The Doppelgänger: Double Visions in German Literature

Ever since its literary coinage in Jean Paul’s novel, Siebenkä (1796), the concept of Doppelgänger has had significant influence upon representations of the self in German literature. This study charts the development of the double from its origins in the Romantic period, through its more marginal, but nonetheless significant, manifestations in the post-Romantic culture, to its revival at the fin-de-siècle and transfer to the silent screen.