The Gaze of Orpheus

In ancient Greek religion, The Gaze of Orpheus is derived from the antiquarian Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In the story of Orpheus, the poet descends to the underworld to retrieve his wife, Eurydice from premature death, only on Hades’ and Persephone's condition that he does not look at her during the process. During his descent, however, Orpheus disobeys this condition and loses Eurydice again, and he himself is destroyed.

The Gaze of Orpheus has since been evaluated by many philosophers and literary critics. Common analogies are made between Orpheus's gaze and writing processes, philosophical interpretation, and artistic origins. Some of the most famous uses of the gaze of Orpheus can be found in Maurice Blanchot’s short essay ‘Le Regard d’Orphée’ (The Gaze of Orpheus), Geoffrey Sirc's, The Composition's Eye/Orpheus's Gaze/Cobain's Journals, and Jaques Lacan’s work on the mirror stage.

Interpretations

Maurice Blanchot

Blanchot's interpretation and use of the Orphic myth is to highlight the non-dialectical movement of art, and especially literature's, self-realization. Against Hegelian dialectics, Blanchot's Orpheus sacrifices Eurydice but does not attain the work, only the sacrifice of the work, and affirms the impossibility that grounds the work at its origin. This piece is notable for both its philosophical style and its literary singularity. Some critics have offered “the Orpheus myth as a model which provides ways to discuss many of the features of Blanchot's work, which until now appeared not to have common thematic links." In a way, Blanchot uses the myth to transcribe the creative process—Lynne Huffer suggests that “Eurydice's disappearance symbolizes a loss that is recuperated by the compensatory gift of Orpheus's song.” Blanchot believes that the myth itself is a fitting example of the necessity of obliqueness and indirection in approaching being.