DOSTOEVSKY'S USE OF PROJECTION: PSYCHIC MECHANISM AS LITERARY FORM IN "THE DOUBLE"

Richard J. Rosenthal, University of California at Los Angeles

I shall attempt to describe what I believe is unique about "The Double, " based on Dostoevsky's intuitive understanding of the psychic mechanism of projection, which not only permits literary representation of a psychological conflict, but brings together all elements of the narrative structure to give the work an essential unity.

After first defining what I mean by projection and how it enters into the reading of the novel, I shall examine how protective mechanisms become translated into the structural levels of "The Double" ; then I shall describe what I believe to be the underlying fantasy which inspires the development of the main character of the story. I

Projection is a mental mechanism whereby aspects of the self are attributed to others. It is an essential component of empathy and identification, and it may be used as a mechanism of defense in which a person attempts to get rid of unacceptable impulses and aspects of the self by externalizing them on to other people or on to the environment. Melanie Klein was the first psychoanalyst to recognize that the process does not stop there, but also consists of the fantasies the individual then has about what he has done. (1) There is a continuing relationship with the projected aspects of the self and with the person or object into which they are projected. The individual may feel persecuted by these others or in identification with them. He may feel a need to control them, or conversely, may feel controlled by them. Excessive use of projective mechanisms may leave an individual feeling internally depleted, and such an inner sense of impoverishment renders him less able to protect himself from the intrusiveness of others. It will also leave him uncertain as to his own psychic boundaries, where he ends and the other begins, resulting in a confusion between inner and outer reality (fantasy versus reality, dream versus life).

While analysts working with borderline and psychotic patients have an opportunity to experience and to understand all the permutations these fantasies may take, various forms of projection are also essential to the lives of more normal individuals. The act of reading is in part a regressive

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phenomenon in which there is a loosening of boundaries between self and non-self, inner and outer, and a fusion or confusion with the literary work. This comes about through introjective and projective mechanism; one takes in, or devours the work with one's eyes and one imposes one's fantasies and expectations on the literary work to make it like ourselves. (2)

This is of particular significance in "The Double" ; the whole tragic experience of the novel takes place in Goljadkin's consciousness. The reader is given just the information available to Goljadkin and everything appears to be presented from his point of view. To the extent that the locus of the story is in the consciousness of a single individual, the reader shares in that state of mind, and the psychic mechanisms of that individual approximate the literary form of the story. What the individual perceives in his environment and how he interprets it makes up the content of the story.

To illustrate, let us examine the opening pages of the novel. When we are first introduced to Mr. Goljadkin he is waking up from his night's sleep and is not quite sure whether he is awake or still asleep, whether what is happening around him is real or is a dream. (3) This is an experience which most of us have had at one time or another, and so we don't feel uncomfortable about identifying with him. Nor do we question his behavior when his first action upon waking is to run to the mirror to look at his external reflection to see how he is feeling inside. The narrator then describes the various objects in the immediate environment as Goljadkin might see them. The walls of Goljadkin's room, his furniture, his clothes look familiarly back at him. The autumn day peers into the room with a sour and bad-tempered grimace. When he picks up his wallet and looks at his money, it seems to look back at him in friendly and approving fashion. His samovar rages and hisses angrily, while lisping and babbling at him. The reader accepts these uses of projection. They are animistic or anthropomorphic in a way that is acceptable to storytellers. This familiar literary device and the reasonableness with which all this is presented serves to foster the reader's identification with Goljadkin. We don't complain about the confused identities or that things are being attributed where they don't belong, nor do we fuss when Goljadkin's servant, Petrushka, appears wearing a man-servant's livery that doesn't fit because it was made for somebody else. A moment later, however, when Goljadkin in his rented carriage is seen, first by two fellow employees and then by the head of his department, we realize by his embarrassment that he, Mr. Goljadkin, is where he doesn't belong. His response is to deny the uncomfortable reality by first pretending that he wasn't seen and then, failing that, to pretend that it isn't him, but somebody else who looks like him. He responds to the confrontation by denying his own existence. "It's quite all right; this is not me at all, Andrej Filippovich, it's not me at all, not me, and that's all about it. "

