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.