Notice Board

Does narcissism define the construction of the modern subject? While the birthplace of this modern Western subject arguably traces back to early nineteenth-century France, the question of narcissism seems as relevant today as it ever has been. Post-revolutionary novelists, such as Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola, explored the dangers inherent in assuming that personal identity can be negotiated through the body on the model of newly-available capital. Essentially, they warn, the narcissistic body often becomes a prostituted body. This presentation will look at the nexus of narcissism, commodification and prostitution of the body by key characters who seek and fail to control their bodies.