ABSTRACT
When approaching the leitmotif of the double in fiction or literary criticism, the use of the word Doppelgänger referring to the motif or even characters that duplicate the original ones is undeniably frequent. Focusing on Brazilian literature, we can also observe figures that not only duplicate others, but also lurk in shadows and dreams, hiding their masks, always ready to pursue their originals. The chapter analyzes two Brazilian short stories: Gastão Cruls’s “O espelho” [“The Mirror”] (1938) and Murilo Rubião’s “Teleco, o coelhinho” [“Teleco, the Rabbit”] (1965). In these works, the mirror and the process of metamorphosis are the main elements that suggest duplicity in the narratives. In Cruls’s short story, a three-way mirror, that belonged to a dancer famous for her many lovers, is bought by a couple in an auction and placed in their room, offering them more energy and new sexual experiences. During these new sensations, the protagonist notes his reflection is altered in the infamous mirror, reflecting other men—according to him, the images of the dancer’s partners. As for Rubião’s narrative, the protagonist befriends a talking rabbit named Teleco, who can change himself into a giraffe, a goat, a horse, or even into extinct and invented animals. Invited to live with the protagonist, the animal displays an adorable behavior until he starts a relationship with a woman, transfiguring himself into a repulsive kangaroo and claiming to be human. The analysis of the double in both narratives focuses on the mirror and the metamorphosis, arguing that these elements expand the duality of the Doppelgänger, unveiling a legion of “others,” as well as highlighting the insurgence of transient and mutable bodies—human, animal, or hybrid ones—in the doubling process.
