abstract
Throughout literary tradition, the figure the double denotes the importance of fantasy and of the imaginary in the vast space of literature. In the contemporary period, human dramas inspire works that broach the shattering of the self, and become one of the ways in which literature represents the crisis of subjectivity. The present article analyzes the configurations assumed by the double in the short stories "A mão perdida na caixa do correio" and "As cores das bolinhas da morte", that appear in the volume O homem que odiava a segunda-feira: as aventuras possíveis by Ignácio de Loyola Brandão (2000). In both narratives, the loss of a physical part of the central characters is the main feature of a fantastic reality. The mutilated parts assume, symbolically and metonymically, the status of the characters’ double. The mutilation serves the starting point of an adventure to reincorporate the missing body part. The sense of incompleteness generated by the mutilation has a profound impact on the characters’ psychology, removing them from a routine of bureaucratized and rigidly standardized life and throwing them into a world of surprises and into an unpredictable daily life.
Keywords:
double; fantastic; Ignacio de Loyola Brandão