Le double et le texte : homonymes, pseudonymes et auteurs chez Dostoievski, King, Auster, Poe et Nabokov
The mythical figure of the double appears in most of cultures through archetypes translating the human experience of division, be it complementary or antithetical.  In Gothic and Fantastic literatures, the myth often stands for a feeling of anguish and horror underlining the mysteries and complications arising from the subject’s dividedness. This analysis wishes to group into two thematic categories occurrences of doubles based on the textual treatment that is made of them: doubles as homonyms and as pseudonyms. This distinction will lead in commenting on the author’s perception of himself and of the creative process. We will use a Lacanian and post-structuralist reading grid, based on the fact that dividedness has been a core issue in psychological and psychoanalytical theoretical developments. The works studied will be Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy, Stephen King’s The Dark Half, Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Double and Vladimir Nabokov’s Despair.
Double Doppelganger Lacan Divided subject Author Homonym Pseudonym