The myth of NarcIssus In André GIde and Paul Valéry And Its SuggestIo

Abstract

A projection of human imagination, myths have always been a subject of human study as much for their symbolic value as for their universal message. Some myths reveal individual complexities while others disclose some complex underlying structures about family and social relationships. One such example about this human complexity is the myth of Narcissus, which, from Homeric times, has been deemed as referring to the love of “me”. In this study, with reference to the original myth, we seek to find similarities and differences in the stories of André Gide (written in prose) and Paul Valéry (in verse). Unlike Valéry, in his prose Gide follows a symbolic interpretation. Gide emphasizes inner truth and the original being that seems to be incompatible with Narcissus himself. However, in Valery, the obsession with image is related with the awareness of the human condition. Yet the poet likes to find analogies between the state of mind of his hero (Narkissos) and natural elements to better explain his ideas about being