SOURCE: “The Double,” in Dostoevsky: The Seeds of Revolt, 1821–1849, Princeton University Press, 1976, pp. 295–312.

In the following essay, Frank provides an overview of The Double, including its place in Dostoevsky's canon and its relation to his other works.

To attain a proper perspective on Dostoevsky's minor fiction in the 1840s after Poor Folk is by no means an easy task. It is impossible, of course, to agree with the almost totally negative evaluation of his contemporaries, especially since we can discern, with the benefit of hindsight, so many hints of the later (and much greater) Dostoevsky already visible in these early creations. On the other hand, in rejecting what seems to us the distressing myopia of his own time, we should not fall into an equally flagrant and perhaps less excusable error. We should not blur the line between potentiality and actuality, and read this earlier work as if...