The Double

The Double is a novella written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was first published on January 30, 1846 in the Fatherland Notes. It was subsequently revised and republished by Dostoevsky in 1866. The Double is the most Gogolesque of Dostoyevsky's works; its subtitle "A Petersburg Poem" echoes that of Gogol's Dead Souls. Vladimir Nabokov called it a parody of "The Overcoat". Many others have emphasized the relationship between The Double and other of Gogol's Petersburg Tales. One contemporary critic, Konstantin Aksakov, remarked that "Dostoevsky alters and wholly repeats Gogol's phrases." Most scholars, however, recognize The Double as Dostoevsky's response to or innovation on Gogol's work. For example, A.L. Bem called The Double "a unique literary rebuttal" to The Nose (Gogol). This immediate relationship is the obvious manifestation of Dostoevsky's entry into the deeper tradition of German Romanticism, particularly the writings of E. T. A. Hoffmann.