John Banville's Narcissistic Fictions: The Spectral Self [Hardcover]

In reading Banville's novels through the work of key psychoanalytical theorists, John Banville's Narcissistic Fictions brings together apparently disparate thematic strands - missing twins, shame, false identities - and presents these as manifestations of a central concern with narcissism.Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Banville's Narcissists 3. Missing Twins 4. The False Self 5. Shame 6. Narrative Narcissism 7. The Paradox of Empathy 8. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

Mark O'Connell teaches contemporary British and Irish fiction in the School of English, Trinity College Dublin, UK, where he recently completed an IRCHSS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. He has published essays on twentieth- and twenty-first century fiction in Studies in the Novel, Critique, Orbis Litterarum, Irish Studies Review and Irish University Review. He is a staff writer for The Millions.