Items related to The Double
What happens when Tertuliano M-ximo Afonso, a 38-year-old professor of history, discovers that there is a man living in the same city who is identical to him on every physical detail, but not related by blood at all. And what happens when each of these men attempt to investigate each other's lives? How do we know who we are? What do we mean by identity? What defines us as individual, unique people? Could we ever come to terms with the existence of another person with our voice, our features, our everything, down to the smallest distinguishing mark? Could we change places with our double without those closest to us noticing? Dark yet comic, Jos- Saramago's new novel can be read as an existential thriller, but it is above all a work of literature that immerses us in the essential questions of life. It is certain to become a 21st-century classic.
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Book Description:
Published in hardcover by Harcourt, 2004, 0-15-101040-4
From the Back Cover:
A San Franscisco Chronicle Best Book of 2004
"It's tempting to think of [The Double] as his masterpiece." -- The New York Times
Tertuliano Máximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed history teacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent a certain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But during the night, when he is awakened by noise, he goes into the living room to find the VCR replaying the video. He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him-- or, more specifically, exactly like he did five years before, mustachioed and fuller in the face-- appears on the screen. He sleeps badly.
Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursue his double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as a whimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation on identity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displays his remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versus reality.
"Our impression is of a writer, like Faulkner, so confident of his resources and ultimate destination that he can bring any impossibility to life by hurling words at it." -- John Updike, The New Yorker
JOSÉ SARAMAGO is one of the most acclaimed writers in the world today. The author of numerous novels, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.
"It's tempting to think of [The Double] as his masterpiece." -- The New York Times
Tertuliano Máximo Afonso is a divorced, depressed history teacher. To lift his spirits, a colleague suggests he rent a certain video. Tertuliano watches the film, unimpressed. But during the night, when he is awakened by noise, he goes into the living room to find the VCR replaying the video. He watches in astonishment as a man who looks exactly like him-- or, more specifically, exactly like he did five years before, mustachioed and fuller in the face-- appears on the screen. He sleeps badly.
Against his better judgment, Tertuliano decides to pursue his double. As he roots out the man's identity, what begins as a whimsical story becomes a "wonderfully twisted meditation on identity and individuality" (The Boston Globe). Saramago displays his remarkable talent in this haunting tale of appearance versus reality.
"Our impression is of a writer, like Faulkner, so confident of his resources and ultimate destination that he can bring any impossibility to life by hurling words at it." -- John Updike, The New Yorker
JOSÉ SARAMAGO is one of the most acclaimed writers in the world today. The author of numerous novels, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.
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- PublisherThe Harvill Press
- Publication date2004
- ISBN 10 1843430991
- ISBN 13 9781843430995
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages292
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The Double (First Edition)
Published by
Harvill, London.
(2004)
ISBN 10: 1843430991
ISBN 13: 9781843430995
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Dust Jacket Condition: New. 1st Edition. First British Edition. First printing. Correct number line, including the 1. A fine book in a fine dust jacket. A tight copy, new and unread, without any marks or defects. Dust jacket is clean and bright with price intact on front flap. Comes with archival-quality dust jacket protector. Shipped in well padded box. Smoke-free. Seller Inventory # Fiction-Stacks-S-2020-02
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