Extract

In 1891 André Gide published ‘The Treatise of Narcissus’ (‘Le Traité du Narcisse. Théorie du symbole’). This piece of poetic prose, dedicated to P. Valery, brings together the myth of Narcissus and the Biblical story of Adam’s Paradise. Only a short note published along with the main text is of a theoretical nature, suitable for a treatise. In the note, Gide lays out ‘the rules of ethics and aesthetics’. Gide’s Narcissus ‘remains a symbol that is growing ever more powerful’. The protagonist is aware of his role – he performs the function of a symbol. He is the ‘representative of an Idea’ that he is merely supposed to ‘properly embody’. What is more, Narcissus appears as an abstract sign, separated from the myth’s reality. In my text, this belated manifesto of symbolism constitutes the starting point for reflections on the changeability of meanings and interpretations, but also on the visual aspect of a motif. I will also discuss the representations of Narcissus in visual arts. Early illustrators of Ovid’s Metamorphoses as well as modern artists are inspired not by the metamorphosis itself but also by the problem of a mirror likeness or copy, of illusion and truth, and eventually, of identity and narcissism.

In 1891 André Gide published ‘The Treatise of Narcissus’ (‘Le Traité du Narcisse. Théorie du symbole’). This piece of poetic prose, dedicated to P. Valery, brings together the myth of Narcissus and the Biblical story of Adam’s Paradise. Only a short note...