Talk:Doppelgänger

hey this article should clearly specify that this is fantasy/folklore there are no such thing as doppleganger just like there are no vampires and werewolves ! Shodan 30 Dec 2005

Is it necessary to link to role playing games? Most fantasy creatures are found in RPGs, and in many other types of fiction, we don't list them all. 2toise 12:08, 3 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I'm also questioning the necessity of including the christian rock album and the sci-fi film. Who cares if a mediocre album or movie uses the term for its title? ---Anon.

I rewrote this part:

There are a few characteristics of doppelgängers that are commonly accepted. Firstly, they are visible to no one but the person they are an image of. They cast no shadow and no reflection in a mirror or in water. They are also supposed to provide advice to the person they shadow, but this advice could be misleading or malicious. They could also, in rare instances, plant ideas in your mind or appear before friends and relatives, causing confusion. mainly to remove any cofusion about who can see a dopplegänger Paul Tracy 13:12, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Frogus: Editing this page - will remove unneccessary dungeons and dragons information to a new page Doppelgänger_(D&D) and look for some actual content :)

Skeptic

"It is possible that this body can easily be one of Hitler's known doppelgängers, or only one of the rumours about the true end of the dictator". I MEAN, C'MON! "known doppelgangers"? Not only is the author assuming this stuff is real, he is also telling us that Hitler had MORE THAN ONE?

Unsigned, I have heard that Hitler had numerous duplicates, although I have no idea how many, how similar they were, or who did what. Same of course goes for Saddam. On the other hand, I also think the wording you quoted needs help. More research required. — FJ | hello 05:16, May 11, 2005 (UTC)

Body double, Doppelgänger, Look-alike

Recently I posted at WikiProject_Stub_sorting a suggestion to merge these into one article, and later retracted it because I'm not sure this is necessarily the best thing to do. Nevertheless, I still think the three types of person duplicates should be woven together cohesively somehow, even if not into a single article. — FJ | hello 05:23, May 11, 2005 (UTC)

Doppelgänger in literature and film

This section has seriously watered down the scope of Doppelgänger. Frankenstein monsters, Jekyl/Hyde alter-egos, phantom multiple personalities and twin brothers are most certainly not Doppelgängers! All the more reason to try to bring some coherance to Body double, Doppelgänger and Look-alike. — FJ | hello 03:28, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)

want to add to list of books about doppelgangers

I wanted to add Charles Williams' novel "Descent into Hell" (1937) to the list of books about doppelgangers, but I am too computer illiterate to figure out the instructions on how to edit a page. There is a Wikipedia page on Charles Williams which should be linked to this reference, if it is added. Can some kind person please do this? Thanks

71.33.61.109 20:58, 10 October 2005 (UTC)addition to page

I added Jose Saramago's "O Homem Duplicado" and Charles Williams' "Descent into Hell" to the list of literary doppelgangers. This is the first time I've tried to do this, so I may have not done it properly. Please edit. Thanks. h_wiebelfetzer@yahoo.com

Response to criticism about inclusion of Dr. Jekyll, Frankenstein

According to Hillel Schwartz (The Culture of the Copy, 1996)Fyodor Dostoyevsky “was writing The Double in 1845… after fifty years of Doppelgangers, during which period European authors transformed the old Scandinavian and Slavic Double from a shape-shifting figure of divine protection to a spectral presentiment of disaster.” Similarly, Andrew Webber, in Doppelganger: Double Visions in German Literature, asserted that "The Doppelganger – innocently realistic in its apparent shape – is thus none the less akin to the monstrosity of such Gothic experiments in the miscreation of subjectivity as those of Jekyll or Frankenstein.” It is my humble opinion that the Doppelganger is both a mythical phenomenon and literary device. Jekyll and Frankenstein represent two examples of the Romantic use of that device. Romantic writers utilized the Doppelganger to discuss the nature and complications of the dual self. These two works illustrate such themes.

The doppelganger is a phenomenon of neurological origin observed only by the subject and not by others present in the environment or elsewhere. Please don't confuse it with paranormal entities or results of waking dreams (another neurological phenomenon) as those originating the Frankenstein story. For similarly related neurological phenomena see nightmare (older meaning) and sleep paralysis. Jclerman 08:14, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

As the unsigned editor above indicates, the article is covering more than just the neurological phenomenon. It would be good to make clear the differences between the neuro phenom and the other uses, but the literary/mythological usages remain valid. Jgm 20:19, 1 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]