"THE UNREFLECTING NARCISSUS" by Benjamin Huff and Dr. Scott Sprenger
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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

Andre Gide, La Symphonie Pastorale, Narcissus

College

Humanities

Department

Philosophy

Abstract

Andre Gide’s La Symphonie Pastorale (in English, The Pastoral Symphony) portrays a pastor who mistakes the love of a woman for the love of God and believes he is serving God while he serves mostly just himself. Even his avowed love for Gertrude, a blind orphan girl he takes in, turns out to be mostly self-serving. Because the pastor’s self-love appears as love for Gertrude, some readers have compared the pastor to Narcissus and Gertrude to Narcissus’ entrancing image in the pool. Further steeping a scene already drenched in irony, I argue that while the pastor loves Gertrude as his image, she is more aptly an image of the pastor’s son, Jacques.

Included in

Psychology Commons

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