“James” by Percival Everett: Protagonist’s two distinct ways of speaking suggest Double Consciousness, a culturally-induced version of Multiple Personality, for which the protagonist’s apparent memory gaps may be a cardinal symptom.

James (1), by the eminent novelist Percival Everett (2), is a reimagined version of Mark Twain, as discussed in the New York Times review (3).

Comment: Everett’s protagonist is fluent in both black-slave vernacular and white slave-owner vernacular, which he repeatedly demonstrates, which looks like he is easily switching back and forth between two personalities.

This illustrates “Double Consciousness” (4), which many think of as a purely social phenomenon, but may be a culturally-induced, mild form of multiple personality, since multiple personality is multiple consciousness.

In addition, there is a hint of memory gaps, a cardinal symptom of multiple personality: "Hours went by. I may have slept, though when I was awake I was convinced I hadn’t” (1, p. 241). And “just what happened next is blurry in my memory…” (1, p. 273). A novel’s gratuitous suggestions of multiple personality may reflect an author’s multiple personality trait.

Please Search “double consciousness” in this blog for relevant past discussions of other literary examples.

1. Percival Everett. James. New York, Doubleday, 2024.

2. Wikipedia. “Percival Everett. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Everett

3. Dwight Garner. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/11/books/review/percival-everett-james.html

4. Wikipedia. “Double Consciousness.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_consciousness