Writ in Water: Seeing Time in Ovid’s Narcissus Episode

Abstract

This article explores the representation and thematic importance of time within Ovid’s account of Narcissus. It argues that perceiving Narcissus for the characters within Ovid’s narrative provokes a recognition of the experience of time that becomes central to both the tragic and erotic aspects of his story. In presenting Narcissus as both the subject of a diachronic narrative and a static image, Ovid at once uses the medium of his representation to illustrate his theme and makes his poem a mirror in which his own audience can apprehend the mutability of time.

Keywords

• Metamorphoses
• Time/temporality
• Ekphrasis
• Tragedy
• Mimesis
• Lucretius