It is at this moment that the reader first realizes that the pretense is not just a literary device, but is a pathological way of relating to the world. It

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is this pretense, Mr. Goljadkin's pretending not to be himself and that he is someone other than himself, which is at the heart of the story. He has been caught in his deception and is embarrassed at being seen by others. Characteristically, Goljadkin is preoccupied with what other people think of him, what kind of impression he is making. Throughout the story he will experience shame rather than guilt about his behavior. His efforts to impress others is based upon a need to receive something from them, something which he is unable to provide for himself. His self esteem and regard for himself is totally dependent upon external appreciation and favor. Something which should come from within, which should be a part of the self, is missing and is felt to come from the outside world, particularly from these significant others. (4) II

Critics have commented how Goljadkin is merely looking for "his own place, " in order to "be himself. " I would disagree and state that Goljadkin is constantly trying to be someone other than himself by putting himself, or aspects of himself, where he does not belong. This pattern, in the most concrete physical representation of projection, forms the very structure of the novel. As projection is an intrusion through psychic boundaries, literally, there is one gate crashing scene after another. (5) Mr. Goljadkin makes uninvited and inappropriate visits, crashes parties, interrupts meetings, etc. Each of these episodes makes use of a psychological division of space into outside and inside. Goljadkin, the outsider, is intruding into someone else's space.

Conversely, as is true of people with weak ego boundaries, he is quick to give up his own space. He disclaims responsibility for many of his actions, speaks of himself in the third person, moves as if mechanically propelled by someone else, blames enemies and, when feeling particularly uncomfortable, looks for a mouse hole to crawl into and wishes for his disappearance or annihilation. It is here that one of Dostoevsky's most important symbols is developed, with his hero's withdrawal into his corner, or behind the screen, or "under the floorboards, " ostensibly in order to avoid insult by others. Again it is important to realize that physical space is being used metaphorically to represent a state of mind, movement into that space the psychic mechanism. Withdrawal, or its more active counterpart, self-effacement, are abandonments of the self which leave one less able to defend oneself, more easily overwhelmed. It is just such self-abdication which brings about the birth of Goljadkin's double. Psychoanalytic experience confirms the ubiquity of the fantasy that in using denial or projection one doesn't just disappear, but what one loses is felt to go somewhere else. The previous success of Goljadkin's efforts at self-effacement is documented: Mr. Goljadkin is regarded as so insignificant that no one, not even his servant, bothers to look at him; therefore no one notices the striking resemblance of the double until it is pointed out to them. When Mr. Goljadkin finally appeals to His Excellency, the man for whom he has been working asks, "Who are you?"

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That Goljadkin looks insignificant is particularly important since an unusual degree of power is attributed to visual forms of representation. How things appear is equated with how they are, as when Goljadkin looks in the mirror to see how he is feeling. Since so much importance is attached to physical appearance, a pimple is indeed a disaster. Most significant of Goljadkin's early reactions to his double is shame that somebody would look like him, and he is ashamed to be seen with him.

We cannot talk about how things look without mentioning the act of looking. When Goljadkin is at his most helpless, he mows the other fellow down with an annihilating glance. It is this kind of visual omnipotence which allows him to imagine he can cause the ballroom chandelier to fall merely by looking at it, thereby turning a helpless situation into a heroic one. When he wants to insult or devalue the German woman he calls her "one-eyed. " Visual omnipotence is a specialized form of projection involving the perceptual modality most associated with long distance transmission and reception.

