GB/US LITERATURE (1)

THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE – ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

 The Double and its relationship with creation

 The question of the double is posed upon the duality of good and evil that lies within
the human psyche in Dr. Jekyll and M.r Hyde.
 One of the reasons why it is very hard for the narrative agency, Utterson, to
distinguish between Jekyll and Hyde is connected to the fact that each character
uses handwriting to fool their reader about their identities. In other words,
handwriting is a way to hide that a double has been created and usurp the identity of
the other character.
 (quote 1) What we understand at this moment is that Utterson has misinterpreted
the reality. He thinks that Jekyll has imitated another character’s writing, in a forgery
of sorts. And we, the readers, understand something else: that it is not forged, but
points towards the two beings having the same or nearly the same handwriting.
 (quote 2) Jekyll asks Lanyon for help when he is locked in. He chooses to write of his
own hand so that his identify will be perceived by Lanyon.
 These two examples are mirrored. One passes for the other in both of them, which
shows the unity in their personalities. The fact that this unity is a creation of writing.
By writing, Hyde passes for Jekyll and vice versa.
 The topic of writing is associated to the creation of the double, because it provides a
way to hide the duality of the character.
 Theoretical remarks on the meaning of the double:
 In German, doppelgänger is a word that frequently is used in association with the
fantastical. The double would receive the punishment of the subject/character, a
transference of guilt and fear into an image of oneself. Not only that, he is a
projection of the subject, of his hidden and guilty feelings which enables the subject
to embody his evil-doings while guaranteeing that he will be punished.
 William Wilson is an example of this. William expresses his hatred of Wilson while
also deeming themselves inseparable companions. Their indivisibility is proof of their
equality.
 Dr. Jekyll, on the beginning, wants to create another part of himself which would
represent his evil half and thus allow him for catharsis. Hyde could be understood as
Jekyll’s nemesis, his best enemy, as opposed as it is alike. It is essentially a part of the
subject which was there already, but which was repressed. Those who meet Hyde
are immediately disgusted and repulsed, although they can offer no explanation as
to why. The reaction should be seen as both of recognition and rejection, as they are
aware the Hyde is Jekyll’s hidden side. This disgust is not motivated by actions at first
sight, the mere presence of Hyde brings upon their reaction.
 (quote 6 - Freud) The double corresponds to the psychoanalytical concept of the
Unheimlich. There is a necessity of something that is repressed to bring upon the
uncanny, but it is not enough to adequate to the concept. This repression should
awaken a frightening element which is recurrent. This will compose the uncanny.
The new double is an erotic construct, it comes from repression, from the inner
struggle within the self.
 Jekyll is at the origin of his double, it is the child of his experiments, something which
he is fully conscious off. There is not the looming of the supernatural which we find
in WW, there is responsibility and willfulness in the creation of Hyde.
 (7) This is the full recognition of the responsibility and the duplicity of Jekyll’s
experience. He is at once grateful and remorseful. Hyde thinks of Jekyll as a refuge,
and the opposite is also true. Their actions will be hidden through the
transformation. The specificity of the novella lies within the fact the Jekyll is fully
conscious when he creates Hyde. The very nature of the novel is altered by this: it is
not fantastic, perhaps not even science fiction. It is focused on the exploration of the
duality of the subject, but it does not fit the mold set upon the previous author, such
as Poe.
 The focus of the novel is an exploration of human duality and of the general
ambiguity, not only in Jekyll’s personality, but in Victorian society as a whole.
 The double connected to a moral discourse
 In its simplest form, the double would represent a metaphor of division within the
subject. This split would mean simply that there are in fact two persons inside Jekyll,
a good one – himself, and a bad one – Hyde. In this context, the double represents
quite simply the repressed evil drives of the subject.
 (8) We see in Hyde’s first description his ability to entice disgust and hatred at first
appearance. The doctor and Utterson both are driven with desire to kill him, but they
are controlled by their morality.
 Is Hyde truly the incarnation of evil when the murderous desire is also found within
the seemingly moral part of the population? The repression that gives birth to Hyde
is within everyone, he is but the coming out of those repression at full force. He
represents not evil, but the immediate comeuppance of every desire.
 It is society that must be blamed for the presence of evil. Hyde is only someone who
reveals his evil, but it exists within all characters, in a hidden manner. He is the
embodiment of a societal dialectic between contrary desires that are repressed.
 This general dichotomy is integrated within the psychology of the characters.
Utterson, for example, is a divisive man, always in between two sorts of urges. A
lawyer, supposedly the model of Victorian respectability, he embodies a
contradiction between opposite desires. Utterson’s references are confused and
ambiguous, as seen in his thought of “Cain’s heresy” (11)
 In this example (12), the moral foundations of society are revealed to be very frail, in
what Utterson sees is the best guaranty in Jekyll and Hyde. He is Jekyll’s own
selfishness, his own selfish interests. Jekyll recognizes that in himself and shows the
true nature of society. Hyde is the revelation/exposure of how morally divided
society already is before he comes along.
 Hyde represents the desire for transgression/subversion, but more precisely a
transgression which has very much to do with the failure of repression, which brings
Hyde beyond the barriers of what is socially acceptable. (13) There is an
unaccountable hatred towards him that his vision incites and this suggests that he is
deeply connected to a secret transgression. We never know exactly what Hyde did,
he reveals the secret while keeping it partly hidden. He is a figure in which we
project any kind of subversion. (14) Utterson does not condemn moral misbehaviors,
he condemns Hyde only for the blackmail of his friend Jekyll. The double figure
 represents not really evil, but the possibility that one’s evil deeds may come to light.
The desire is not to expose evil, but to hide him, or force him into hiding.
 Hyde is connected recurrently to animalistic qualities. He is a version of Jekyll which
regrets backwards toward the savagery and instinct of animals. (This novel is
situated within the zeitgeist of the publication of Darwin’s Origin of the Species and
Nordau’s Degeneration (a right-wing denunciation of the decrease in civilization at
the end of the 19th century) – published after Mr Jekyll – a clear fin de siècle
mentality)
 This notion of primitivism informs the comparisons in between Hyde and what the
text calls a juggernaut.
 The double and gender roles
 There are no significant women in Mr Jekyll. All those who appear are victims. Both
correspond to those stereotypes. Yet, there is another reference to women which is
less positive and stereotypical, when Hyde is taken apart by the crowd after the
fucks up a little lassie. The comparison to harpies (18) shows a darker side of
womanhood, connected to aggression, which could refer back to Hyde himself as a
character. His aggression is a point of femininity, as many other points of inferiority
which Victorian society attributed to females, such as his stature, his hysteria. Hyde
subverts the gender boundaries, between at once male and female, although he is
supposed to be Jekyll’s double.
 Jekyll creates another Jekyll called Hyde, but which is just as divided as he is,
although prone to evil-doings.

GB/US LITERATURE (2)

 The connection between the double and the topic of creation

 Is Hyde a creation of Jekyll? If so, what does he reveal as a creation?
 The connection between Jekyll and Hyde shows that Jekyll is a father figure towards
Hyde, who can be considered not just a creation of J, but also his progeny. Hyde’s
smaller stature, amongst other signs, point to this. The disgraces which leads to the
creation of Hyde is simply the fact that Jekyll is Hyde’s hidden father. J’s account of
Hyde provides a parable of fatherhood. (p 84 “my two natures had memory in
common (…) J had more than a father’s interest; Hyde had more than a son’s
indifference”.) J suggests the father-son relationship, although he says it goes
beyond that.
 When set free, H shows an act of filial rebellion. (p.94 “hence the ape-like (…)
burning the letters and destroying the portrait of my father.”)
 The idea of a father-son relationship also contributes to the idea that H represents a
regressed state of Jekyll.
 Every time H comes up, Jekyll disappears. The creator gives way to his creature and
is effaced by its appearance.
 W. Benjamin’s notion of the mass-production of culture in his essay The Work of Art
in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction puts forth the idea that the author is
destroyed by the mechanical reproduction of his work, which destroys what he calls
its aura. One can read J and H by taking this typical Victorian anxiety towards mass-
creation and individual identity.
 The more general thought within the novel is the vision of literary creation. The plot
is not about one story, but about a misinterpretation on the part of the characters, it
is driven by the way that Utterson misreads J’s story.
 This misreading lies in the fact that Utterson fails to understand that J does not fake
H’s handwriting, but that it is one and the same. Utterson fails to perceive that the
two share the same personality, as the text points toward two different writers in
term of identity.
 The question of literary creation is put in perspective at the end of the novel. (p96
“will Hyde die (…) I bring the life of that unhappy Henry Jekyll to an end.”) It seems
that ending this text equals death. The end of the narrative by J coincides with his
actual death and his transformation by H. When he ceases to write, he disappears. It
seems there is an impossibility to conciliate writing and living. This questions a
traditional view of literary creation. The writing is the sign that the writer has
disappeared.
 Other texts in the 19th century work the death of the author at the end, notably Poe
and Lovecraft. Stevenson creates this effect by finishing the narrative a couple
chapters before the end of the novella, which he follows with J’s statement.
 The novella presents a division in embedded texts and in a plurivocal narrative. (Pg.
51 “Its contents ran thus (…) ‘find me some of the old.’”) brings upon two different
voices which put in question the duality of voices and the matter of creation, a mise-
en-scène of two identities. It brings forth the question: who is the author?
 Duality and the narrative structure of the novella (quotes 2)
 A first read of the novels strikes with the surprise that there is a plurality of texts, not
only coming from various characters, but also multiple voices that are present inside
the narrative by means of taking different forms and making it difficult to attribute a
definitive writer to them.
 When J is stuck as Hyde, he writes Lanyon to bring him the solution to efface H. The
writer is Hyde, under the guise of Jekyll.
 Some texts are alluded to, but not reproduced in their entirety or at all in the text. In
chapter 5, after the assassination of the member of parliament, Utterson visits J,
who assures him that H will disappear completely, assuring the fact with a letter by
H. (q1) The reader gets the content of the letter, but not its phrasing. The style that
is alluded to does not correspond to H’s. This rephrasing is a reworking of an original
letter which only Utterson can see. The simple explanation is that J reworked it to
show a H which is submissive to him, in order to assuage Utterson, but it is not a
definitive one.
 There is a remarkable shift in the end of the novella which literary leads to Utterson’s
disappearance. He is the main narrator until the last two chapters, of which Lanyon
narrates one and J the other. This is introduced thusly (q2). He disappears from the
scene, becoming a reader himself to which the outer reader has no access. The last
two chapters are never recontextualized through the eyes of Utterson, which has
been our guide throughout the novella.
 Texts, authenticity and authority in J and H
 The question of identity represented in texts appears as soon as chapter 2, when
Utterson examines J’s will. (q3) This is how we learn the H is J’s inheritor. The text
closely relates the identity of J as a respectable member of society with a number of
acronyms which make it all more difficult to understand that he would bequeath his
 fortune to an unknown individual. The text points to a mystery: H’s name is a riddle,
as is J’s will. It is a source of worry and misunderstanding in Utterson. He can’t
reconcile J and H and he can’t reconcile the will and the acronyms that characterize
J.
 The problematic reading of texts and their failure to point towards an identity are a
recurring problem in the novel. The letter supposedly written by H is thought to have
been forged by J, because U can’t understand. (q4)
 This raises the question: can we attribute the necessary grounds for justifying an
identity to texts? It fails to point towards a definitive identity, because it is, in this
case, from the start, indistinguishable from the other.
 Stevenson uses “hand’, “handwriting” to point towards the disconnect in between
text and the confirmation of identity. (q5) It is an artificial construct, a way to fool
people. Texts are in no way the basis for an identity, but a creation in themselves.
They express not identity, but the impossibility of identifying the writer. (q6) (q7)
 The representative authority of the text is what is threatened in the novel, since the
relationship between what is read and reality is problematic. In the letter J sends to
Utterson after he has a quarrel with Lanyon, this can be seen. (q8) It is remarkable by
its lack of explanation to the actions of J, it does not explain reality, it only puts it
forth. Their referential authority towards reality is fractured, it rather utilizes
ambiguity.
 The use of the letter as a means of providing ambiguity by giving and omitting details
reveals the problematic of authority and veracity in texts.
 Texts and the patriarchal structure
 After all, JH is a text that deals with money, and particularly the notion of
inheritance. One of the topics is how J’s fortune will be squandered away by H. The
real danger H represents is the subversion of the social order and its institutions: the
transmission of money goes against the overlying code of society. This is what
aggravates and unsettles Utterson the most: the idea that order, money and social
status will not be completed as it should. (q9) It is remarkable that H represents a
threat because he wants to destroy J’s identity, his connection to his upper-class
status by severing the lineage which he represents(q10). H is the representation of a
moral danger, a danger to J’s self-righteousness, but also a threat to the texts which
embody the stability of the patriarchal society.
 (q11) suggests that H is not rejected only for moral reasons, but also for social
reasons. He is lower-class, he is not part of the same social strata.
 The matter of the text is attached to a larger question of morality which is
undertaken by the novella. H is after all a symptom of a degeneration of society and
of the duality that exists within every character. (q12 – hide-bound as utterly and as
directed towards H)
 The textual hierarchy
 The narrative organization of the text is utterly reliant on multiple focalizations (non-
focalization in Genette), there are various viewpoints attached to the characters or
the narrator. This general idea needs to be refined. (q13) In terms of focalization we
are clearly sharing Utterson’s thoughts and conscience, a case of non-focalization.
We know all he knows and a bit more. The latter part of q13 shows the maid. The
narrator does not have access to her thoughts as he has to U, he is looking at her
from the outside through external focalization. It is all the more difficult to
 understand how the narrator seems external to this character as we begin the novel
with this very sudden plunge into U’s vision. How can the narrator be so close to U
and so distant from this maid who is the witness to a very important plot point. The
narrator’s choice of words, such as in “used to say” breaks the reliability of the
testimony, it pushes the realm of coincidence. The focalization system appears
incoherent, just as if the narrative voice was hesitating between positions.
 This narrative mentions texts which are reproduced, not reproduced, or partly
reproduced. (p.65 PS) Hyde writes to Lanyon as J. There is the narrative which
includes a letter by Lanyon which includes a letter by H posing as J, with a postscript
that seems to have been written by J himself. This is another case of textual
enclosure which makes it all the more difficult to identify the real authenticity of the
texts. We can’t really trace them back to their origins because they are
recontextualized in such a heavy load of outer texts. (q14) alludes to a textual
hierarchy, as J commands a proper reading of the bundle of letters he sends to
Utterson, creating his own narrative.
 The use of embedded texts traces a parallel with a documented reality to try to
testify to a verisimilitude. Stevenson subverts this notion by presenting texts that are
contradictory or mudded in their conception. The effect of realism is compensated
by the fact that the narrative grasp never surrenders. The embedded effect creates
the notion the U’s vision is lost at his disappearance. The enclosure of the nested
boxes enhances secrecy and mystery at the heart of these revelations.
 (q16) The relationship between Carew and Utterson is never revealed and C is
identified by his grasp on a letter with U’s name on it.
 The stories don’t match enough that we can know exactly what happened. So much
ambiguous, what cool, such real.

GB/US LITERATURE (3)

 The reliability or unreliability of the text
 There are two ways to look at the text’s answers: the medical case represented by J’s
situation, and the criminal case. This is exactly what is suggested in the presentation
of J as both an MD and a lawyer. The cases are unsatisfactory incomplete. J is unable
to identify the ingredient which he has incorporated into the solution which enabled
the transformation (17). He stumbles into the ingredient instead of discovering it. On
the criminal viewpoint, it is similarly flawed. The text shows that crime and
transgression is not located in the specific particular being, but H’s apparition is
rather the sign of the general criminal nature of society. (18) The characters Utterson
and Poole are the source of evil and pride, they are themselves disturbing. H is
maybe not the real culprit, but the light-bringer of the secret subversion within
society. The whole array of competences shown by J are unable to stop him and
reorganize reality.
 The textual competence and the reading of it, the way it wants to impose a reality
are wrong. (19) The texts are contradictory because they show several perspectives.
 The narrator/narrative voice
 There are two main ideas about the narrative voice: for the most part, the narrative
discourse seems to share and to convey Utterson’s feeling, but often this voice
appears ironical towards him. (20) There are blatant contradiction and ironic
 quotations. Utterson is shown to drink wine, while the first pages clearly state that
he only drinks gin. Particularly ambiguous is the idea that when he is quiet, he is
practicing a “rich silence”. The narrator is making fun of U.
 This ironic and critical view of the story and U is something which appears more
clearly in (21) where J makes fun of U too.
 (22) U’s reaction after the death of Lanyon could as well be J’s. The narrator leaves it
ambiguous, the phrasing is intently problematic. In (23), U decides to bait for
information or condemns this sly search. The style prevents us from identifying this
phrase as the narrator’s or U’s.
 Utterson reveals himself as the greatest mystery in the novel. He is J’s heir, an
Utter/Son, the ideal son which embodies also J and H, split in between a morality
and a subversion, existing in ambiguity.
 All these elements suggesting irony toward U in the narrative discourse/structure
suggest that maybe there is more to this character than what appears to be and that
he is possibly himself partly guilty, which the notion of J being his client suggests.
 Mary Reilly is a rewriting of J/H from the viewpoint that U is probably the guilty
party.
 Quotes 3
 Fin de siècle
 J/H (1886) is deeply representative of late 19 th century literature which refers to
what the British call the fin de siècle, a transition between two essential periods
(Romanticism and Realism/Modernism). This transitory period also includes
elements which look back towards an earlier tradition, for example Gothic literature
(13th century), and look forward toward which would become the modernist
aesthetic (a complex structure which brings up writing and creation as a topic of the
creation itself).
 The topic of creation is in the context of the Faustian myth the creation of an alter
ego. Beyond the creation of a double, the novel suggests that creating H is a
metaphor for creation itself. H is created through writing, and writing is his manner
of connecting to the world, he hides within it and comes out within it too.
 The fin de siècle aesthetic carries itself through a concern with form over meaning,
which connects the symbolist and decadent movements. It is marked by:
o the notion of closure, the idea that a period is drawing to a close which
transpierces the literary and philosophical though of the time and triggers the
fear of a future and an anguish of the unknown; against that of
millenarianism, which believes in the improvement through the beginning of
a new period. In Britain, various clues pointed towards the notion of an
upcoming change which could go either way. The extension of the empire
and its state as threatened point to this.
o In cultural terms, there was a threat of degeneration. Nordau became famous
at the end of the 19th by publishing a homonymous essay in 1892 which
criticized symbolist and decadent literature (particularly of Huysmans and
Oscar Wilde) because these movements did not respect conventional
morality. The balusters of Victorian society were more and more threatened.
o Immigration also marks the fin de siècle. Connected to the huge side of the
British empire and the openness of British society, the lenient quality of its
legislation, a number of immigrants went to Britain for political reasons,
 especially Russian communists/anarchists exiled from tsarist Russia. This
immigration did provoke a number of troubles, especially in 1894 when a
bombing attempted in Trafalgar Square meant to be attributed to the
anarchists (but Putin did it lol). British society was seen as too open towards
its colonized immigrants, a reverse colonization in Arata’s terms.
 Within literature, a few names and movements stand out:
o Oscar Wilde, known for a certain concern with aestheticism. Ars gratia artis.
This notion of aesthetic literature defines itself against the predominant
thought of the 19th century; art should not be concern with diegetic though,
but only with its own existence. (1) Essentially linked towards the decadent
writers, who focused their creation on a notion of aesthetic pleasure and
condemned any idea of an utilitarian literature. There is a search for personal
fulfillment in the work of art
o Neo-Gothicism is overwhelmingly present in the fin de siècle – being
influenced by most notably The Castle of the Turntoll and The Monk; these
novels usually centered on a supernatural plot and took place in the past
(usually in the Middle Ages in foreign countries, southern Europe; safely
remote places), they dealt with transgressive topics. Influenced by Poe,
Penny Dreadful novels, and a taste for the sentimental/sensation novel. –
This genre has its main writers in Britain as Stoker/Wilde/Stevenson. The
gothic villain here is taken into the British identity, it no longer roams
separate realms. (3) It bears a discourse on subtle subversion at home. There
is nothing safe and bounded by the supernatural.
o A pathos of Genre literature which is particularly present in the sense that
some generic writings are created and others are revived. For example, a
generic writing would be works such as the detective genre and the horror
story. These are low-brow works which points to a change or even a
distraction of cultural hierarchies. These would be constrained to penny
dreadfuls or minor works, but at the end of the century, every writer would
practice these forms. (4) This reactivates the notion that U will be a detective
who chases after H. (it’s also pretty funny). His later failure confirms that
reason is necessary, but not enough, he lacks the observation and intuition.
(5) The horror story is more or less connected to a number of episodes, but
especially when H kills the dude.
o Consumption and its association with literature. The idea that literature and
the production thereof becomes some kind of an industry, the ends to a
mean, due to the development of a reading public (a consequence of the
Industrial Revolution and the development of urban centers), and that of
cheap forms of publication, such as serial publications (the Blackwood
magazine in Britain for example serialized all of Poe’s works). The more
popular genres would be preferential and more practiced, which gave way to
a wave of writers that would focus on them in hope of getting some dough.
(6) The notion of commodification looms over literature, because capitalism
ruins everything. (7) An opposition between people who want to commodify
art and make money with each, sticking to realism and those who reject
realism in favor of style.
 Faustian Myth
 o A German folktale about a scholar who makes a pact with the devil to be
awesome. The devil is called Faust, d’uh. In exchange for his soul, he is given
the power do to whatever he wants, be a Mr Manhattan of the real world.
o Marlowe -> Gœthe -> Mann (1947)
o Dorian Gray is the exponent in neo-gothic literature which rewrites the
Faustian myth while also departing from it. The most important change is
that there is no pact with the devil, but the connection with Faust is what the
Victorians call “the undoing of women”; the relationship between DG and the
actress who kills herself.

GB/US LITERATURE (4)

o There is no romantic interest within the text that is mentioned by Jekyll or
any other character. This is a clear difference from Faust’s myths, as Doctor
Faust seduces a woman who bears his child. Dorian Gray also seduces a
woman who kills herself when she is abandoned by him.
o What is the motivation of the Faustian pacts? In the folktale it is an escape
from social limitations, a desire for more power; in Oscar Wilde’s text it is
utterly unmotivated, a desire expressed by Dorian Gray is conceded by the
Devil without a clear exchange. In J/H, the motivation for the pact is
something which comes from the subject itself, but which is never openly
identified. J says he has always felt the duality of man and tried to separate
the two parts of mankind, but the why of it remains unclear, we see only
from his results.
o The issue of aestheticism: the motive in DG is very much driven by an
enjoyment of beauty and aesthetics, but it is one-sided, as the picture bears
no will of its own. In J/H both are slaves to these notion of aesthetics. J is a
model citizen, the epitome of the great society, and H tries to copy his taste
for aesthetics and civilized pleasures, which indicates a certain appreciation
for this other side of life.
o In Faust/DG the main motivator is hubris. It comes from a desire to surpass
one’s meter, to become larger than humanity, and a refusal of man’s
limitation. On the contrary, what motivates J’s experience is the desire not to
become somebody else, but to experience what he already is more directly.
In other words, he wishes to be more dual, to experience his duality in its
immediacy and to test it. (8) Another motivation is the impunity presented by
this duality. (9). The essential difference in between the myth/DG, which
ponders on moral transgression and human limitations, and J/H is the issue of
identity and duality. Stevenson is more concerned with the impossibility of
moral unity within the subject.
o Coming back to the topic of Creation, it beckons the question: is Hyde born
out of Jekyll?
o J indeed sometimes seems to consider H his son (10). Superficially, these
suggestions of fatherhood lead us to see J as the creator of H, but in fact, we
are aware that H is not a creation of J, but a transformation. Where H is, J
cannot be, and vice-versa.
o What happens in Faust’s myth is the transformation of a character into an
omnipotent man; in DG, a man is transformed by his newfound condition and
is allowed to commit crimes unpunished. J is in between those two
transformations: J and H are not two beings, but they are not the same
character. Faust becomes someone else and the old Faust dies to give him his
place, in J/H both characters exist alternatively and depend on each other to
exist.
o This leads us to the notion of regression. What we have in the novel is not
creation, but a sort of back step towards H, as if he embodies the primitive
side of J’s personality. (11) It is only a transformation which awakens a
previously existent duality. (12) There is no creation, but the confrontation
with one’s paradoxical identity.
o (13) reveals two things: first, how prejudiced Utterson is towards Hyde, he
can’t fathom H having any good taste, he has to be an uneducated person.
