都是自戀惹的禍？當精神分析遇見《鋼琴教師》

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(1) . 國立台灣師範大學英語學系碩士論文 Master Thesis Graduate Institute of English National Taiwan Normal University. . 都是自戀惹的禍？當精神分析遇見《鋼琴教師》 Narcissism Is All to Blame? When Psychoanalysis Meets The Piano Teacher . 指導教授：黃涵榆 Advisor: Dr. Han-yu Huang 研究生：林欣儀中華民國 108 年 8 月 August 2019 .

(2) . Dedication. 獻給我的阿嬤陳阿治女士 To My Dear Grandma, Mrs. A-zhi Chen. 獻給我的阿公楊南雄先生 To My Dear Grandpa, Mr. Nan-xiong Yang. .

(3) . 摘要本論文目標以精神分析觀點解讀奧地利作家艾芙烈．葉利尼克的小說《鋼琴教師》並以「自戀」為研究主題。在小說中，葉利尼克處理了許多重要的議題，例如：母女關係、施受虐、自殘等等。然而，本文主張「自戀」實為小說中貫串所有議題的主要核心。本研究試圖藉由佛洛伊德、科胡特、科恩伯格的觀點分析小說中的自戀現象。本論文共分三章。第一章探究精神分析脈絡中，自戀理論的演化與轉變。首先，將由奧維德的納西瑟斯神話談起，以及其神話如何與當代精神分析的自戀議題產生連結。接著將聚焦於佛洛伊德「原初自戀」的概念，並探討「原初自戀」與「自我理想」、「良知」和「攻擊性/侵略性」之間的關係。進而闡明佛洛伊德對父母之愛的觀察，說明父母在自身的原初自戀影響之下將如何看待他們的子女。在原初自戀必然受到現實原則衝擊的框架之下，本文將探討「自我理想」與「良知」如何由原初自戀衍生而來又進而演變成超我的一部分，操控著人們的思想與行為。接著將深入檢視攻擊性、變態與自戀之關係。此外，我將闡述科胡特的「自戀忿怒」理論，「自戀忿怒」是人類最具毀滅性的一種攻擊力，它是由「自戀創傷」所引起並促使個體展開報復的心理反應。最後將以科恩伯格的觀點去討論妒忌心理、自戀與攻擊性的關係。第二章追溯主角艾莉卡的個案歷史進而分析其生命歷程中的重要事件。藉由佛洛伊德對自我理想與良知的主張分析小說中的母女關係。首先，從佛洛伊德對父母之愛的觀察可說明艾莉卡的母親是如何看待艾莉卡。而母親如何極盡所能地「打造」與形塑艾莉卡的自戀人格。透過研究母親的超我結構來探討艾莉卡如何在母親的影響下受到「自我理想」與「良知」的控制。接著說明自我理想的幻滅如何引發艾莉卡的「自戀忿怒」，從而促使她對週遭的人展開報復。最後，將透過科恩伯格的理論解析艾莉卡自戀人格的忌妒心理與此心理作用所引發的攻擊性。第三章透過社會文化的視角探討葉利尼克的性別立場與她對女性主義的態度。第一，本研究將小說《鋼琴教師》視為「反男性藝術家小說」並藉此分析葉利尼克如何對父權體系做出強烈抨擊。首先考察西方文學中藝術家小說的慣例與傳統，進而剖析《鋼琴教師》何以為「反男性藝術家小說」。葉利尼克模仿藝術家小說的形式但又同時顛覆 i .

(4) . 所有藝術家小說的傳統並揭露此文類中的男性霸權。之後將援引維吉尼亞．吳爾芙在〈自己的房間〉中對西方文學史之研究與性別不平等的觀點，進而說明《鋼琴教師》中女性知識份子與女性作品缺席所代表的意義。最後利用佛洛伊德群體心理學的論述，分析葉利尼克筆下奧地利國家集體的自我理想以及此種集體自戀如何演變成一種集體的攻擊性。. 關鍵詞：自戀、原初自戀、自我理想、良知、超我、攻擊性、自戀忿怒、藝術家小說. ii .

(5) . Abstract This thesis aims to propose a psychoanalytic reading of the Austrian writer Elfriede Jelinek’s novel The Piano Teacher and take narcissism as the research object. In the novel, Jelinek deals with many important issues such as the mother-daughter relationship, sadomasochism, self-mutilation, and so on. However, this thesis contends that narcissism is the main theme which connects all these issues in this novel. This study attempts to investigate the phenomenon of narcissism in the novel through the perspectives of Freud, Kohut, and Kernberg. This thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter probes into the evolution of the theories on narcissism in the vein of psychoanalysis. In the first place, this chapter will begin with Ovid’s myth of Narcissus and how it is connected with the issue of narcissism in contemporary psychoanalysis. Next I will focus on Freud’s ideas on primary narcissism and its relationship with the ego ideal, conscience, and aggression. Then I will illustrate Freud’s observations on parental love and how they treat their children under the influence of their own primary narcissism. Under the framework of primary narcissism which must be shaken by the reality principle, this thesis will discuss how the ego ideal and conscience are derived from primary narcissism and how they later become parts of the superego which manipulates human’s thinking and behaviors. Next the relationship between the aggression, perversion, narcissism will be examined in detail. Besides, I will elaborate on Kohut’s theories on narcissistic rage which is the most devastating kind of aggression, will be provoked by narcissistic injury, and leads one to take revenge. Finally, I will investigate Kernberg’s perspectives on the connection between envy, narcissism, and aggression. The second chapter deals with the case history of the protagonist Erika and traces the key incidents in her life. I will utilize Freud’s contention about the ego ideal and conscience to dissect the mother-daughter relationship in the novel. Firstly, I will illustrate how Erika’s mother treats her daughter through Freud’s observations on parental love. Next I will analyze iii .

(6) . how Erika’s mother “makes” and shapes her narcissistic personality in every possible way. Through studying the content of her mother’s superego, I will discuss how Erika is controlled by the ego ideal and conscience under the influence of her mother. Then I will expound how the disillusionment of the ego ideal triggers Erika’s narcissistic rage and leads to her revenge on the people around her. Eventually, I will explain Erika’s envy complex as a narcissistic personality and how it provokes her aggression by Kernberg’s theories. The third chapter draws on Jelinek’s gender position and her attitude toward feminism through the social-cultural perspectives. First of all, this study views The Piano Teacher as an anti-male-Künstlerroman (anti-male-artist-novel) to analyze how Jelinek attacks the patriarchal system. I will first explore the conventions and traditions of the artist novel in Western literature to dissect how The Piano Teacher can be an anti-male-artist-novel. Jelinek imitates the forms of the artist-novel but simultaneously subverts all these conventions and reveals the male hegemony in this genre. Then I will explicate the absence of female intellectuals and works in The Piano Teacher via Virginia Woolf’s research on Western literary history and her perspectives on gender inequality in “A Room of One’s Own.” Lastly, I will use Freud’s theories on group psychology to dissect the Austrian collective ego ideal and how the collective narcissism leads to the collective aggression in Jelinek’s depiction.. Keywords: narcissism, primary narcissism, the ego ideal, the conscience, the superego, aggression, narcissistic rage, Künstlerroman. iv .

