| In Narcissus Transformed, Gray Kochhar-Lindgren interprets Narcissus
as thematizing the tragic situation of the post-modern subject. After
showing the connections between Cartesian philosophy and narcissism,
he proceeds to lay out the function of Narcissus as a poetic figure
of discourse in the fields of psychoanalysis and modern fiction. He
moves beyond the description of narcissism to an interpretation of
the conditions necessary for Narcissus, the beautiful boy captivated
by his own image, to become a different kind of subject.
The topos of narcissism, which is first articulated by Ovid, always
includes within itself a mirror, a gap, self-referential desire,
and death-all of which culminate in Narcissus's inability to make
space for an Other. Kochhar-Lindgren contends that this is the founding
topos of modern philosophy, which is then incorporated into and
transmuted by the disciplines of psychoanalysis and fiction. With
the extensive work of Freud on narcissism, it becomes a central
concept for psychoanalysis; and with Lacan's interpretation of the
narcissist as phantom, statue, and automaton, narcissism moves into
a specifically textual interpretation of subjectivity.
Kochhar-Lindgren then provides close readings of fictional texts-The
Waves by Virginia Woolf, The Ogre by Michel Tournier,
and Daniel Martin by John Fowles-to show more explicitly
the textual construction of the narcissistic subject and to suggest
ways that Narcissus might be transformed into a subject not held
in thrall to the "glassy-eyed stare of Thanatos." He concludes with
an enactment, from a Lacanian and fictional perspective, of the
beginnings of the undoing of the narcissistic topos of contemporary
culture. Narcissus steps from the self-reflective mirror into a
theater; he stops longing to be a purely self-reflexive work in
order to become part of the play of a text. |
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