In addition to appearance, Goljadkin's oscillation between intrusiveness and self-effacement is physically represented in his speech and in his movement. His speech is filled with commonplaces, proverbs and platitudes. Nothing he says is original, everything is borrowed. Events are referred to as if the listener can read his mind and is supposed to already know what he is saying. Or there are vague innuendoes, hints and circumlocutions, with Goljadkin rarely coming out and saying what he means. His blocked speech somehow leaves his thoughts to meander on their own as if still hoping to arrive at their goal. Words tumble on after one another, pleonastically stuffing themselves into some space, fighting for centrality. Or perhaps fighting to avoid it, since Goljadkin can never get to the point. On one occasion he asks himself why it is that he always keeps talking about the wrong thing.

Goljadkin's movements have already been well described by Vinogradov (6) and by Terras. (7) How can the short-legged, paunchy Goljadkin, Terras asks us to explain, "fly like an arrow? " In fact, it is suggested that these movements have a life of their own, as if someone else is moving him. Goljadkin is referred to as a puppet or jack-in-the-box, "as though someone had released a spring in him. " These sudden moves are both manic and intrusive - he is always jumping in where is doesn't belong. Andrej Filippovich sees him as if he "looked ready to jump straight down his throat, " and reacts by anxiously jumping backwards and slamming the door just as Goljadkin bounds swiftly up the stairs right at him.

Goljadkin is aware, on some level, of this intrusiveness and therefore worries that he is going too far. "That's just like you, " he chastizes himself, "You go plunging straight in. " Later on he again admonishes himself: " 'Won't that be too much, ' he thought; 'aren't I going too far? It's always the same; I always overdo things. ' " This inhibits any purposive movement on his part and prevents him from ever asserting himself effectively.

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Goljadkin's movement is contrasted with that of his double. Goljadkin Jr. also tries to be someone else, but is successful at it. Perhaps because he's not hampered by shame or guilt, he scampers and skips, turns and twists, minces and darts and prances and wriggles his way through the second half of the story. Goljadkin Jr. has no inner life of his own. Or to put it another way, since he can be anybody, he is nobody, or at least not himself. Goljadkin Sr. is envious of and feels "mocked" by his double's ability to do just that which he is unable to do, to move rapidly and freely over all boundaries, to change identities. (8) In his nightmares and in his final breakdown, what upsets the senior Goljadkin is the speed with which his double moves, and his ability to assume multiple identities. (9) Goljadkin Sr. 's comparison of himself with his double, and his envy of his double's ability to "overstep all the boundaries, " anticipates Raskolnikov's relationship with Svidrigajlov.

Unlike his double, Goljadkin Sr. does have something to lose by crossing these psychic barriers: his sanity. His anxiety about going too far is related to his progressive inability to distinguish the boundary between himself and others as a result of his alternating intrusiveness and self-effacement. As previously noted, excessive use of primitive projective mechanisms leads to confusion between what is happening inside the self and what is happening outside. Thus, Goljadkin thinks he's looking into a mirror when he's looking at another person. He can't defend himself because he can't tell when the other person has gone too far. Did he or Goljadkin Jr. eat the eleven cakes? He puzzles over what Andrej Filippovich's words meant at a time when his superior didn't say anything, he himself had done all the talking. He sees used dishes on a restaurant table and, wondering whether it was he who had dinner, offers to pay.

Goljadkin's name means "naked" and in the manner which I have been suggesting he is without clothes, indeed, without skin. There is an emphasis throughout the story on clothes as a defensive structure, a kind of psychic skin or transition between self and non-self. (10) Goljadkin's disintegration is represented by his losing his clothes. He loses first one galosh, then the other, then the rest of his clothes begin to tear and come apart. His double is described initially as "a man who for want of his own clothes is wearing somebody else's. " Goljadkin lacks an adequate boundary between himself and others, and without it he can't hold his identity together and is vulnerable to being intruded upon. Without this covering to protect him he is also exposed, and that which he might most wish to conceal can be seen by all.

