William Wilson

The narration is conducted on behalf of the narrator, who calls himself William Wilson , by his own admission, very similar to his real name, which he does not want to mention, so as not to defile the pages of the book. Wilson admits that he is the most fallen man and the worst sinner on earth, seeing his possible excuse only in the fact that "no one has ever been so tempted," as he.

Wilson belongs to an ancient, wealthy family. He recalls his school years and his classmate, who was so much like him that the other children considered them brothers, all the more so that they were called the same way, they went to school on the same day and were inseparable. Later it turned out that they were born on the same day, so that if they really were brothers, they would be twins. All the more surprising was the fact that the families of the two Wilsons were not even among themselves in distant kinship.

Immediately, there was a rivalry between Wilsons for leadership in studies, sports, and popularity, and the narrator does not hide his hatred for his namesake, which arose at the very first meeting. The rival of the narrator, with all their similarities, was more gifted and moral, and could always, without being seen by others, show his superiority over his more temperamental companion. Ambitious Wilson the narrator hates his “ plebeian ” name, and the fact that it appeared twice as often because of the appearance of the twin, infuriates him.

So the narrator could not oppose anything to his school tormentor, who, moreover, began to copy his style of clothes and behavior, and in general control all his actions, giving unsolicited, but outrageously fair advice and admonitions. Even his only weakness - a quiet voice, more like a whisper - the successful Wilson was able to turn in his favor by copying the intonation of the narrator and sounding a reproach echoing his words.

One night, the narrator decided to take revenge on his impudent overseer, and for this purpose sneaked into his room. But he didn’t carry out his intentions, as if thundered by the sight of a sleeping twin, so similar to him even in a dream that the narrator, perhaps for the first time, felt a mystical fear of him. After this incident, Wilson the narrator left school and enrolled at Eton College , Oxford . There he led a loose and depraved life. But suddenly it turned out that the double had not weakened his supervision, and once appeared at the height of the orgy, he carefully concealed his face, but in the same costume as the author, and in a well-known whisper to him, uttered two words - “William Wilson” - after what disappeared.

The narrator did not heed the gloomy omen, and fell into increasing obscenity, reaching cheating as a means of deceiving and robbing fellow students, while maintaining an impeccable reputation. During the “big game,” when Wilson-sharper already seemed to have ruined one rich man, his double suddenly reappeared and caught the narrator in deception. Tom had to leave Oxford in disgrace.

After this incident, Wilson tried to hide from his pursuer throughout Europe , but he constantly found him and tore off all his adventures. Finally, at the carnival in Rome, the narrator had a chance to get even with his abuser. Filled with rage, he stabs his twin with a sword , and here he sees the same hallucination again - as if in a mirror he himself, dying in blood. The double before his death admits his defeat, but he manages to say: “From this moment you also died - died for the world, for heaven and for hope. In me you lived; and now you see in my death, see in this reflection, how you finally killed yourself. "

The story begins with the memories of the protagonist of his school life. These paragraphs are partly autobiographical and are associated with Edgar Poe’s childhood years spent in England. “The Mysterious English Settlement” is Stoke Newington , then the northern suburb of London , later absorbed by it. The school in which the Wilsons studied, Poe wrote off from the Reverend John Bransby's Manor House School , located in this village where young Edgar studied from 1817 to 1820, the school was subsequently demolished. The church referred to in the story - St Mary's “Old” Church , the parish church of Stoke Newington, has been preserved to this day. ^[one]

There was, in reality, the “Rev. Dr. Bransby,” which Poe brought out in the pages of the story in a very unattractive way. The real John Bransby, who led the school, did not have the degree of "doctor", so he could be called only out of respect. By the time he entered Edgar’s school, Master of Arts, Bransby’s father was only 33 years old, so he wasn’t old either. In general, according to the recollections of the pupils of this educational institution, Rev. Bransby was a cheerful man of a kind soul, of broad knowledge in biology, gardening, and literature, he passionately loved hunting, eating well, and drinking. Children doted on him. At leisure, being a staunch conservative, Bransby composed political pamphlets. After the release of the story "William Wilson" John Bransby, who was still alive by this time, was very annoyed that his former student described him so repulsively and did not like to remember Edgar, mentioning only that his parents were too indulgent. ^[one]

The description of the school life of Wilson, their surroundings with their care and attention to detail contrasts sharply with the second part of Wilson's “confession” - about his studies at Oxford, where there are almost no domestic details. This is not surprising, since in 1820 the family of Edgar Poe moved to America , and he was not familiar with the realities of the life of English students.