(7) . Acknowledgements The completion of this thesis relies on many people’s help and support. First of all, I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my advisor Professor Han-yu Huang for all his help. I deeply appreciate the concrete advice and suggestions that he gives me during my thesis writing. I am impressed with his expertise and efficiency in helping me deal with my questions and problems. Professor Huang always puts himself in students’ position and does all he can to assist students. I hope that I could become a great teacher like him in the future. Without his patience and generosity, I could not have successfully completed this thesis. Most importantly, I must offer my heartfelt thanks to my advisor for his absolute hospitality and accepting me as his academic apprentice. Thank you Cory for your wonderful guidance! I would also like to show my greatest appreciation to Professor Hsiu-chuan Lee for providing invaluable and insightful advice from my proposal hearing to the oral defense. I benefit from her course Freudian Psychoanalysis during my first year of the graduate program in NTNU. Thanks to her course, I can just really “meet” Freud and start to understand his thinking and writing. Last but not least, this course interests me in Freud’s psychoanalysis and paves the way for my thesis. Thank you Professor Lee for your inspiring lecture! I would like to present my special thanks to Professor Ya-chu Yang. I am so grateful to her for being my committee member. I greatly appreciate that she gives her invaluable and helpful opinions to my thesis. I am so lucky to have her in my oral defense. Most importantly, I am deeply indebted to Professor Yang for lending a helping hand to a stranger and I will always remember her kindness. Thank you Professor Yang for your warm-heartedness! My appreciation also goes to my lifelong friend Peggy Pei-jun Zeng who gives me both spiritual and economic support. Zeng always stands by me no matter what happens. I will never forget how she helps me out as I am having a hard time in my life. And I owe my v .

(8) . gratitude to my truthful friend Ting-wei Hu for his kind assistance. When I am involved in the business of the practice teacher, Hu helps me deliver the important documents to the hands of my advisor from his home in Luzhou to NTNU in Taipei on a hot summer day. And I would like to thank my school brother Max Wei-zhung Ting. Max patiently listens to all my worrying and encourages me to keep writing my thesis as I am on the verge of giving up. During my thesis writing, I keep disturbing Max online but he still tolerantly answers my nonsense questions at midnight. I also want to appreciate my classmate Clara Lai. Clara is always comforting me when I feel frustrated in the lonely process of writing. She introduces me a tutor job so I can support myself and concentrate on my thesis writing without worrying about any economic problems. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my dear grandparents Mrs. A-zhi Chen and Mr. Nan-xiong Yang who are in heaven now. I owe a great deal to my grandparents who raise me, protect me, and give all their love to me. They are still worrying about my thesis writing even on their deathbed. I regret that they are unable to see the completion of this thesis. I feel truly blessed with their love and attention. I am very grateful to my dear grandparents for all that they have done for me. They will live in my mind forever and ever. I wish all the best to all these people who help and support me in this journey of thesis writing. Without their help and support, I could not persevere in this project to the last minute.. Elsa Sin-yi Lin A.M. 2:00, August 9, 2019 at Yun Study Room. vi .

(9) . Table of Contents. 摘要............................................................................................................................................. i Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ................................................................................................................... vii Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Literature Review ................................................................................................................. 3 Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 13 Outline of Chapters ............................................................................................................ 21 Expected Findings and Contribution ............................................................................... 22 Chapter One. Narcissism: The Illusion of the Perfect Image ........................................ 23 . I. Freud’s Ideas on Narcissism .......................................................................................... 26 II. Primary Narcissism, Secondary Narcissism, and the Object Choice ....................... 28 III. His Majesty the Baby .................................................................................................. 31 IV. The Ego Ideal ............................................................................................................... 32 V. Death Drive and Aggression ......................................................................................... 39 VI. Narcissistic Rage and Narcissistic Injury .................................................................. 43 VII. Envy, Narcissism, and Aggression ............................................................................ 46 Chapter Two. The Case History of the Piano Teacher ................................................... 49 . Ⅰ. The Suffocating and Oppressive Mother-daughter Relationship ............................ 49 II. The Mother and “Her Majesty the Baby” .................................................................. 51 III. The Mother as the Incarnation of the Sadistic Superego......................................... 54 IV. The Disillusionment of the Ego Ideal ......................................................................... 60 V. The Capitalized SHE as the Monitoring Agency ........................................................ 67 vii .

(10) . VI. Erika: The Vengeful Flower! ...................................................................................... 72 VII. I Envy, Therefore I Revenge! .................................................................................... 76 . . Chapter Three. Elfriede Jelinek and Her Arrant Feminism ......................................... 79 . I. The Piano Teacher as an Anti-Male-Künstlerroman .................................................... 80 II. The Absence of the Female Intellectuals and Female Works ................................... 87 III. The World Famous Musician as the Ego Ideal of Austria ....................................... 93 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 97 Works Cited .......................................................................................................................... 103 . viii .

(11) . Introduction Born in Austria in 1946, Elfriede Jelinek was the daughter of a Catholic-Viennese mother Olga Ilona and a Jewish-Czech father Friedrich Jelinek. Many members of her family became the victims of the Holocaust during the World War II and she often reflects the fascism in many of her works. Growing up in Vienna, Jelinek studied music from an early age and thus her works are full of music quality. In 2004, Jelinek as the first Austrian writer was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “musical flow of voices and counter-voices in novels and plays that, with extraordinary linguistic zeal, reveal the absurdity of society’s clichés and their subjugating power.” Jelinek is an unusual figure in feminist literature due to her political stance. Jelinek’s works show her unique perspectives on the relationships between women and men. In her works, men, described as the sources of women’s oppression and sufferings, are always the targets of assault and criticism. Some critics suspect that Jelinek has a strong tendency toward “misandry” or hatred of men. Besides, Jelinek’s style of writing is notable for her direct and bold use of language. Jelinek is desperate to probe the innermost depths of the human mind and reveal the ugliest aspect of human condition. Specifically, Jelinek soberly and undauntedly depict the sexual field of human life without any reservation. In Lust, for instance, Jelinek writes, “The Direktor has fucked his wife’s tube enough, now he gapes at an empty screen” (124). Or, “Woman is forever earthbound, they compare her with the earth, so she will open up and receive the Man’s member” (61). In portrait of sexual relationship between women and men, Jelinek renders women a passive tool to receive men’s lust and violence. Because of this radical position, Jelinek is accused of anti-feminism and condemned to degrade the status of women. However, Jelinek’s works still have earned her the acclaim of brave disclosure of men’s oppressions on women. Jelinek’s The Piano Teacher is an important but controversial novel which sparks two radically polarized types of responses. One group of critics highly praise Jelinek for her 1 .

