Mirror Mirror

I am sure I have shared this beautiful twist to the typical Narcissus story by Oscar Wilde since it’s among my favorite arsenal of quotes and stories to share. I was impacted by it the first time I read it in 90s, but still impresses me each time I read it again. In this case, I have to thank our dear long-time loyal reader and collaborator Manolo Romero-Escobar for sending it to me as a possible caption for the picture above. Enjoy!

The story of Narcissus

‘But was Narcissus beautiful?’ said the pool.
‘Who should know that better than you?’ answered the Oreads. ‘Us did he ever pass by, but you he sought for, and would lie on your banks and look down at you, and in the mirror of your waters he would mirror his own beauty.’
And the pool answered, ‘But I loved Narcissus because, as he lay on my banks and looked down at me, in the mirror of his eyes I saw ever my own beauty mirrored.’

Oscar Wilde, The Disciple

The Oscar Wilde Projectx 2002 poses the following questions and explanation as to why we should still read Oscar Wilde’s writings:

Why should we still be interested in Oscar Wilde? Maybe his adaptation of the myth about Narcissus (The Disciple) may help me to explain this. We all know that myth but Wilde’s version surprises us because he distorts the story fundamentally. Not only Narcissus but also his mirror turns out to be vain. If Wilde could be called a genius, the reason should be not that he explained or revealed some truths but because he deconstructed some of them and, doing so, gave us some new perspectives on life. This ability to deconstruct conventional ideas made him notorious in the nineteenth century but makes him still interesting nowadays… continue reading at The Oscar Wilde Projectx 2002

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