What carries the theme of intrusion to its most interesting and most confusing extreme, however, is the role of the narrator. It has frequently been observed that in some parts of the story one cannot tell where the narrator leaves off and Goljadkin begins. Throughout the story the narrator makes use of most if not all of Goljadkin's mannerisms of speech. When he uses elevated language to describe trivial happenings, the parody is recognized as an appropriate stylistic device for showing us how Goljadkin is trying to be something he's not. However, when the narrator

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describes the ball at Olsufij Ivanovich's, his intention seems to have changed and he takes on Goljadkin's pretensions. The things I could tell you, he says, if I were someone else, a Homer or Pushkin, and then proceeds to tell us, as if he were someone else. His pomposity appears in marked contrast with Goljadkin's deflated state, Goljadkin at that moment wishing to sink into the ground or hide himself in a mouse hole. Not only does the narrator introduce himself as a character for the first time, but practically every sentence in this chapter begins with the first person pronoun. The narration seem to have gotten away from him, or perhaps he is showing off, his verbal dexterity the equivalent of Goljadkin Jr. 's dance. III

I shall now turn from the basic structure of the novel to the fantasy which I find underlying Goljadkin's breakdown. Goljadkin has several rivals for the attention of the all-important parent. Vladimir Semenovich, who is Andrej Filippovich's nephew, has just received a promotion at the office and is soon to be the son-in-law of Goljadkin's former benefactor. Thus he is the favored son of three of Goljadkin's symbolic fathers. This comes across most clearly in the interview with another father surrogate, Dr. Rutenspitz, (11) when Goljadkin expresses how upset he is at being disregarded. He snidely hints that Vladimir Semenovich's interest in marrying Klara Olsufevna is not out of love for her so much as it is a way of achieving position. It is this position which seems to be the object of Goljadkin's jealousy and it is just such favor which he had lost prior to the beginning of the story. He describes his rival as a baby, "with the milk not yet dry on his lips. "

Goljadkin's downfall begins on the anniversary of Klara Olsufevna's birth. As his benefactor's only child, she is a rival also and his attitude toward her makes much more sense as a sibling than any primary object of his love. When he receives the letter from her in which she supposedly tells of her love and asks him to elope with her, his response is striking. Not one comment about ever having loved her or desired to marry her. Instead he expresses his jealousy of how her father spoiled her and fussed over her. He can't stand the attention she received: "They stuffed her with sweets and chocolates, and the silly old man slobbered over her; you're my sweetheart, you're my darling, he says, you're my pretty one. " Again, as with his jealousy of Vladimir Semenovich, Goljadkin portrays his rival as orally indulged and greedy. Nowhere in the story is Klara's mother mentioned, but a maternal figure is brought in at this point and blamed for indulging her. The mother representative is the German landlady, the woman who had at one time been feeding Goljadkin and to whom he is indebted. (12) Whenever he mentions her, it is in a resentful and devalued way and as if he felt that she had some part in the betrayal. But then he shifts his reproach and blames Klara herself. "The old witch is a good woman, the witch isn't to blame, it's you, madam, who are to blame for

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everything. " Klara is the intruder who usurps his place. It is no wonder that he fantasized the chandelier falling down to crush her.

Goljadkin's "namesake" of course is felt to be a younger brother or son. Upon his first appearance, Goljadkin admits his suspicion that something like that was being prepared, "that there was somebody else in reserve. " This sounds very much like the child's fantasy of being replaced by a baby brother or sister. Although they look as alike as two peas in a pod, the reader nevertheless experiences the double as quite a bit younger. He is called junior, shows spryness and quickness of movement, as well as playfulness and, characteristically, kicks his legs like a baby. He is orally indulged, and at Goljadkin Sr. 's expense. Mr. Goljadkin is made to feel more and more excluded, while observing that "the scoundrel looks like the court favorite. "

What I have been describing in this last section is essentially an oedipal story in which Goljadkin's position in the family has been usurped by a younger sibling. This is a later version in which the various characters are already differentiated. In the earlier, or preoedipal version, the younger child, sometimes the feared unborn child, represents the ideal or perfect person. Goljadkin's reasoning, like that of an older sibling, would be: If I were good enough, my parents wouldn't need to have more children. The arrival of his younger sibling, in this case the double, is experienced ,as the shame and humiliation of not having lived up to these ideals.

