Inspired by Poeâs own tragic life, the short story clearly presages Freudâs method of psychoanalysis. In a very Fight-club-like plot and situations, "William Wilson" is a journey within the mind. Some sixty years prior to Freudâs clinical work and theoretical developments, Poeâs story is an example of the rise of the psychological genre in literature.
A fruitful, and at the same time paranoid, the theme of the doppelganger runs strong in Edgar Allan Poeâs fiction. From "The Fall of the House of Usher" to "Morella" and "Ligeia", Poeâs characters are constantly harassed by conscious entities that mirror the chaos within the protagonistsâ unconscious. The influence of "William Wilson" can be felt in the proliferation of contemporary movies exploring the idea of the double, such as Hitchcockâs "Vertigo" (1958), Basil Deardenâs "The Man Who Haunted Himself" (1970) or Darren Aronofskyâs "Black Swan" (2010).
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) was an American poet, author, and literary critic. Most famous for his poetry, short stories, and tales of the supernatural, mysterious, and macabre, he is also regarded as the inventor of the detective genre and a contributor to the emergence of science fiction, dark romanticism, and weird fiction. His most famous works include "The Raven" (1945), "The Black Cat" (1943), and "The Gold-Bug" (1843).