ABSTRACT
In Freudian theory, the “Oedipus complex” refers to a psychosexual configuration the name of which is derived from, and alludes to, the plot of Sophocles’ Theban tragedy of fate, Oedipus Rex. This chapter examines the “sphinx complex” in Theophile Gautier and explores it from a literary, rather than a therapeutic, perspective. Gautier, in one of the critical reviews discussed in this paper, “Theodore Chasseriau”, made use of the expression “retrospective assimilation”. The motifs of sorrow and surprise, which Gautier associated with the sphinx, were already well established in his oeuvre by the time he came to write The Novel of the Mummy. In keeping with the conventions of the genre, Gautier concludes his prologue with the announcement that he has turned the Latin translation of Doctor Rumphius into French. Gautier’s “custodians of pagodas” makes a discreet reference to the devadasis, who gave up their lives to the caretaking of Hindu temples.
