Search SFE    Search EoF

  Omit cross-reference entries  

Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997)
Secret Sharer

Tagged: Theme.

A phrase adopted from "The Secret Sharer" (1910 Harper's Magazine) by Joseph Conrad to describe that Plot Device where a character is either a split personality or has some other secret Invisible Companion (see also Doppelgänger; Doubles; Identity Exchange; Shadow). Some examples, such as that of Joan of Arc (1412-1431), who heard "voices", may be regarded as either divine intervention or Possession. Other cases – e.g., that of Bridie Murphy – may be seen as Multiple Personalities or Reincarnations. The device is often used in stories featuring Children who have an invisible playmate, of which Drop Dead Fred (1991) is an extreme example. The device can be used for humour, as in Harvey (1950), but is more often either sinister, as in "Cellmate" (1947 WT) by Theodore Sturgeon, where a man is imprisoned with an unseen Siamese twin (see Twins), or sympathetic, as in Kehinde (1994) by Buchi Emecheta (1944-    ), where the protagonist communes with the spirit of her stillborn twin sister, or "The Drawing Lesson" (1987) by Silvina Ocampo (see Adolfo Bioy Casares), where the protagonist discusses her life with her younger self. The term was borrowed by Robert Silverberg for his sf novel The Secret Sharer (1988), in which a starship captain is possessed by a Spirit. Dolls may become tangible projections of a Secret Sharer, particularly in stories of Ventriloquism. [MA]



x
This website uses cookies.  More information here. Accept Cookies