anton Antonovich..." But Anton Antonovich was already a long way away from Mr. Golyadkin. You can see why reading passages like this every time Golyadkin opens his mouth might test one's own sanity. 

The story follows Golyadkin, a low-level bureaucrat with middling success in life and overwhelming status anxiety, as he encounters his double: a man who looks exactly like himself, with the same name and personal background, but who has the unctuousness to become better-liked by his acquaintances and colleagues. Golyadkin desperately watches his double take over his own life, even framing him for acts that reflect poorly on him (my jaw dropped at the audacity of the pie incident). Most devastatingly, no one even notices that they look exactly the same! He is completely isolated in his paranoia and repeatedly alienated by the external world.

Overall, a disorienting read. Sometimes I wanted to read it as a comedy because Golyadkin seemed so very silly! but Dostoevsky writes Golyadkin's psychological crisis with such empathy - the transition between his attempted friendship with his double and euphoria at finding his 'brother' to the rage that follows is even more painful to read compared to a purely adversary relationship between the two - that the reader must watch helplessly as Golyadkin digs himself deeper into a hole. 

Our hero cried out and took his head in his hands. Alas! He had already long had a presentiment of this!

El Doble / The Double

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