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wasting away

Blue Apple

Senior Member
Persian (Iran)
Does "upon wasting away Narcissus is transformed into a flower" mean:

1. Narcissus because of his mistake (his mistake of inviting Apollo to rivalry) is transformed into a flower​
or​
2. Narcissus because of his failure (his losing in rivalry with Apollo) is transformed into a flower?​

Text:
Apollo sentenced Marsyas to be suspended upside down from a tree and flayed as punishment for challenging Apollo’s musical prowess. Marsyas’s blood flows and transforms into a crystal-clear river that regenerates the surrounding land, its rushing creating a music that continues to rival Apollo’s, albeit in transformed guise. It is also the case that the myth of Narcissus, taken to be negative by both Freud and Lacan, also involves mutation, in that upon wasting away Narcissus is transformed into a flower (Art and Psychoanalysis by Maria Walsh).​
👁 Confused :confused:
It doesn’t say anything like that.

The point being made is that the story of Narcissus has a positive outcome – rather than a negative one, as seen by Freud and Lacan. In the same way that the blood of Marsyas transforms/mutates into a river regenerating the land, so does the “wasting away” (dying of neglect) of Narcissus result in his transformation/mutation into a flower.
👁 Confused :confused:
It doesn’t say anything like that.

The point being made is that the story of Narcissus has a positive outcome – rather than a negative one, as seen by Freud and Lacan. In the same way that the blood of Marsyas transforms/mutates into a river regenerating the land, so does the “wasting away” (dying of neglect) of Narcissus result in his transformation/mutation into a flower.

Aww, I'm sorry. I mixed up the story of Marsyas with the story of Narcissus! 👁 Oops! :oops:
So "upon wasting away" means "after his death", yeah? Thanks a lot.
Last edited:
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