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Reflecting Narcissus: A Queer Aesthetic, Steven Bruhm

Steven Bruhm

The figure of Narcissus, literally falling for himself, has profoundly influenced Western philosophy and literary theory: he signifies transcendental idealism and its nemesis, vanity; he underlies autoeroticism and misogyny; he has a crucial place in poststructuralist French thought. Yet, for all this, Narcissus is rarely if ever seen in his primary attitude-as a man erotically desiring another man.

In Reflecting Narcissus, Steven Bruhm traces the complex uses of Narcissus in cultural and aesthetic formulations from the eighteenth century to the present and returns Narcissus's essential homoeroticism to a central place in this history. Extending the horizons of queer, feminist, and …