(12) . successful and bitter attack on patriarchal society in The Piano Teacher. Another group denounce its obscene contents and view it as a cheap pornographic book. The Piano Teacher portrays the story of a piano professor Erika Kohut who has a teaching position at the Vienna Conservatory. In her late thirties, Erika is still shares bed with her dominant mother. Erika’s father, long suffering from mental illness, was institutionalized and finally died in a psychiatric asylum when she was still a girl. Under her mother’s upbringing and domineering surveillance, Erika becomes an emotionally and sexually repressed woman who forms the hobby of pursuing various perverse activities. On the surface, Erika is a respectable professor but performs sadomasochism, self-mutilation, and voyeurism in her private life. The second part of the novel deals with Erika’s love affair with her pupil Walter Klemmer. Klemmer who is charming and much younger than her goes into Erika’s isolated life. They develop a tortured relationship and the story tragically ends in Erika’s stabbing herself. Freud once raised the question, “What does a woman want?” and his ideas lead me to propose the question, “What does Erika want? Therefore, my research interest lies in analyzing Erika’s purposes behind each behavior by way of psychoanalytic approach. That is, what can Erika get from the acts of sadomasochism, self-mutilation, voyeurism, and so on? What is “wrong” with Erika’s upbringing? Why does Erika choose, if she has free will to choose, these behaviors rather than other form of perversion? Why does Erika pursue pain by cutting her genitals and asking Klemmer to beating her? What is the meaning of these painful experiences for Erika? What kind of pleasure and comfort can Erika find through these behaviors? Although she compulsively repeats perverse behaviors, Erika does not seem to know what she wants from them. Because she does not know what she wants, Erika seems to search and explore through each “deviant” act. What is Jelinek’s attitude toward female sexuality? All Erika’s perversion is like a series of experiments. In my thesis, I will not only trace the causes of Erika’s perverse behaviors but also investigate Erika’s true purposes behind them. Additionally, I will also explore how the character Erika is 2 .

(13) . created and whether the characterization of the protagonist represents Jelinek’s gender position, be it feminist or anti-feminist.. Literature Review In recent years, Jelinek’s The Piano Teacher has received more research attention and critical responses in the academic circles. The theories of psychoanalysis, feminism, and Marxism are often employed to analyze this work. The scholars often focus on the protagonist’s sexuality, especially her perversion. They have different opinions on the causes behind Erika’s perversion. Most of the discussions emphasize the relationship between Erika and her mother. Some critics believe that dissecting the mother-daughter relationship is the key to understand Erika’s perverse and abusive behaviors. However, there is still a discrepancy in their interpretations of the mother’s role in this relationship. In “Sexuality and Subjectivity,” Allyson Fiddler claims that “[a]n understanding of the vicissitudes of the mother-daughter relationship, however, is a crucial background to the sexual politics of the daughter-lover axis” (137). In this article, Fiddler has a thorough analysis of the novel through the psychoanalytic and feminist perspectives. Fiddler emphasizes that investigating the mother-daughter relationship is the starting point before any possible discussion of Erika’s sexuality. Due to the absence of her father in the family, Erika is forced to be the chief support of the family but simultaneously under complete control of her mother. By casting Erika asexual, the mother can keep her daughter under her control forever. Their interaction is as “the stereotyped image of overpowering wife and hen-pecked husband” (131). In addition, by referring to Juliet Mitchell’s ideas in Psychoanalysis and Feminism, Fiddler comments that Erika and her mother can be considered “a classically psychotic relationship” (132). In the psychotic relationship, the mother and child stay in a symbiotic situation which can only be broken up by the triple structure of the Oedipus complex. Unable to enter into her Oedipal relationship with her father, the daughter does not 3 .

(14) . have a developed father-love and thus fails to transfer this to husband-love. Revising Freudian theory, feminists stress that the pre-Oedipal relationship between the mother and child is more important to the development of women’s psyche and sexuality. However, Fiddler also questions that lack of developed father-love and the possessive mother are the leading causes for Erika’s “particular problems.” Erika indeed fails to separate herself from her mother but it is uncertain that she really wants to do so in the novel. Fiddler suggests that Erika’s apparent sexual attack on her mother is one of instances symbolizes her desire to back-to-the-womb, that is, “the desire to merge with her mother” (135). In “Masochism and the Mother, Pedagogy and Perversion,” Beth Johnson provides a more psychoanalytically theorized reading of the novel. Like Fiddler, Johnson focuses on the function of the oppressive mother and the absence of the father. By sending the father to the asylum, Erika’s mother executes an “expulsion of paternal law” (120). Thanks to the elimination of paternal law, the mother represents control or law and the father the excess, waste, and taboo in the family. Johnson indicates that Jelinek uses dirt image to depict the Khout ladies’ sending the father to the asylum: “He’s not supposed to bring in any dirt or carry off any sanitarian property” (qtd. in Jelinek 91-95). Dirt can represent the “dirty” or “unclean” sexual acts under moral and maternal law. From the psychoanalytic point of view, “dirt,” or the “unclean” is associated with the idea of the taboo which elicits transgression. According to Freud, the ejection of the father “results both in the phallic figure becoming more powerful than before (via guilt which serves to reinforce rather than destroy paternal law) and simultaneously drives the desire for jouissance deep into the realms of nonknowledge, of death” (120). Johnson uses Freudian theory to explain that the taboo does not destroy the paternal law but only cause transgression and violation. Thus, the sexual acts which are seen as dirty and forbidden by the mother function as a taboo for Erika. Nonetheless, this taboo of the unclean sexual acts becomes an ecstatic and excessive place. 4 .

(15) . where Erika can transgress and denigrate the maternal law. In other words, Erika’s perversion is her way to defy the oppressive maternal law from Johnson’s perspective. Similarly, in “The Piano Teacher: A Case Study in Perversion and Sadomasochism,” Christopher Christian contends that “Erika’s relationship with her mother is marked by extreme ambivalence, oscillating between intense violence, hatred, and destructiveness on the one hand, and, on the other, an obsessive attachment that is similar in important respects to that between two lovers” (772). Christian and Fiddler have similar view about the ambivalence which exists in Erika’s relationship with her mother. Also drawing on the psychoanalytic theories, Christian adopts Chasseguet-Smirgel’s ideas to illustrate that both sexes have the fear of being devoured by the pre-Oedipal mother and a wish to return to her womb. Erika’s preservation of the symbiotic tie with the pre-Oedipal mother and her “incestuous wish” for her mother on the bed are the representation of the wish to return to the mother’s womb (qtd. in. Chasseguet-Smirgel 772). Christian further explains that “where a father, by virtue of his absence or his character, has not facilitated the daughter’s differentiation and separation from an all-engulfing mother, the child attempts to differentiate from the mother by becoming the father, assuming the father’s role vis-à-vis the mother, and embracing the realm of the paternal symbolic order” (769). According to Christian, the role of the father functions to prevent “a primal fusion” between the pre-Oedipal mother and the child. Since the absent father is unable to help the daughter cut off the symbiotic tie with the possessive mother, the child will attempt to construct a symbolic father and identify with him. Without the support of a father figure to separate herself from the mother, Erika develops “an exaggerated version of the father” or the exaggerated masculinity incorporated into her perversion and abusive behaviors. Paradoxically, identifying the paternal law simultaneously serves two functions. Firstly, Erika’s wish of return to the mother’s womb can be satisfied by embodying the father figure and she can “gain access into the mother’s body as a male substitute” (775). Secondly, identification with the father allows Erika to differentiate herself 5 .

