The ideal of the self: the narcissistic identity and the extratextual and intertextual cyberspace analysis based on “My husband on Facebook”

Abstract

The digital age has changed our habits. Virtual interaction has been facilitated and is seen as both beneficial and detrimental to society. Thus, it becomes increasingly necessary to research the relationships and implications of fast and easy communication through cyberspace and the way literature reacts to new technologies. The story “My husband on Facebook” relates events contextualized in the real relations of contemporary society with the new technologies while the story itself, in the mid-2000s, was made available online by the writer. As a medium, literature represents and acts by rivalling and adapting to new digital technologies. The story demonstrates, through the first channel and its theme, the relationship of being with the internet. This article aims at discussing the mediatic question, narcissistic identity and cyberspace both extratextual and intratextual from the tale written by Richard J. Parise. Therefore, the mediatic question and the myth of Narcissus are briefly revisited.

Keywords

• ciberespaço
• midialidade
• narcisismo
• identidade