Advanced Course                                                                                                                  קורס בחירה

Tamar Gerstenhaber                  tamargerst@post.tau.ac.il                                             תמר גרסטנהבר

 

In his “On Narcissism: An Introduction”, Freud tells us that contrary to the commonly held belief which ascribes narcissism to specific individuals, narcissism “might claim a place in the regular course of human sexual development”. That is, narcissism, according to Freud, constitutes an archaic mainspring for the birth of human subjectivity. In this course, we will attempt to discover the specificity and material of the place Freud points towards through a close reading of literary texts which use the narcissus myth as their substrate.

We will begin our exploration with Ovid’s myth of “Narcissus and Echo” and the connection Leon Batista Alberti’s draws between this myth and the invention of painting. We will examine the manifestations of the complex connection between narcissism and painting in the early Shakespearian sonnets to the youth, heeding the bard’s advice to “hear with eyes.” Finally, we will carefully unfold Oscar Wilde’s use of the Narcissus myth and the Shakespearian sonnets in his short story “The Portrait of Mr. W. H.” and his seminal novel The Picture of Dorian Gray.

 

Primary texts:

Sigmund Freud:

“On Narcissism: An Introduction”

“The Ego and the Id”

Ovid: “Narcissus and Echo”

Shakespeare: Sonnets

Oscar Wilde:

“The Portrait of Mr. W.H.”

The Picture of Dorian Gray

 

Course Requirements:

Midterm (in class): 30%

Final Paper: 70%