ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents the findings of an extensive, in-depth study of individuals who, because they resemble closely the character of Echo in the myth of Echo and Narcissus. It introduces echoism as a clinical entity and as a theoretical concept. Echoism is the clinical counterpart to narcissism, and for every narcissistic individual there is usually an echoistic partner and any number of dependents. The book provides the reader with descriptions and definitions drawn from a range of literary and theoretical material from different schools. It describes some literary theoretical concepts that help orient the reader towards particular ways of approaching and interpreting both the written text and the clinical situation. The book argues that the acknowledgment of an echoistic-narcissistic complex, rather than echoistic traits being incorporated into the existing paradigm of narcissistic conditions.