(16) . from her mother and prevents regression to the symbiotic relationship with the mother. Christian’s analysis implies that the exaggerated masculinity is fundamental to all Erika’s perversion, that is to say, she adopts the male position in her perversion. Some commentators explore the relationship between Erika’s musical training and her perversion. In “Portrait of the Artist as a (Not-So-) Young Pervert: Pianos, Perversion, and Sublimation in Die Klavierspielerin,” Brenda Bethman proposes that Erika’s extremely strict music training may be “a possible causal factor of her perversions and lack of sexual identity” (75). The exploration of the relationship between Erika’s piano playing and her perversion is a way to read the novel as an anti-Künstlerroman (anti-artist’s novel). The novel presents many parallels between the artist and the pervert. Bethman adopts Lacan’s point of view to explain the relationship between perversion and sublimation. Bethman writes that “the pleasure achieved by the pervert (through her or his perversions) and the artist (through sublimation) are closely related” and cites Jacques-Alain Miller’s interpretation, “[perversion and sublimation] stem from the same question: satisfaction from activities other than fucking” (qtd. in. Miller 94). Unable to use the piano as an outlet to sublimate her perverting passion, Erika turns herself into a pervert but not an artist. According to the conventions of Künstlerroman, the genius artist protagonist must undertake “a geographical or metaphorical voyage” in order to search the new spiritual experiences and conquer the struggle between “sexual love and artistic creation” through sublimation. However, Erika, who is not a genius artist but merely a piano teacher, does not successfully separate from her mother and leave home to experience new life. Erika’s mother is the key figure who frustrates her sublimation because “Erika’s experiences are used in large part to satisfy her mother’s ambition” (96). Erika’s musical training does not allow her to express herself but reduces her to the victim of her mother’s ambition. As a result, it is inevitable that Erika fails in her artistic career and becomes a mediocre piano teacher instead.. 6 .

(17) . Moreover, Bethman notes that the musical nature of piano is “androgynous” (both feminine and masculine) after examining the social histories of piano and its relation to women’s piano playing. According to the Western Europe tradition in the nineteenth century, piano playing was an essential skill for girls from middle-class. The primary function of the piano playing was for the middle-class women to attract a husband and climb the social ladder by a good marriage. Besides, piano playing displayed “a certain type of meddle-class femininity” because women’s “motionlessness” was an appropriate gesture for their bodies when playing the piano. While the piano symbolized the middle-class femininity, it also represented masculine nature by virtue of its strong connection with “the public sphere and virtuosi” in the nineteenth century. The piano was a public instrument mostly used by male virtuosi. Girls were encouraged to practice piano playing but simultaneously discouraged from being “too skilled” or too professional lest female would threaten the superiority of male virtuosi. If a woman displayed her professional piano skills, she would have been viewed as unfeminine or masculine for her “disruption of gender norm.” The protagonist Erika embodies the contradictory nature of the androgynous piano on account of her failure in both roles. Bethman comments that “Erika does not achieve greatness as a concert pianist, nor is she one whose feminine display as a performer attracts men” (89). Lack of a stable sexual identity, Erika is doomed to fail in being a concert pianist and her relationship with Klemmer. Like Bethman, in “Musically Trained Torture: Violence and Pleasure in Elfriede Jelinek’s Die Klavierspielerin,” Anwita Ghosh argues that “Erika’s training as a pianist is central to the development of her perversity, which manifests itself in many ways, including voyeurism, fetishism, and masochism” (79). Erika’s sadomasochistic tendency reflects in her insistence on the “form and rigour” of classical music tradition. Musical perfection seems to directly combine with Erika’s sadomasochistic fantasies. Erika is fastidious about the details of her students’ classical music performance and obviously obtains certain pleasure from it. 7 .

(18) . Ghosh claims that “[o]nly within the frame of total rigor (bondage) and control, that the S/M-game implies, is Erika able to feel lust” (82). Furthermore, for Erika and her mother, the piano playing connotes bourgeois superiority and distinguishes them from common people. Yet her mother disallows Erika to display her femininity for attracting a husband through her musical training. Instead, her mother exploits the piano practice to prevent Erika from being sexually attractive and then keep her away from men. Also, Ghosh explains that the “relationship with the phallus” is the key factor to determine the acquisition of a stable sexual position but not the biological fact or identification with either parent with reference to Lacan (as well as Freud). The novel portrays the problem of Erika’s unstable sexual position with the absent and impotent father. Ghosh further quotes words from Powell and Bethman’s article, ““One must have tradition in oneself, to hate it properly”: Elfriede Jelinek’s Musicality” in 2008 to elaborate her ideas. As a substitute for the father, Erika is forced to play the double roles for her mother, that is, “she both is the phallus for the mother (as child) and has the phallus (as ersatz father)” (qtd. in Powell and Bethman 175). Through piano playing, women are able to secure a position in the symbolic order and carry out the law of gender difference. Thus, Erika’s piano playing allows her to “replace the missing phallus of the father for her mother” (83). But Erika’s failure in piano career turns the musical training into violence for her. Ghosh concludes that “Erika’s failure to achieve a female sexual position and her propensity for sadomasochistic fantasies can be related to her failure as a pianist” (83). Finally, Erika’s musical aspiration only renders herself to a musical labor and a masochistic slave. Other scholars investigate the novel in the socio-economic framework. Linda C. DeMeritt specially emphasizes that Jelinek’s works “must be interpreted within the context of her understanding of marxist feminism” (110) in “A “Healthier Marriage”: Elfriede Jelinek’s Marxist Feminism in Die Klavierspielerin and Lust.” DeMeritt points out that Jelinek sets her female characters in a world rife with the capitalistic and patriarchal ideology in Die 8 .

(19) . Klavierspielerin and Lust. In this world, both men and women are oppressed by capitalism which judges human beings by exchangeable value and material usefulness. In this system, however, women are further oppressed and viewed as less value to men by sexism. DeMeritt argues that “[a]ll three main characters are caught within the vertical structure of capitalism and fined-tuned for a single ultimate: the climb up the ladder to material riches and social status” (111). Erika, her mother, and Klemmer are trapped in a power struggle whose false ideological system they completely internalize. Although emotionally and physically abusing Erika, the mother is just a “product” of the false ideological system. In the world of the novel, Jelinek portrays everything as an exchangeable and consumable commodity. Erika is prized by her mother as her possession since her income will finally realize the acquisition of the apartment. Erika’s relationship with Klemmer is also characterized by material usefulness. Klemmer continually estimates the return of his efforts during his courtship of Erika and values everything according to its “functionality” (112). What Erika attracts Klemmer in the first place is her authority derived from the position as his teacher. Erika practices piano not for pleasure or creativity but for the enhancement of “wrapping paper” or social image. For Erika, music does not signify enjoyment but a tool of climbing the social ladder and distinguishing herself from the masses. Erika represents a false ideology that “pursues goals so as to conform to the image of status, success, or culture” (113). This capitalist ideology leads to twisted personal expression and self-alienation. Most importantly, the capitalist system confines everyone in an unequal power struggle, that is, men have more power to fight against this false ideology than women do. Jelinek demonstrates this unequal power structure involved with the three main characters in the final scene. Klemmer breaks into these two women’s house and rapes the mother’s possession, Erika. As her mother’s child, Erika is at the bottom of the power hierarchy. In this scene, the power structure makes clear: “man-mother-child” (116). The mother exercises her power on Erika but the man Klemmer always has more power than the mother or woman. 9 .

