The Double (Portuguese: O Homem Duplicado) is a 2002 novel by Portuguese author José Saramago, who won the Nobel Prize for literature. In Portuguese, the title is literally "The Duplicated Man." It was translated into English and published as The Double in 2004. Tertuliano Máximo Afonso is a divorced high school history teacher who spends his nights reading about Mesopotamian civilizations. One day Tertuliano rents a movie recommended by a colleague; he sees a bit actor who looks exactly like him. Tertuliano becomes obsessed with meeting the man and spends weeks discovering the actor's name. He sends a letter to the production company, from his girlfriend's address and posing as a film student, in order to be put in contact with the actor. His relationship with his girlfriend, Maria da Paz, suffers because he refuses to disclose his motives to her. After receiving the actor's phone number and address, Afonso stalks his double, António Claro, eventually calling him. Claro's wife mist...