In summary, the structure of "The Double" relates through the narrative development of the main character to the psychic mechanism of projection, concretely represented as movement between different space dimensions, outside versus inside, representative of the psychological barrier between self and non-self. The main character's relations with the outside world are effected by fantasies of intrusiveness and usurpation, and on its most differentiated level by the fantasy of being replaced by the birth of a younger sibling. My initial assertion, therefore, that the psychic mechanism of projection is at the core of "The Double's" narrative structure, has been demonstrated.

1. M. Klein, "Notes on Some Schizoid Mechanisms, " (1946) in: Develop ments in Psychoanalysis, London, Hogarth Press.
2. N. Holland, The Dynamics of Literary Response, New York, W. W. Norton, 1968, Ch. 3. Holland also states his belief that oral fantasies are the most common literary fantasies. "No matter what other issues from later stages appear in a literary work, one almost always finds at the core some fantasy of oral fusion and merger. " p. 38.
3. All references to the text are from the J. Coulson translation, Penguin Classics, 1972.
4. This relationship between the inner world of the self vis-a-vis the external world was recognized by Dostoevsky as the main idea of his

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   novel. In a letter to his brother, Mikhail, written near the end of 1846: "The outward must be balanced by the inward. Otherwise, with the absence of outward events, the inward will take too dangerous a sweep upwards. Nerves and fantasy will take up too much room. From want of habit every outward event will appear to be of colossal and, somehow, of frightening importance. One begins to be afraid of life. " Cited by D. Magarshack, Dostoevsky, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1961, p. 89.
5. R. Hingley has observed the series of "gate-crashing scenes" that play such an important role throughout Dostoevsky's work. The Undiscovered Dostoevsky, London, 1962.
6. V. V. Vinogradov, Evoljucija russkogo naturalizma, Leningrad, Academia, 1929. A translation of relevant passages was provided by V. Lefebvre of the Univ. of California at Irvine.
7. V. Terras, The Young Dostoevsky (1846-1849), The Hague, Mouton, 1969, pp. 130-133.
8. On a more rational and reasonable level, Goljadkin Sr. believes that his double has unlimited confidence and self-respect, that he charms everybody gracefully and easily and that he not only accomplishes the things that Goljadkin would like to do, but he does them without any effort. He is admired and admitted to those places from which Goljadkin Sr. is kept out. Goljadkin's contempt hides his envy.
9. The rapidity of movement has been present throughout the story. There is a frantic energy which cannot help but have an effect on the reader. It is not just Goljadkin Jr. but the very words with which the story was told which dance or run away, adding to the feeling of going too fast, of things getting away from us, of being out of control. The multiplicity of Goljadkins is a further representation of Goljadkin's fragmentation.
10. V. G. Belinskij, the leading literary critic of Dostoevsky's day, described the young author's talent as "an ability, one might say, to slip into the skin of another person, even if that person be a complete stranger. " Cited by V. Terras, The Young Dostoevsky, p. 109.
11. R. Rogers elaborates on the significance of the German physician as a paternal figure. Dr. Rutenspitz, who shows up both at the apartment of His Excellency and at the house of Berendeev, links up the other father surrogates. At one point, Goljadkin suspects the doctor of trying to poison him and of being behind the plot to get rid of him; when Dr. Rutenspitz takes him off to the insane asylum, Goljadkin is convinced he is heading for some horrible punishment, with the doctor as judge and jailer. The Double in Literature, Detroit, Wayne State, 1970, p. 36, 37.
12. The German landlady and the German physician would be the parental couple. Not only do they have no relationship with each other, but none of the father figures in the novel have wives; there are no couples anywhere. What better way to prevent the birth of a younger sibling!