IDs, Please! Literary Pretenders

Impostors, Doppelgangers, and Avengers

Dear Readers,

For better or for worse, we live in an age of identity and accountability. How often have you started to log into a site only to hear or read, “Let’s be sure it’s really you”? Next, you receive a text or email with the magic code to enter and confirm you are you.

Despite these important safeguards, scammers, phishers, hackers, and cyberspies bombard us daily. Seniors are especially vulnerable. But so is any taxpayer. We work hard not to be those threat actors’ next victims.

So, with such real-life headaches and heartaches dished out by pretenders, why do we love to delve into crime and mystery books with more nefarious characters? To answer that question, let’s investigate three pretender types. The first, every crime fiction reader knows: The Impostor.

An impostor (the preferred American dictionary spelling) is a person who pretends to be someone else with the intent to deceive others, especially for fraudulent gain. They are grist for the crime or mystery story mill. Some famous tragic or humorous literary impostors can be found in these selected works: Patricia Highsmith’s successful The Talented Mr. Ripley series, L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz (the man behind the curtain), Peter Cameron’s Andorra, Nella Larson’s Passing (biracial mix-up), and many Shakespearean works, such as Twelfth Night (Viola), Measure for Measure (The Duke), and Othello (Iago). GoodReads has many more impostor-themed books to add to your TBR pile.

Literary impostors span centuries. They allow writers, readers, and moviegoers to explore themes of power, identity, and social roles. These impostors raise important questions about who we are, how we got that way, and where we wish to go. Through them, we might vicariously and safely experience a radical, inexpensive makeover and start a new life. Literary impostors, who send caution packing, can be compelling.

Another literary pretender is the doppelganger. The German word means “double goer” or “double walker.” This mysterious literary character can be an apparition or an evil double, clone, or dead ringer of a living person who is not related to that person but has the same facial features. There have been millions of actual doppelganger sightings worldwide over the centuries, giving rise to many equating them with evil omens. We remain fascinated by daring doppelgangers, as evidenced by such selected works as Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda, Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Double, Vladimir Nabokov’s Despair, Daphne du Maurier’s The Scapegoat, Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, Robert L. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Edgar Allan Poe’s “William Wilson.”

Doppelgangers have long enthralled writers, readers, and moviegoers because they provide fodder for intricate comic or tragic plots of mistaken identities. And the plots thicken when relatives or friends wrongly swear that a character is someone they most certainly know—but do not! These dangerous doubles can also help reveal a character’s dark or bright side. Those who have seen or wish to meet their doppelgangers or twins may especially relish this subgenre of pretenders.

We cannot omit the avenger. Unlike impostors and doppelgangers, avengers can be quasi or complete do-gooders, perhaps part of the “superhero” set. Avengers are characters often disguised (like impostors) or morphed into stronger versions of themselves. Their goal is to punish or inflict harm in return for an injury or wrong done to themselves or others. They draw swords or lightsabers, shields, and blood in the name of good, not evil. Avengers appear in these selected works: Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, Faye-Lynn Wu’s Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior, Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood, Johnston McCulley’s Zorro series, Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Black Panther, Luke Skywalker, etc., etc., etc. (Most have film adaptations.)

Sometimes—but not always—avengers pursue the rich and the greedy. These pretenders might earn or be granted carte blanche permissions that readers or audiences tend to expect and applaud. No wonder fantasy, comics, and pulp literature are replete with avengers and that Hollywood continues calling. Cha-ching! These characters can be powerful, brave role models to help us become our best selves and transform the world into landscapes of peace and justice for all. Avengers make us smile, cheer, and unite when they vanquish the evil forces. Soon, we forgive and forget any vicious acts they committed in the name of their just causes.

For centuries, impostors, doppelgangers, and avengers have appeared in classic crime and mystery literature. But we still might want to remove these pretenders’ masks, check their IDs, and reveal them as criminals for indictment or heroes for laudation. Crime and mystery writers, readers, and film aficionados do just that. The genre seems to preordain it. So please keep the security line moving!