Six top books that explore human duality

Irvine Welsh is the author of Trainspotting, Ecstasy, Glue, Porno, Filth, Marabou Stork Nightmares, The Acid House, Skagboys, and, most recently, The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins.

One of his six favorite books that explore human duality, as shared at The Week magazine:

The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Stevenson's story about a law-abiding citizen who turns into a monster at night was based on Deacon Brodie, a respected Edinburgh politician who after dark became a drunken, violent womanizer. The tale mirrors the novel's London, a city perpetually locked in a conflict between its rough and respectable images.

Read about the other books on the list.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde also appears on the Huffington Post's list of classic works that are all under 200 pages, Koren Zailckas's top 11 list of favorite evil characters, Stuart Evers's list of the top ten homes in literature, H.M. Castor's top ten list of dark and haunted heroes and heroines and John Mullan's list of ten of the best butlers in literature, and among Yann Martel's six favorite books. It is one of Ali Shaw's top ten transformation stories and Nicholas Frankel's five best pieces of decadent writing from the nineteenth century.

--Marshal Zeringue