(20) . In “’Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones...’: The Aesthetic Enactment of Violence in the Work of Elfriede Jelinek,” Rebecca Beard indicates that “physical, psychological, and ideological forms of violence underlie all socio-political relations” (344), that is, mother-daughter relationship and male-female sexual relationship in the novel. The relationship between Erika and her mother is the mixture of psychological and physical violence which cannot be separated in human relationships of capitalist system. Unable to escape the psychological and physical submission to her mother, Erika’s haunting the peep shows as dominant male is her way to defy the weaker female role the society assigns to her. Erika’s relationship with Klemmer also represents psychological and physical violence in the patriarchal capitalist system. Erika first exerts psychological violence on Klemmer by ignoring his feelings for her and later dictates to him how he can physically torture her. Ultimately, Klemmer, the representation of the patriarchal society, “re-asserts his dominant masculinity by tracking her back to her childhood home and raping her” (345). Erika’s final stabbing herself instead of Klemmer and returning home indicate her complete surrender to both mother and man. Erika gives up exerting psychological and physical violence to fight against the inherently violent ideological system. As Beard concludes, “The only violence she can successfully perpetrate is on herself” (346). A few critics touch upon the issues of narcissism in The Piano Teacher. In “An Aesthetics of Disgust: Elfriede Jelinek’s Die Klavierspielerin,” Elizabeth Wright proposes a close reading of the novel’s textual body but not the analysis of the individual characters. In this paper, Wright briefly discusses that the text itself displays the narcissistic aspects in the novel. Wright again mentions the same point of view in another article “Out of Tune: The Piano Teacher” included in her book Speaking Desires can be Dangerous. Despite of Erika’s failure in becoming a concert pianist, her mother continually inculcates in her the “narcissistic identifications” (185). The mother keeps strengthening her dominance over Erika and persuading her that her talent is unique and superior. In addition, Wright points out 10 .

(21) . that the narcissistic elements are “encoded” in the text. The first one is the author’s recurrently capitalizing the third person singular “SHE” and “HER” in the novel. Secondly, Kohut, the last name of the protagonist Erika, is the same as the one of Heinz Kohut, the Austrian-American expert of narcissistic disorders. Similarly, Sigrid Berka has only one paragraph to deal with the narcissistic topic and later sporadically refers to it in “D(e)addyfication: Elfriede Jelinek.” Berka mentions Heinz Kohut’s theories of the “destructive effects of a symbiotic mother/daughter relationship, in which the merger with an idealized object prevents a successful separation from the primary other, the mother” (231). Berka remarks that Jelinek’s characterization of Erika and her mother represents Kohut’s ideas about the mother-daughter relationship. As merely the mother’s extension, Erika and her mother are actually as one and indivisible individual” (127). In the next page, Berka briefly touches upon Erika’s “narcissistic rage” in a couple of sentences. The previous men’s deserting her offends Erika’s narcissism and she seeks the compensation through “sadistically” punishing a female student whom she catches exchanging words with Klemmer. In “The Unconscious Core of Perversion,” Arnold Cooper elaborates on perversion by centering on narcissism. In this paper, Cooper has one page to study Erika’s narcissism and perversion but he merely takes Erika’s story as the example to support his viewpoint. Cooper contends that “the core trauma in many if not all perversions is the experience of terrifying passivity in relation to the pre-Oedipal mother 1 , perceived as dangerously malignant, malicious, and all-powerful, arousing sensations of awe and the uncanny” (168). Cooper emphasizes that the helpless passivity caused by the malicious and dominant mother is the core trauma underlying many perversions, for this dreadful experience can arouse dreadful and weird feelings. The failure in repairing this injury will lead to the development of 1. The pre‐Oedipal phase is the stage before the formation of the Oedipus complex in the phallic phase. In this stage, the mother is the only love object for boys and girls. The father has not yet recognized as a competitor for the love object, the mother. 11 .

(22) . perversion. According to Cooper, “[T]he perversion is always a result of mixtures of three key unconscious fantasies constructed in the perverse defense against fears of passivity when confronted with maternal malevolence” (168). Perversion is the production of three fantasies constructed to defy the fears of being completely controlled by the malignant mother. The three fantasies are “(1) She (the mother) doesn’t exist, (2) I don’t exist, and (3) I force her” (169). The first fantasy is that the mother does not exist. Since the mother is nonexistent, I do not need to be afraid of her. Secondly, I am nonexistent and nonhuman so the mother cannot control me and I do not have to be frightened. The last one is that I will draw out pleasure from any pain the mother inflicts on me so she is just doing what I bid. Cooper then takes two novels as examples to illustrate his ideas. One of them is The Piano Teacher. Erika is trapped in the relationship with “a ferociously intrusive narcissistic controlling mother” (171). Erika has conflicting feelings toward her mother, that is to say, she simultaneously relies on and rages against her mother. Erika’s perverse violence to her female student displays her hatred for her failure in separating herself from the all-powerful mother. Additionally, Erika’s self-mutilation represents “dehumanizing” herself in order to escape her totally passive situation. In conclusion, Erika’s relationships with her mother, her musical training, and the socio-economic framework have been researched thoroughly by many scholars. No doubt the suffocative mother-daughter relationship has a disastrous impact on the development of Erika’s personality. The “unique” way her mother treats her leads to Erika’s narcissistic character. However, not many scholars bring in the issues of narcissism in their analysis of mother-daughter relationship. Very few commentators, if any, focus on Erika’s narcissism and its connection with her perversion. Accordingly, my discussion will emphasize the narcissism phenomenon and how it is related to perversion and other issues in The Piano Teacher.. 12 .

(23) . Methodology In my thesis, I propose that narcissism is the main theme in Jelinek’s novel The Piano Teacher. I will draw on psychoanalytic theories to investigate the issues of narcissism such as the narcissism of the main characters and cultural narcissism in Austria which Jelinek portrays in this novel. Most importantly, I will analyze the protagonist Erika’s narcissistic character, perverse behaviors, and her relationships with her mother and Klemmer through psychoanalytic perspectives. The protagonist indeed manifests various characteristics of narcissistic personality. However, this thesis does not intend to prove that Erika does suffer from pathological narcissism. Instead, psychoanalytic theories will be used to interpret the reasons and causes behind Erika’s perverse behaviors and other narcissistic phenomena in this work. In “On Narcissism: An Introduction,” Freud introduces Paul Näcke’s description of narcissism, the attitude of how a person treats his body and obtains sexual gratification by stroking his own body. Freud remarks that “[d]eveloped to this degree, narcissism has the significance of a perversion that has absorbed the whole of the subject’s sexual life, and it will consequently exhibit the characteristics which we expect to meet with in the study of all perversions” (73). Beginning with the definition of narcissism, Freud infers that narcissism may play a key role in human beings’ psychosexual development. Most importantly, narcissism and perversion share many similar characteristics. Besides, Freud also discovers the withdrawal of one’s interest from the external world and “megalomania,” the over cathexis of the ego 2 , in schizophrenia. As Freud further explains, “The libido that has been withdrawn from the external world has been directed to the ego and thus gives rise to an attitude which may be called narcissism” (75). One diverts the libido from the external 2. In considering the definition of the ego, here I follow James Strachey’s interpretation in his “Editor’s Introduction” to “The Ego and the Id.” In this introduction, Strachey discusses the unstable meaning of ego in Freud’s works and argues that “[b]ut in some of his intervening works, particularly in connection with narcissism, the ‘ego’ seems to correspond rather to the ‘self’” (8). 13 .

