Narcissism and Its Discontents challenges the received wisdom that narcissism is only destructive of good social relations. By building on insights from psychoanalysis and critical theory it puts forward a theorisation of narcissistic sociability which redeems Narcissus from his position as the subject of negative critique.

Introduction 1. On the Introduction of Narcissism to Psychoanalytic Theory: 1914 and its Consequences 2. Socialising Narcissus via the Case of 'Little Hans' 3. Sociology 1: On the Narcissism of Nostalgia 4. Sociology 2: Cultural Narcissism, Some Examples from Anglo-American Sociology 5. 'Exceptional' Woman and Exemplary Sociability: The Figure of the Narquette 6. From Narcissism to Melancholia, and Back Again...

Julie Walsh is an Institute of Advanced Study Global Research Fellow in the department of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK.