This article continues a previous investigation about the role of the double or the Doppelganger in the disenchanted world of a liberal era. By drawing a comparison between Henry James's and Machado de Assis's narratives, it explores the representation of the deluded modern subject, haunted by his maimed other self, a replicated image rendered hideous by the horror the modern man commits against himself. Moreover Machado's stories evoke characters as if possessed by pieces of their "beastly heritage" or by projections of mundane exploits (which they synecdochically take as their whole essence), further undermining the notion of individuation. In both authors, dealing with this conundrum also means to take the narrative to its own disruptive or negative moments, when narrating seems no longer possible.
Henry James; Doppelganger; modernity; narrative breakdown
