Narcissism and Selfhood in Medieval French Literature

This book offers analyses of texts from medieval France influenced by Ovids myth of Narcissus including the Lay of Narcissus, Alain de Lilles Plaint of Nature, Ren dAnjous Love-Smitten Heart, Chrtien de Troyess Story of the Grail and Guillaume de Machauts Fountain of Love. Together, these texts form a corpus exploring human selfhood as wounded and undone by desire. Emerging in the twelfth century in Western Europe, this discourse of the wounded self has survived with ever-increasing importance, informing contemporary methods of theoretical inquiry into mourning, melancholy, trauma and testimony. Taking its cue from the moment Narcissus bruises himself upon learning he cannot receive the love he wants from his reflection, this book argues that the construct of the wounded self emphasizes fantasy over reality, and that only through the world of the imaginationof literature itselfcan our narcissistic injuries seemingly be healed and desire fulfilled.