"A lively, consistently instructive guided tour of some of the most intriguing ways writers have presented twins and twinship over the past four centuries. Wieland Schwanebeck comes up with a remarkable range of different ways to think about twinsas the same yet different, as shadow selves, as clones, as our missing halves, as challenges to our personal identityand an equally remarkable number of areasShakespearean comedy, Victorian detective fiction, literary adaptation, popular fictional genres, pornography, behaviorism, genetics, criminology, eugenics, ethnography, biopolitics, literary production and interpretationthat are illuminated by their handling of twins. Readers are certain to agree with him that once you have grasped twinship, you can never not see it again."
Prof. Thomas Leitch, University of Delaware
"a many-layered account [ ] that will prove an instructive yet diverting read for researchers from many different backgrounds, including those working at the intersection of science and literature, in adaptation studies or on specific genres, like farce, science and detective fiction"
-Sarah Frühwirth, English Studies 102.3 (2021)
"an unrivaled, comprehensive, and clear approach to the distinction and development of the twin motif, which highlights the co-dependence of current discourses and corresponding literary devices"
-Christopher Hansen, Anglistik 31.3 (2020)
"a very valuable contribution to the endeavour of mapping twins in their literary and cultural texts and contexts, which offers both newcomers to the field and those already familiar with it fascinating food for thought"
-Sarah Beyvers, Journal for the Study of British Cultures 28.2 (2021) "A lively, consistently instructive guided tour of some of the most intriguing ways writers have presented twins and twinship over the past four centuries. Wieland Schwanebeck comes up with a remarkable range of different ways to think about twinsas the same yet different, as shadow selves, as clones, as our missing halves, as challenges to our personal identityand an equally remarkable number of areasShakespearean comedy, Victorian detective fiction, literary adaptation, popular fictional genres, pornography, behaviorism, genetics, criminology, eugenics, ethnography, biopolitics, literary production and interpretationthat are illuminated by their handling of twins. Readers are certain to agree with him that once you have grasped twinship, you can never not see it again."
Prof. Thomas Leitch, University of Delaware