OTHERS, DOUBLES, MIRRORS, SELVES: SCAVENGED IDENTITIES AND DOPPELGÄNGER SPACES IN NEIL GAIMAN’S CORALINE, NEVERWHERE, AND THE GRAVEYARD BOOK
OTHERS, DOUBLES, MIRRORS, SELVES: SCAVENGED IDENTITIES AND DOPPELGÄNGER SPACES IN NEIL GAIMAN’S CORALINE, NEVERWHERE, AND THE GRAVEYARD BOOK

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to examine the journeys undertaken by the protagonists of Coraline,Neverwhere and The Graveyard Book in an attempt to highlight the extent to which Neil Gaiman’sprose not only reshapes the uncanny and challenges the conventions of fantasy and horror alike, butalso adds new dimensions to the doppelgänger paradigm. Far from being confined to the familiarpremise of the ghostly other, Gaiman’s doubles range from surrogate parents and monstrousnecrophages to intertextual impostors and, more importantly, extend beyond the level of individualidentity into the realm of architecture and landscape. By focusing on salient details of CoralineJones’s encounter with the Other Mother, Richard Mayhew’s descent into London Below and NobodyOwens’ unconventional upbringing, the analysis aims to draw attention to the numerous ways inwhich the three texts engage in doppelgänger scenarios, not only featuring stolen identities and mirrorworlds but also employing a wide variety of intertextual strategies to cannibalize, recycle and recreatefamiliar plots and tropes whilst steadfastly reinforcing the value of authenticity.

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