The Double, written in Dostoevsky's youth, was a sharp turn away from the realism of his first novel,Poor Folk.The first real expression of his genius,The Doubleis a surprisingly modern hallucinatory nightmare in which a minor official named Goliadkin becomes aware of a mysterious doppelgänger–a man who has his name and his face and who gradually and relentlessly begins to displace him with his friends and colleagues. In the dilemma of this increasingly paranoid hero, Dostoevsky makes vividly concrete the inner disintegration of consciousness that would become a major theme of his work.
Классическая проза18+FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
THE DOUBLE
TRANSLATORS’ NOTES
Russian names are composed of first name, patronymic (from the father’s first name), and last name. Formal address requires the use of first name and patronymic. Diminutives are commonly used among family and intimate friends; they have two forms, the casual and the endearing (Pyotr becomes Petrushka or Petrusha). Servants are sometimes referred to by a spoken form of their patronymic (Alexeich, instead of Alexeevich).
The following is a list of the principal Russian names in the two short novels brought together here, with a guide to their accentuation.
Yákov Petróvich Goliádkin (Sr. and Jr.)
Pyótr (Petrúshka, Petrúsha; no patronymic or last name)
Krestyán Ivánovich Rútenspitz
Vladímir Semyónovich (no last name)
Andréi Filíppovich (no last name)
Olsúfy Ivánovich Berendéev
Klára Olsúfyevna Berendéev
Antón Antónovich Sétochkin
Néstor Ignátievich Vakhreméev
Emelyán Gerásimovich (Gerásimych; no last name)
Iván Semyónovich (no last name)
Alexéich (no first name or last name)
Karolina Ivánovna (no last name)
CHAPTER I