My great admirer

Narcissism is characterised by a deeply ingrained sense of deserving respect - yet some narcissists lack self-esteem.

- MARC WILSON

it's been a busy month, so today I'm writing about something "easy". In other words, something I've just been teaching.

That lecture started with my favourite painting by surrealist Salvador Dalí, Metamorphosis of Narcissus, which was produced when he was painting subjects in ways that could be interpreted ambiguously. In this case, we have two shapes in the foreground. One is a hand emerging from the ground holding an egg from which a white flower is emerging.  Next to it is a kneeling figure, engrossed in their reflection in a pond. Each mirrors the other.

This is Narcissus taking root and becoming a flower, after so much time admiring his reflection.

The classical story, rather than the painting, lends its name to a category of personality disorder, narcissism. Pathological self love. And all of us know someone like this.