
Sur la conjonction de l'ophélique et du narcissique dans l'œuvre poétique de Georges Rodenbach
Author(s) -
Wiesław Mateusz Malinowski,
Alicja Sobierajska
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
lubelskie materiały neofilologiczne/lublin studies in modern languages and literature
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2450-4580
pISSN - 0137-4699
DOI - 10.17951/lsmll.2018.42.3.4
Subject(s) - poetry , philosophy , art , soul , narcissus , humanities , mythology , motif (music) , literature , art history , theology , biology , aesthetics , botany
The paper examines a special place that the characters of Ophelia and Narcissus, so closely connected with the motif of water, occupy in the poetic imaginarium of George Rodenbach. What we deal with here is an unhealthy obsession within which two characters of literature and mythology, unhappily in love, are presented as two alter egos of the poet himself. An endless sequence of images associating water with death reveals the fascination and trepidation of the symbolist, who uses the Opheliac depths and Narcissus’s water mirror as a reflection of different states of his soul.