The Double

The rain forest is the epitome of life. In the winter flocks of geese fly south, along with the Monarchs who vacation in Mexico. The solitary soul exudes silence whose whisperings are the awakening from sleep. One is not to the exclusion of the other, since the mind starts to race when it's left to its own devices. Quietude begets is own discussions particularly with alter egos, dopplegangers and doubles. Dostoevsky's "The Double" is a famous short story in which the Titular Counselor Golyadkin, a genie pops out of the central character's inner life, a sidekick who grows to outdo and finally subjugate its master.  In "El otro," "the Other," Borges meets up with his younger self. "The Picture of Dorian Grey" presents a war between good and evil. There's no dearth of action where the local utility, imagination, is a work. It's one off the ways people survive in the absence of others. Prisoners and those who've become lost in darkness have lots of company.

read the review of The Wormhole Society by Francis Levy and Joseph Silver in The East Hampton Star