(24) . objects and directs all of it to the ego. This can be regarded as Freud’s definition for narcissism. According to Freud’s arguments, we can further deduce that pathological narcissism is the mutual phenomenon of perversion and some mental disorders. As Otto Kernberg writes in Aggressivity, Narcissism, and Self-Destructiveness in the Psychotherapeutic Relationship, “Freud describes narcissism as a form of sexual perversion as well as a characteristic of all perversions” (47). Moreover, Freud also explores the phenomena of normal and pathological narcissism. With his observation of schizophrenia, Freud proposes the hypothesis that primary narcissism may be a normal phase in human beings’ psychological development and narcissism can be found in “every living creature” (74). Primary narcissism is “an original libidinal cathexis of the ego” and later some of the original libido will be projected on the external objects. When the libido projected outward returns to the ego, it is called secondary narcissism. Freud uses the body of amoeba to illustrate the relationship between primary and secondary narcissism. Amoeba’s body as primary narcissism will put out its pseudopodia as secondary narcissism. Although secondary narcissism will be projected onto outward object, it is always drawn back to the ego again because it is originally part of primary narcissism. Therefore, ego-libido and object-libido are contraries. Freud adds that “[t]he more of the one is employed, the more the other becomes depleted” (76). In other words, the quantity of the libido is fixed and the difference is the quantity of the cathexes in ego or objects. The over cathexis in each side will result in pathological consequences. Most importantly, it is truly normal that primary narcissism exists in each one of us. Although primary narcissism may be projected outward, part of it will always remain inside of us. Besides, at the beginning of the third part of “On Narcissism: An Introduction,” Freud directly uses the term “original narcissism” which has the same meaning as primary narcissism. In other words, we can say that everyone is a narcissist because part of the libido must be reserved for the ego.. 14 .

(25) . Last but not least, if Freud is right, primary narcissism does exist and human has innate self-love, and then the love object whom one will love most is his or her self. According to Freud’s theory on object choice in “On Narcissism: An Introduction,” the choice which is not a choice but an egoistic behavior actually centers around oneself. Does the unconditional love exist? If one loves according to his or her image and necessity, then everyone is doomed to be isolated and lonely. In “Love as a History of Loss” of Love: A History, Simon May examines Freud’s theories on human sexuality and conclude that “Freud and Proust deny that human separateness can be overcome . . . Above all they refuse the consolation that human love can ever transcend its fundamental selfishness” (200). According to May, Freud regards love as merely the production of “crude drives.” The nature of human love is selfish because any form of intimate human attachment has its egocentric or selfish purpose and aim. Freud’s ideas can be utilized to interpret the relationship between Erika and her mother and the one between Erika and Klemmer. Their relationships are not built on any tender love or warm attachment but only full of exploitation and tortures. In “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality,” Freud discusses many aspects of “sexual aberrations,” including their development, symptoms, variation, and so on. One thing especially to be noted in this book is that Freud believes that “[i]t can often be shown that masochism is nothing more than an extension of sadism turned round upon the subject’s own self, which thus, to begin with, takes the place of the sexual object” (158). This may suggest masochism to be an extreme presentation of self-love. In “A Child Is Being Beaten,” Freud mentions again that “masochism is not the manifestation of a primary instinct, but originates from sadism which has been turned round upon the self—that is to say, by means of regression from an object to the ego” (193-194). Similarly, Freud confirms the phenomenon in masochism, that is, the withdrawal of the libido from external objects to the ego. Freud’s ideas inspire me to propose that there is a strong connection between Erika’s sadomasochism. 15 .

(26) . and narcissism. Or, we may suppose that Erika’s perverse behaviors are due to her narcissistic character. In “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” Freud tries to fill the gap between pleasure and pain. Freud brings up the idea of death instinct to explain human being’s tendency to repeat or even create unpleasant and painful experiences. Death instinct is the force or impulse which drives all organic life to strive for a primarily inorganic or nonliving state. Based on his study of biology, Freud comments that “the aim of all life is death” and “inanimate things existed before living ones” (38). Freud observes the paradoxical phenomenon in the biological world, that is, all living creatures live to die. Everything living tends to return to its inanimate and inorganic state. Death is the purpose of all living creatures. In “Civilization and Its Discontents,” Freud further recognizes an aggressive instinct derived from death instinct. Freud assures that “[t]his aggressive instinct is the derivative and the main representative of the death instinct which we have found alongside of Eros and which shares world-dominion with it” (122). Aggression is the drive for hostility and destruction to make organism return to its static and inorganic state. It is the human tendency toward destructive power and self-destructiveness. Later death instinct and aggression are used interchangeably by Freud in some of his writing. Death instinct and aggression seem to be the same idea for Freud. In “Economic Problem of Masochism,” Freud again mentions the concept of death instinct: “The instinct is then called the destructive instinct, the instinct for mastery, or the will to power. A portion of the instinct is placed directly in the service of the sexual function, where it has an important part to play. This is sadism proper” (163). In this passage, aggressive instinct seems to be identical with sadistic tendency, for both of them contain destructiveness. As this instinct of aggression is directed outward and turned against objects in the external world, it becomes sadism. Later in this paper, Freud adds: If one is prepared to overlook a little inexactitude, it may be said that the death instinct which is operative in the organism—primal sadism—is identical with 16 .

(27) . masochism. After the main portion of it has been transposed outwards on to objects, there remains inside, as a residuum of it, the erotogenic masochism proper, which on the one hand has become a component of the libido and, on the other, still has the self as its object. This masochism would thus be evidence of, and a remainder from, the phase of development in which the coalescence, which is so important for life, between the death instinct and Eros took place. (“Economic Problem of Masochism” 164) In this passage, sadism becomes the synonym of death instinct or instinct of destruction. The instinct of aggression is the primary sadism. Because of the human’s propensity toward aggression and destruction, part of the aggressive instinct still stays inside and against self although most of it directs outward. No matter how much portion of the aggression is projected outwards, there is always part of it existing inside since it is the innate quality of human. The aggressive instinct which remains inside the organism becomes masochistic instinct and turns against the self. This is so-called the original or primary masochism which will become part of life instinct. Here Freud considers masochism the evidence of the fusion and defusion of the death instinct and life instinct (Eros or libido), the tendency toward self-preservation. In other words, life instinct and death instinct are always entangled. There is no such thing as pure life instinct or death instinct but only “mixtures of them in different amount” (164). And Freud continues to propose the idea of the secondary masochism: We shall not be surprised to hear that in certain circumstances the sadism, or instinct of destruction, which has been directed outwards, projected, can be once more introjected, turned inwards, and in this way regress to its earlier situation. If this happens, a secondary masochism is produced, which is added to the original masochism. (“Economic Problem of Masochism” 164). 17 .

