The Double by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Fiction, Classics

There is a great doppelganger tradition in literature, but there is nothing is quite like Fyodor Dostoevsky's _The Double_. There is a modern quality in this Russian nightmare -- where much of Dostoevsky shares qualities with Dickens and Tolstoy, The Double reminds us of the work of Kafka or Sartre -- Sartre's 'Nausea' particularly. The novel leaves us with a feeling as though we had partaken of too much vodka: it has a drunken quality to it, and it is a drunken quality it pleases us to share.

About the Author
Dostoevsky, Fyodor Mikhailovich: - "Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky (1821 - 1881), sometimes transliterated Dostoevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher. Dostoyevsky's literary works explore human psychology in the troubled political, social and spiritual atmosphere of 19th-century Russia and engage with a variety of philosophical and religious themes. He began writing in his 20s and his first novel, Poor Folk, was published in 1846 when he was 25. Dostoevsky's major works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872) and The Brothers Karamazov (1880). His oeuvre consists of 11 novels, three novellas, 17 short novels and numerous other works. Many literary critics rate him as one of the greatest psychologists in world literature. His 1864 novella Notes from Underground is considered to be one of the first works of existentialist literature."Garnett, Constance: - "Constance Clara Garnett (1861 - 1946) was an English translator of nineteenth-century Russian literature. Garnett was one of the first English translators of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anton Chekhov and introduced them on a wide basis to the English-speaking public."