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Artist André Fortis is the victim of a strange curse that suddenly and unexpectedly turns him into an entirely different man, with his own life, artistic styles and preoccupations, thus splitting his existence into two separate lives -- his and the Other's. Can he be cured by the mysterious Dr. Klipper who claims to have invented devices that can read the human brain through the skull like an open book?
Jules Clarétie's Obsession (1908) deals with the psychological anomaly that would nowadays be called multiple personality syndrome in the tradition of the classic Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). Although it remains an "evil twin" story, its representation of the personality of the inconvenient "double" is, however, unusual and striking. The novel also portrays the obsessive quality of scientific research, thus adding to the rich tradition of literary "mad scientists."
About the author
Jules Arsène Arnaud Claretie was a French author and theater director who was born on December 3, 1840, and died on December 23, 1913. He was born in Limoges. After going to the Parisian lycée Bonaparte, he became a journalist and had a lot of success as a drama reviewer for Le Figaro and the Opinion nationale. During the Franco-Prussian War, he wrote for a newspaper. During the Paris Commune, he was a staff officer in the National Guard. When he turned 30, he became the head of the Théatre Francais and spent most of his time running it until he died. The Comité de Lecture was dissolved in October 1901 during the fight for Octave Mirbeau's comedy Les affaires sont les affaires (Business is business). Jules Claretie then had full control over choosing which modern plays would be played. In 1888, he was elected to the Académie francaise. Ernest Renan served as his host when he took his place in February 1889.