(28) . According to Freud, the aggressive instinct does not fix outward or inward. Although it is projected outward, the aggressive instinct may be directed inward again. This is called secondary masochism which Freud regards as a regression. To Freud, the relationship between sadism and masochism is as the two sides of the same coin. Or there is no need to called sadism and masochism separately. In “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality,” Freud also indicates that “[a] sadist is always at the same time a masochist, although the active or the passive aspect of the perversion may be the more strongly developed in him and may represent this predominant sexual activity” (159). Here Freud agrees with Havelock Ellis and Krafft-Ebing’s investigation of sadism and masochism. Both of these two phenomena often appear in the same individual. If one is apparently a sadist, the traces of masochism can be investigated in him, and vice versa. If a person is an apparent sadist, this is because the active aspect of the perversion has a stronger development. Most importantly, for Freud, the question is not whether one is a sadist or masochist. The key point is the aggressive instinct and whether it is projected outward or inward. The aggression inward becomes masochism and the one outward sadism. What is more, even though Freud proposes in “Beyond the Pleasure Principle” that “there might be such a thing as primary masochism” (55), this does not contradict the idea that masochism is an extension of primal sadism. Because underlying the primary masochism is still the aggressive instinct, the destructive instinct. In other words, no matter how much of it is directed outward object, part of aggression always remains inside and turn against the self. Maybe we can assume that everyone is sadomasochism because aggression is in each one of us. And aggression is just the core of primary sadism and masochism. In addition to Freud’s theories, I will refer to other contemporary psychoanalysts such as Otto Kernberg and Heinz Kohut. Based on Freud’s theories, Kernberg and Kohut respectively interpret and expand his theory on narcissism in different way. They actually represent different perspectives on many respects of narcissism. For example, they have sharply 18 .

(29) . different views about its nature, treatment interventions, and so on. Their disagreement will not be discussed in detail here. However, Kernberg and Kohut have some overlapping points of view on the characteristics of pathological narcissism. As Erik M. Plakun points out in New Perspectives on Narcissism, “[o]ne point of agreement between (Kernberg and Kohut) is with regard to the general descriptive characteristics of individuals with narcissistic personality disorders” (4). Most importantly, they all agree with the maternal influence in the development of narcissistic personality. Their investigation and depiction of the characteristics of pathological narcissism will be used interchangeably to analyze Erika’s narcissistic personality. For instance, Kernberg gives a detailed description of pathological narcissism in Aggressivity, Narcissism, and Self-Destructiveness in the Psychotherapeutic Relationship. According to Kernberg, patients with pathological narcissism have shallow emotions particularly in their interpersonal relationship. Their [f]eelings of grandiosity alternate with feelings of insecurity of inferiority, conveying the impression that these patients feel either superior or totally worthless” (50). Kernberg continues that “[p]atients with NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) typically feel a sense of emptiness or of being alone . . . They also have a remarkable incapacity for empathy and emotional investment in others” (51). Erika’s thoughts and behaviors present many these characteristics. Kernberg’s ideas help to explain the following questions: Why does Erika take a haughty attitude toward Klemmer but want him to torture and humiliate her at the same time? Why does Erika keep pondering her aging face and body as she sees the glaring youth in Klemmer’s face? Why does Erika keep feeling emotionally empty and numb? Why does Erika always take an extremely strict and even ruthless attitude toward her students? These may be regarded as the representation of Erika’s narcissistic personality. Lack of empathy toward others is the typical characteristic of pathological narcissistic patients. They are unable to perceive other people’s feelings and emotions.. 19 .

(30) . Moreover, I will adopt Kohut’s ideas of narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury in his article titled “Thoughts on Narcissism and Narcissistic Rage.” Coined by Kohut, narcissistic rage is a reaction to narcissistic injury which is the psychic injury or threat to self-esteem in the setting of narcissistic pathology. As Kohut describes, The need for revenge, for righting a wrong, for undoing a hurt by whatever means, and a deeply anchored, unrelenting compulsion in the pursuit of all these aims, which gives no rest to those who have suffered a narcissistic injury—these are the characteristic features of narcissistic rage in all its forms and which set it apart from other kinds of aggression. (“Thoughts on Narcissism and Narcissistic Rage” 637-38) Kohut sees narcissistic rage as a form of human aggression. Whenever a narcissist’s self-esteem or self-worth is impaired, he will desperately seek revenge and compensation for the wrong and injustice inflicted on him at any cost. This may explains why Erika sets the trap of broken glass to cut the hand of her female student as Erika catches her interacting with her would-be lover, Klemmer. In sharp contrast with Erika, the female student is much younger than her and still has a promising future in her music career. What frustrates Erika most is that the girl will be a more suitable lover for Klemmer than her because the girl and Klemmer have similar age. In the novel, Erika continues reflecting on and worrying about her aging face and body. She is also well aware that she is much older than Klemmer. The existence of the girl offends and irritates Erika because it keeps reminding Erika of her inferiority. Kohut argues that “[t]he narcissistically injured . . . cannot rest until he has blotted out a vaguely experienced offender who dared to oppose him, to disagree with him, or to outshine him” (644). The girl’s dare to talk with Klemmer directly provokes Erika’s narcissistic rage. Consequently, Erika takes revenge on the girl to compensate for her narcissistic injury.. 20 .

(31) . Outline of Chapters This project will be divided into three chapters. In the first chapter, I will explore the theories on narcissism in the vein of psychoanalysis. First of all, this chapter will begin with the myth of Narcissus and how it is related to the issue of narcissism in psychoanalysis. Then I will briefly examine the evolution of narcissism in psychoanalysis before Freud. Secondly, I will discuss Freud’s ideas on primary narcissism and its connection with the ego ideal, conscience, and aggression. Finally, I will elaborate on Kohut’s theories on narcissistic rage and Kernberg’s ideas on the relationship between envy and narcissistic personality. The second chapter will deal with the Erika’s case history as a narcissistic personality. To begin with, I will analyze the relationship between Erika and her mother. I assume that Erika’s mother plays an important role in forming Erika’s narcissistic personality. Freud’s ideals on primary narcissism, the ego ideal, and conscience will help explain how the mother influences and shapes Erika’s narcissistic personality and her development of sexuality. Besides, Kohut’s and Kernberg’s observations on narcissism can analyze Erika’s aggressive attitude and behaviors. Additionally, I will explicate how Erika’s narcissistic personality influences the way she interacts with people around her, and what her innermost thoughts about herself. In Chapter Three, I will focus on Jelinke’s gender position and her attitude toward feminism. Firstly, I treat The Piano Teacher as an anti-male-artist-novel and writing The Piano Teacher itself as Jelinek’s strategy to satirize the patriarchal system. And then I will dissect how Jelinek subverts the masculine conventions and reveal the oppression of women through the act of writing an anti-male-artist-novel. Before discussing The Piano Teacher as an anti-male-artist-novel, I will investigate the conventions and traditions of the artist novel. Moreover, I will employ Virginia Woolf’s study of Western literary history and her perspectives on gender inequality in “A Room of One’s Own” to deal with the absence of female intellectuals and works in The Piano Teacher. Finally, I will elaborate on the 21 .

(32) . collective ego ideal of Austria and how the collective narcissism leads to the collective aggression in The Piano Teacher through Freud’s theories on group psychology.. Expected Findings and Contribution My thesis will be mainly built on the framework of Freud’s ideas on primary narcissism and its relationship with the ego ideal, conscience, and aggression. Under the framework of primary narcissism which must be shaken by the reality principle, this thesis will discuss how the ego ideal and conscience are derived from primary narcissism and how they later become parts of the superego which manipulates human’s thinking and behaviors. I attempt to employ Freud’s ideas on the ego ideal and conscience to dissect the mother-daughter relationship. I expect to find how the ego ideal functions in shaping Erika’s narcissistic character and controlling her behaviors under her mother’s influence. Despite the fact that a few critics deal with the issues of narcissism in the novel, they only touch upon it in a very brief way. None elaborates on the theme of narcissism in great detail so the narcissistic aspects of the novel are waiting to be explored. Hence, in my project, the topic of narcissism will be engaged in a significant way. I will analyze Erika’s narcissistic character and perversion from Freud’s perspectives on narcissism.. 22 .

