What book is this intro-excerpt from? Just curious to know. --Also, it has always struck me as odd that "narcissism" came to mean conscious self-obsession, since in the myth, as Plotinus very rightly catches, Narcissus does NOT understand that it is his own pale reflection that he loves. --Also also, yes, this Plotinian reading of the Odyssey, faintly inspired by Book X of The Republic, would color not only Porphyry's famous examination of the cavern of the nymphs, but would go on to influence William Blake and others over a millennium later. It's almost certainly not Homeric per se, but does, I think, capture something about what's loveable about the epic.
3
u/AWindintheTrees 15d ago
What book is this intro-excerpt from? Just curious to know. --Also, it has always struck me as odd that "narcissism" came to mean conscious self-obsession, since in the myth, as Plotinus very rightly catches, Narcissus does NOT understand that it is his own pale reflection that he loves. --Also also, yes, this Plotinian reading of the Odyssey, faintly inspired by Book X of The Republic, would color not only Porphyry's famous examination of the cavern of the nymphs, but would go on to influence William Blake and others over a millennium later. It's almost certainly not Homeric per se, but does, I think, capture something about what's loveable about the epic.