Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg Dismissing the Polar Twins

Robert Louis Stevenson coined the term "polar twins" in reference to the psychological phenomenon giving rise to the antagonistic protagonists in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Doppelgänger constellations, as well as the divisions and oppositions they signify, have been considered characteristic of Scottish literature ever since. Many recent Scottish novels, however, present episodes of (self-)healing in which a split protagonist recovers from a psychological crisis. Could this development be seen as an artistic "symptom" of the social and political changes undergone in Scotland leading up to the 1998 Scotland Act? ...