The Double

Always a pleasure reading Dostoevsky, an author with an enveloping, hypnotic and almost hallucinatory style. This latter adjective is certainly valid, as in The Double. The progress of the protagonist is somewhat akin to a bad dream. Imagine a scenario where a man lacking in confidence suddenly seeing the appearance of a seemingly identical person — a double — who gradually “replaces” (in all senses) the former. The logical interpretation of such an appearance/outcome is the incipience of madness. This is the view favoured by most critics. However, The Double could also be seen as an account/satire of bureaucracy — its rules and limitations. Dostoevsky was undoubtedly inspired by Gogol (Dead Souls, The Nose). And the frustrations of Golyadkin, the narrator, find a later interpretation in the travails of Josef K. Not always an easy work with which to engage, but worth persevering with, especially if you accept that much of what occurs has to happen in Golyadkin's imagination. 7/10.

By Fyodor Dostoevsky