UMI MICROFILMED 1996 INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type o f computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy subm itted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell A Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann A lter MI 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/321-0600 I j I MIRRORS OF THE SELF: THE MYTH OF NARCISSUS IN THE MONOLOGUES OF SPALDING GRAY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Diane A. Merchant, B.A. * * * * The Ohio State University 1996 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Cecily O’Neill, Adviser Professor Katherine H. Burkinan ^ d ■ : Advfter Professor Alan Woods College of Education Department of Educational Studies UMI Humbert 9639307 Copyright 1996 by Merchant, Diane Allene All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9639307 Copyright 1996, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition Is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Athor, MI 48103 Copyright by Diane A. Merchant 1996 ABSTRACT In Ovid’s retelling of the Narcissus myth in Book III of Metamorphoses. Tiresias prophesies that the infant Narcissus will have a long life, provided "he shall himself not know." Centuries later, American monologisl Spalding Gray performs sclf-rcflexivc material in what he has described as an attempt "to tell the story in order to heal myself through the telling . to make sense of it." This study examines the autobiography-based novel and selected performance monologues of Spalding Gray as illuminated by the myth of Narcissus as told by Ovid. The onstage persona of Spalding Gray, performed by a man named Spalding Gray, deals with contemporary issues and dilemmas which reflect our current society’s narcissism. Elements of the Narcissus myth such as water imagery, mirrors and reflection, attraction to an other, and struggles related to a sense of a cohesive self surface in Gray’s works as they provide a context for the perception of his works as a reflection of the cultural climate. Theorists such as Christopher Lasch (The Culture of Narcissism and The Minimal Self! Alice Miller (The Drama of the Gifted Childl. D. W. Winnicott (particularly his theory of the mirroring mother) and others help illustrate that mythic elements, as part of a "collective unconscious," surface symbolically in literature, and in particular in the works of Spalding Gray. Gray's monologues (and his novel, a monologue by virtue of its first-person narrative and basis in autobiographical events) reflect more than the concerns of a protagonist wrestling with issues of the self. Indeed, the works are profound explorations of a narcissistic culture. Dedicated to the Memory of my Mother Bemadine M. Conrad 29 September 1922 - 17 April 1996 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS)W I wish lo thank my teacher, Katherine Burkman for her extremely generous gifts of time, enthusiasm and attention during the development of this project. j I am also grateful to my adviser, Cecily O'Neill, for her encouragement, guidance and support for this project, and for showing me an entirely new world of drama in the classroom. I would like to thank Alan Woods for his thoughtful consideration and insight concerning this dissertation as well as the studies of performance theory and theatre i research. I thank Louann Baise for her tireless assistance in the preparation of this i manuscript, and for her cheerful support. j I am also very grateful for expert guidance from Stanford Yukinaga at the Drama Book Shop in New York and from Alisa Regas at International Production Associates, also in New York. 1 would also like to thank Ruth Ager for the painstaking transcription of interviews. I am deeply indebted to Spalding Gray for his generous and unselfish help and encouragement concerning this project. wish to thank him for permission to quote from the monologues, his novel and from the interviews he graciously granted me. I am also extremely thankful to my family, who have always encouraged and supported me, and have been continually patient and forgiving of my frequent absences. VITA March 15, 1956 .............................................. Bom - Berea, Ohio 1978................................................................. B.A. Speech, Cedarville College 1979-1981....................................................... Secondary Teacher, Language Arts Elyria Christian Academy Elyria, Ohio 1984 - 1985 .................................................... Graduate Study, Theatre, Kent State University 1981 - 1986 .................................................... Secondary Teacher, Language Arts Open Door Christian School, Elyria, Ohio 1986 - 1989 .....................................................Adjunct Instructor, Communication Arts, Cedarville College 1987 - 1989.................................................... Graduate Study, Theatre The Ohio State University 1990 - present................................................ Ph.D. program, Educational Studies (Speech and Theatre Education) The Ohio State University 1990 - present................................................ Associate Professor, Communication Arts, Cedarville College 1994 - present ....................................... Adjunct Faculty, Antioch University PUBLICATIONS Book Reviews 1. Merchant, Diane Conrad. Rev. of Learning Through Theatre-New Perspectives on Theatre Education, ed. Tony Jackson. Theatre Studies 41 (1996): 54*55 2. Merchant, Diane Conrad. Rev. of The Other American Drama, by Marc A. Robinson. Theatre Studies 41 11996): 68-70. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ......................................................................................................................... ii Dedication................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements...................................................................................................................... v Vita...............................................................................................................................................vi Chapters: 1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 2. By the Water: ASubstance in What Was Only Shadow..........................................32 3. Mirrors of the Self: The Loved Becomes the Lover, the Seeker Sought................59 4. The Boy Himself, Elusive Always . An Always Fleeing Image.......................86 5. What you Seek is Nowhere . The Vision Only Shadow................................... 118 6. The Vision , . Goes Away With You, If You Can Go Away............................136 Works Consulted..................................................................................................................... 155 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In Ovid's retelling of the Narcissus myth in Book III of Metamorphoses. Tircsias prophesies that the infant Narcissus will have a long life provided nhe shall himself not know." Centuries later, American monologist Spalding Gray performs self-reflexive material in what he describes as an attempt "to tell the story in order to heal myself through the tclling-you know, how to try to make sense of it" (Gray, "Meet our Newest Interviewer" 3). Though Narcissus was looking into the pool longingly, trapped in an unrequited love for a beautiful image he did not recognize as himself, Gray's persona examines his life knowingly in search of a self, a significant difference in motivation for someone who is similarly trapped. Narcissus is already immobilized, unresponsive to the plaintive, adoring call of Echo. Gray’s character, in all of his monologues, is looking deeply into the pool to avoid the fatality of being trapped. By performing monologues which are intensely autobiographical and dealing with very personal issues of introspection and anxiety, Spalding Gray pursues a knowledge of the self, much like the intense gaze of Narcissus into the murky water in pursuit of the compelling image. Gray writes candidly about his own epic struggles with fear, anxiety, sexuality, the loss of his mother, and his own nervous 1 breakdown. For