Precisely Not Me: The Deuce in Dostoevsky

Abstract

This chapter examines some of the ways that the motif of the double fuels the fiction of Dostoevsky. On the one hand, there is the story, The Double, which features the appearance of the main character’s double, possibly a Doppelgänger. Beyond the appearance of the Doppelgänger, the story is peppered with images of doubles. Most of my energy in this chapter, however, focuses on Crime and Punishment, which is saturated and driven by a variety of doubles. My intention here is to articulate a second narrative—a story of doubles—that provides something like an animated armature for the main narrative.