‘My pre-eminent underground type:’ on disputes around The Double [Dvoynik]

Published in 1846, and as such the writer’s second independent work, Dostoevsky’s novella The Double [Dvoynik] is among his oeuvre whose profound ideological (and often artistic) value has been downplayed or denied completely. The article sets out to address the persistent problem of The Double in contemporary studies of literature and propose a possible solution. Ryabchinsky argues that Dostoevsky explores the topic of a doppelgänger with deliberate reference to Gogol and Hofmann as an established and recognizable cultural code. However, instead of merely reproducing the code, the writer enriches it with new meanings essential for Dostoevsky’s intention, which is to follow the progress and to clear up the personality of an ‘underground man,’ whom he views as an embodiment of depravity. Ryabchinsky suggests that Mr Golyadkin’s character foreshadows the later Dostoevsky’s ‘underground’ types like Svidrigaylov, Ivan Karamazov, and others.