The plots built on the idea of ​​"duality" are typical of European romanticism , and in the novel "William Wilson" Edgar Poe developed this theme. However, Poe himself admitted that he was drawn from the article by Washington Irving about the idea of ​​irritation from the attempt on his own uniqueness by a man of the same name. In the story of Irving, the hero kills his twin with a sword only to tear off his mask and see his own face. ^[2] When Poe sent Irving a magazine with the stories "William Wilson" and " The Fall of the House of Usher ", asking for his opinion, Irving preferred "William Wilson" for his more realistic manner and the rational use of "colors". However, it should be noted that in the future the "Fall of the House of Usher" fell to much greater glory. ^[one]

Usually, the hero's twin in such stories was his “dark” half, driving the hero to madness and himself was the epitome of the hero's madness. ^[3] In his story Po rethought this story: the counterpart of the protagonist, on the contrary, prevents him from doing evil. An interesting choice of name (or rather, a pseudonym) of paired heroes is William Wilson. The word “ will ” is repeated twice, and the surname is divided into will and son - “son of will”. There are two heroes with the same name and they oppose each other, and their name underlines that the narrator is opposed to himself. ^[four]

The story is built very subtly and carefully. The sentences are balanced, adjectives are very rare, after the story about Wilson’s school there are few descriptions. The narration is slow, as if lazy, replete with long formalized phrases. In the essay “The Philosophy of Creativity ” (1846) According to recommends resorting to the poetic effect of “fog”, in “William Wilson” he himself refuses to follow this advice - the story is logical and rational. ^[five]

It is widely believed that for the first time the story was published in The Gift: A Christmas and New Year's Present in the Christmas collection dated 1840. But more than a year earlier, in October 1839, it was published in Burton's Gentleman's Magazine . ^[6]

In December 1844, a French translation of the story was published in two issues of the Paris newspaper La Quotidienne . Thus, "William Wilson" opened the continental Europe of Edgar Allan Poe, because before that his works were published only in English. ^[7]

The first translation into Russian was published in a separate edition in 1858 in St. Petersburg . Later the translations of M. Engelhardt (1896), V.I.T. (1909) were published. The modern translation of R. Oblonskaya is widely known.

When Poe turned to Washington Irving for words of support, he awaited the assessment of "William Wilson" with particular trepidation, calling this story "his best achievement," ^[8] Irving replied,

It is designed in a very picturesque style and is read with exceptional and mystical interest from beginning to end. ^[9]

Original Text (Eng.)

It is a way of well being.

Thomas Mann declared that the novel by Fyodor M. Dostoevsky “ The Double ” ( 1846 ), in the center of which is also the mysterious dopleganger of the protagonist, does not have anything in common with “William Wilson”, since in it the classic romantic motif is used for much deeper research moral issues. ^[3] It should, however, be noted that Dostoevsky was well acquainted with the works of Edgar Poe, and although he did not read in English, he could read the French translation of the story. In the preface to the publication of The Three Stories of Edgar Poe ( 1861 ), Dostoevsky mentions several stories of Po, which by then had not yet been translated into Russian.

The first, free, adaptation of the story took place in 1913 , the film was called “ Prague Student ” ( Der Student von Prag ), was staged in Germany by Stellan Rue , and, according to some researchers, is the first full-fledged horror film ^[10] . A remake of this film was shot in 1926 , again in Germany, it was the director's work of Henrik Galina , the main role is occupied by Conrad Feidt . The third German film adaptation, under the same name, Der Student von Prag , took place after the arrival of sound in cinema - in 1935 (directed by Arthur Robinson , starring Anton Walbrook ).

In 1943, a radio show was organized in America for the Mutual Broadcasting System . ^[eleven]

A well-known adaptation of the French director Louis Malle (1968), which was included in the film almanac of Histoires extraordinaires ( Three Steps in Delirium ). In addition to the film adaptation of "William Wilson," it included the film adaptation of the stories " Metzengershtein " ( Roger Vadim ) and " Never lay the devil on your head " ( Federico Fellini ).

• Heike Schwarz. 10.3 Edgar Allan Poe: “William Wilson” (1840) // Beware of the Other Side (s): Multiple Personality Disorder and Dissociative Identity Disorder in American Fiction . - transcript Verlag, 2014. - p. 209-212. - 457 s. - ISBN 9783839424889 .