WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE DOUBLE IN THE WEST?

The history of perception of any text written in a foreign language is determined by the history of its translations. It becomes more complicated when there are several versions of this text in the source language. Exactly which translation do the critics from another culture rely upon when they judge the text? The translation of Dostoevsky’s novella “The Double” typifies it. The present article provides a brief review of how Western critics read and interpreted the second work of Dostoevsky and makes a hypothesis that the absence of translation of the first version of text was (and is) playing an essential role in its perception.