The figure of the Double Self and the Transformation of the Enigmatic Identity of the Main Character in Le Locataire chimerique by Roland Topor: a labyrinthine trajectory

Abstract

The theme of the double is presented in The Tenant through a constant swinging between the difference and the identity that is described by the trajectory of the change. The visual element serves especial-ly as a sign of a problematic duality where both space and time become changeable, shifting, according to the character’s inner perspective. The theme of the perpetual cycle, which abolishes the difference be-tween life and death, is part of the labyrin-thine layout of this text where the reader, like the character, gets lost and finds his place in turn. Our aim in this paper is to show how the theme and the structure merge to lead to an open ending on a double question: the mysterious identity of the «original» and the genuineness of the existence of its «double».