The Double

I have just finished reading Fyodor Dostoyevksy's surreal and sinister story "The Double", first published in 1846, this translation by Ronald Wilks, 2009.  I've read so much recently that was written in the 19th Century and seems totally pertinent to contemporary life.

Poor Mr. Golyadkin is trying to talk to his Civil Service employer, Anton Antonovich, regarding his anxieties about Mr. Golyadkin's double who has appeared in the workplace, an operator who knows how to insinuate himself with everybody to advance his interests.  

"I'm only developing the theory, putting forward the idea, Anton Antonovich, that people who wear masks aren't at all rare now and that nowadays it's hard to recognize the man beneath the mask".

"Well, you know, it's not so hard.  Sometimes it's even fairly easy, sometimes you don't have to look very hard...."

"No....I'm talking of myself, Anton Antonovish, I'm talking of myself, for example: when I say that I wear a mask, it's only when I need to; that is, only for carnivals or festive gatherings, speaking literally.  But I don't wear one every day in front of people, speaking in a different and more cryptic sense.  That's what I wanted to say, Anton Antonovich."

Golyadkin falls apart within a society where he feels he can trust no-one and is finally undone by his clever, dissembling double.  I think this ambiguous and disturbing text is a little masterpiece by Dostoyevky,

Masked in the City, watercolour, 2013