Introduction

Abstract

I shall begin this book with a warning: there is little in the following pages to affirm the presentation of the narcissist as found in the contemporary clinical literature or among the array of self-help books dedicated to healing from narcissistic relationships. The narcissist that we shall consider here will not be reduced to a lack of empathy, or an inflated sense of entitlement, nor typified by a destructive grandiosity, or an exploitative approach to interpersonal relationships. Rather we shall encounter a figure whose turning away extends a call to others, and who finds in the vulnerabilities of the self the makings of the social scene. As a consideration of the desirability of narcissism — beyond the usual concessions to its necessity or utility — this book returns us to the mythic scene of the poolside where, lying enraptured by the enigmas of reflection, Narcissus draws a crowd.