But it also reveals that H is no the contrary of J, but a mirrored image. As
Jackson suggests, J thinks he has separated good from evil, but in fact he has
created two beings who are equally good and evil. H can’t be a creation of J
because they are in fact no different from each other, he is but a repetition.
This notion comes to mind when we think of H as a satire of J. He attempts to
emulate J, and in doing so, becomes a satire of the Victorian gentleman. U
calls him a “sedulous ape”, which points to this fact. (14) points to this fact,
as when finding J’s body, U encounters an atmosphere most related to J, as
even the greatly reread text is the same, but it is annotated differently,
satirizing J’s habits.
o Thinking about the authority and its relationship to the impossibility of
creation in this case, one must go through certain steps.
o The first is the readers. H is misinterpreted by his readers, he is
miscomprehended. J is supposed to read symptoms and make
assumptions, U is supposed to read and judge people’s behaviors, and
yet both are unable to understand two things: U doesn’t understand
the H=J; and J fails to see that H is both good and evil, as he also is.
What is at stake is a general anguish voiced by Stevenson about how
impossible it has become to read reality and to create an
authoritative version of it; incompetent readers in the novel point to
the impossibility to account for reality. (15) shows a real parallel.
Literary production enters a new stage in which it becomes a
business, hence the stability of the royalty system and the notion of
serial publication, but also many elements which point to literature as
a consumable product. We find this idea that repetition takes the
place of creation, there is no more recreation, but the repetition of
profitable formulas by tropes and literary devices. The evolution of
the literary market has rendered true literary creation impossible.
o J is disqualified as a scientist by the fact that his formula was just a
serendipitous find (16). This is further shown by the fact that he
cannot control when H comes out. His final statement (17) denies any
status as a real creator, since he is not in control even of his own text.
His final statement is written at the cost of his own life. By comparing
 them to the myth, the matter of creation becomes problematic, since
both characters aren’t able to see the reality of what they create or to
voice a loud and clear perspective of this creation, as he ends up dying
when trying to escape his own “creation”.
o (18) shows the start of the scene which relates the murder. It is
thoroughly detached from the vision of all characters we will find,
especially that of U. This ellipsis is justified by a narrator that doesn’t
follow U anymore, but this becomes problematic because even this
woman through whose eyes we see the murder is unreliable herself.
The narrator not only makes an odd choice, but also takes on the
vision of a character he does not see completely. The narrative
discourse exhibits the signs of its unreliability, presenting itself as a
non-authority, he takes steps to distance himself from the characters
he speaks off.
 Genre literature
o This is a novel that plays within the notion of genre literature:
o Firstly, one must think on the matter of a “case” that is investigated, which
leads to Detective stories. U’s real goal is to investigate the real relationship
in between J and H, but the novel points out that U is a failed detective, as he
fails to see the clues that lead to the realization that they are the same
person. The novel is debunking the rationalism claimed by the genre and by U
as an interpreter. The text portrays itself as a rational investigation of events
only to subvert it and show that it must be treated ironically.
o Secondly, the gothic horror genre is an overbearing influence upon the novel
that is also subverted. H is, after all, not a monster, though he is detestable
and unlikable (a fact which has not explanation). (21) It is not about how
dreadful H is, but how mysterious his interpretation remains. The novel turns
the question of H back on his interlocutions so that his mannerisms make us
curious as to why he is so hated and repulsed. If the Detective story brings
the argument of the failure of reason, the gothic brings up a failure of
interpretation.
o Finally, one of the last references is that to sensationalism. (22) U believes H
blackmails J to gain his influence, but the notion flips this notion, as there are
no secrets between them, as they are after all one and the same. The novel
brings up a sense of secrecy that is answered by an absurdly simple answer.
o All of these take back from popular literature, and show that J/H is a
subversion of all the mass-produced literature of the time. (23) It is a
question of the copy, of representation, and the subversion and satire
thereof, for fear of the loss of an original voice and of the aura in the work of
art, enacting the modernist “disappearance of the author”. Dracula also
touches on this, as vampirism is nothing if not a question of constantly
copying itself.
Go from duality as a whole and then to the main topics attached to it.