(33) . Chapter One Narcissism: The Illusion of the Perfect Image. Liriope, whom the river-god, Cephisus Embraced and ravished in his watery dwelling. In time she bore a child, most beautiful Even as child, gave him the name Narcissus, And asked Tiresias if the boy would ever Live to a ripe old age. Tiresias answered: “Yes, if he never knows himself.” How silly Those words seemed, for how long! But as it happened, Time proved them true-the way he died, the strangeness Of his infatuation. — Ovid, Metamorphoses. The term “narcissism” derives from the name of Narcissus who is famous for his beauty and fades away for the obsession with his own reflection (image) in Greek mythology. There exist various versions of the Narcissus legend but the most classic one is the Roman poet Ovid’s “Echo and Narcissus” in Metamorphoses. In book 3 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, beautiful Narcissus is the son of the river naiad Liriope and the river god Cephisus. Ravished by Cephisus, Liriope gives birth to a beautiful child named Narcissus and anyone will immediately fall in love with him even as a baby. Liriope wants to test Tiresias’s prediction and asks if her child can live to a ripe age. Tiresias replies, “Yes, if he never knows himself” (Metamorphoses 68). As time goes by, Narcissus is growing into an extremely beautiful and attractive young man. Loved by both men and women, Narcissus who is proud and cold despises all of them and no one can approach him. A nymph Echo also falls in love with 23 .

(34) . Narcissus but Narcissus never responds to her affection. One day, Narcissus gets lost in the woods and finds Echo following him. Narcissus says, “Come to me!” and “Let us get together” (69). Paradoxically, as Echo comes out of her hide, Narcissus suddenly shrinks back and reproaches, “Keep your hands off and do not touch me! / I would die before I give you a chance at me” (69). Rejected by Narcissus, Echo pines away for her love of Narcissus, her body withers, and finally only her voice echoes in the mountains. Echo is not the only one frustrated and spurned by Narcissus. Eventually, one of the rejected swears to Heaven and curses, “May Narcissus / Love one day, so, himself, and not win over / The creature whom he loves!” (70). Hearing of this, Nemesis the goddess of revenge decides to punish Narcissus for his cruelty and make him also suffer from the unrequited love. One day, Narcissus comes to a pool and has some water after hunting. Upon looking into the pool, Narcissus immediately falls in love with his own reflection. As suddenly realizing the reflection is himself, Narcissus cries, “I know my image now” (72) and he attempts to touch it but only see it blur with tears. Finally, Narcissus pines away for his own image and his body wanes around the pool. Echo and Narcissus’s sisters mourn for him and prepare the funeral for him. However, when they seek his body, they can find nothing but “Only a flower with a yellow center / Surrounded with white petals” (73). Ovid’s Narcissus myth anticipates many contemporary ideas about narcissism: the mirroring image, the self-admiration, the self-destruction, and so on. In The Fragile Self: The Structure of Narcissistic Disturbance, Phil Mollon remarks that the themes of Ovid’s version represents many characteristics of the narcissistic disturbance. Narcissus’s birth comes from the violent “primal scene,” that is, the river god Cephisus rapes the nymph Liriope. Mollon claims that, “There is no continuing parental couple and no father available to Narcissus” (33). Many contemporary psychoanalysts contend that the relationship of an individual’s parents and the one between an individual and his parents play an important role in the formation of his narcissistic personality. Furthermore, the relationship between Narcissus and Echo 24 .

(35) . represents the one between a sadist and a masochist. Narcissus sadistically treats Echo and Echo’s masochistic enslavement to Narcissus. However, Narcissus and Echo are in some way enslaved to each other because they are fitting each other perfectly. Most importantly, the prediction of Tiresias foreshadows Narcissus’s self-destruction at the end of the story. Tiresias says that Narcissus can live a long life if he does not know himself. Narcissus at first does not realize that the image in the water is his own reflection. As he is aware of that, Narcissus hopes that he can separate himself from his own body so he can unite with his love object. Finally, Narcissus’s recognition of the self leads to his self-destruction. Narcissus desperately desires to separate from his true self to unify with his own reflection. We can say that he loves this perfect and ideal image more than his true self. Maybe the final self-destruction is because Narcissus suddenly realizes that the reflection in the water is just the illusion of a perfect image which he can never grasp and possess but with which he strives to unify in vain. The discussions on narcissism before Freud begin in the field of the sexology research. The English sexologist Havelock Ellis is the first one who adopts the concept of Narcissus myth and coins the term “Narcissus-like” to describe the phenomena of autoeroticism in his work Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Ellis first defines, “By “auto-erotism” I mean the phenomena of spontaneous sexual emotion generated in the absence of an external stimulus proceeding, directly or indirectly, from another person” (194). Ellis uses the mirror imagery to depict the extreme form of the autoerotic case, the sexual emotion completely absorbed and lost in self-admiration as Narcissus sees his own reflection in the water. Moreover, Ellis also quotes from the German psychiatrist and sexologist Iwan Bloch that everyone can experience the first sexual excitement while seeing the reflection of their own bodies in front of a mirror. Ellis cites, “The mirror plays an important part in the genesis of sexual aberration” (qut. in Ellis 230). Additionally, it is the German psychiatrist Paul Näcke who coins the term “narcissism” and introduces it in his study of sexual perversion in 1899. Näcke’s coinage of the 25 .

(36) . term becomes the eventual form of “narcissism” which we use nowadays. Näcke employs “narcissism” to depict the phenomenon that an individual treats his own body as a sexual object. In psychoanalytic field, the Austrian psychoanalyst Isidor Sadger is regarded as the earliest psychoanalyst to elaborate on the subject of narcissism. Sadger believes that a certain degree of overvaluation of the self and self-love are the normal phenomena among children and adults. Besides, Sadger considers the extreme overinvestment in one’s own body to be the pathological form of narcissism. In 1911, Otto Rank contributes the first psychoanalytic paper “A Contribution to Narcissism” which specifically deals with the issue of narcissism. In this paper and his later works, Rank proposes many important ideas of narcissism, such as the self-admiration as kind of narcissism which is not completely associated with sexuality.. I. Freud’s Ideas on Narcissism In 1910, Freud first mentiones the term narcissism in a note added to the second edition of “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality.” As discussing the inverts’ sexual objects, Freud adds this note to explain the development of male homosexuality. Almost all the cases of inverted men undergo a short period of the intense fixation to a woman (usually their mother) during their early childhood. After that, they identify themselves as the females and seek the males like themselves as their sexual objects. Freud argues that “they proceed from a narcissistic basis, and look for a young man who resembles themselves and whom they may love as their mother loved them” (145). Freud again mentions this idea in “Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of his Childhood.” As James Strachey comments in the editor’s note, this work has “the first full emergence of the concept of narcissism” (62). In this work, Freud directly refers to Narcissus myth to illustrate man’s choice of another man like himself as Narcissus “who preferred his own reflection to everything else” (100). In the case of Schreber, Freud contends that narcissism is a transitional phase between autoerotism and the object-love in the 26 .