The Metaphysics of Mirrors

[MagnusTC]

I am writing an article about the use of mirrors in sculpture and thought it would be interesting to include some reflections on how mirrors are present in supernatural and weird fiction. At this point, I can think of the following titles as dealing explicitly with mirrors:

Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Caroll
Covered Mirrors by Jorge Luis Borges
Apartment 205 by Mark Samuels
The Hell of Mirrors by Edogawa Rampo
The Spectacles in the Drawer by Thomas Ligotti
Poltergeist III by Gary Sherman
Don't Look Now by Nicolas Roeg (although not as consistently, as the mirroring surface is here mainly water)

Also, while leafing through Borges' Collected Fictions, I found this beautiful passage:

"As soon as it began to grow dark outside, the constant, infallible functioning of mirrors, the way they followed my every movement, their cosmic pantomime, would seem eerie to me. One of my insistent pleas to God and my guardian angel was that I not dream of mirrors; I recall clearly that I would keep an eye on them uneasily. I feared sometimes that they would begin to veer off from reality; other times, that I would see my face in them disfigured by strange misfortunes. I have learned that this horror is monstrously abroad in the world again."

Well, that's about it, I would be grateful for any other mirror fiction suggestions you can think of!

[MagnusTC]

Here is a couple of other mirror stories I have thought of:

Alice's Last Adventure by Thomas Ligotti
The Silver Mirror by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Outsider by H. P. Lovecraft

I still feel that I am missing the important ones ...

[G. S. Carnivals]

"Midnight in the Mirror World" by Fritz Leiber is a story that scared the p$$$ out of me many years ago. This is upon reflection, I might add.

[gveranon]

Since you're writing about mirrors in sculpture, you may already be aware of Robert Smithson, who was sometimes called a sculptor. His extraordinary essay

"Incidents of Mirror-Travel in the Yucatan"

is about a series of "mirror displacements" he did there. I haven't seen anyone else make this connection, but something about Smithson's sensibility (as it comes across in his writings and interviews, more than in his "earthworks" themselves) reminds me of J. G. Ballard.

Update: Should have looked before I posted. Some things are too blatant to be coincidence. I just did a google search on Smithson and Ballard and got a lot of hits. Smithson read Ballard and Ballard admired Smithson's works.

[Acutely decayed]

This is barely on topic - more physics than metaphysics, and may be uninteresting to most, sorry

I am reading (as well as the Leiber above now, which I thank GSC very much for) – the Wraparound Universe – by Luminet (it was mentioned by Bakker in some context which initially prompted me to look into it…)

so – metaphysics wise or physics wise …I get confused – the stars we see may actually be multiple images of the same originator whose light has travelled either directly or around one or more times the tubular (or other shaped) space-time we inhabit. The upshot is we actually may not be seeing very much (relatively) – but what we see is multiplied by the shape of space – the direct analogy of a room with mirror walls is used. *

How many of the stars we see may be “ghosts/reflections” is unclear…. since the light travels different distances many images would appear different ages…

reflecting stale infinities….

Phenomenally a crystal lattice repeated across our field of view was another analogy used – taking things to extremes there is some real potential for claustrophobic horror here I think – a kind of inverted Lovecraft…maybe not being important was not so terrifying after all – being part of a very small universe might be…sort of like in japanese horror when the ghost seems so impersonally distant then comes through the TV or opens its eyes directly on the CCTV screen….. Then again if we are densely coliled layers of illusion anyway....

I am not a physicist (and slow) so I have probably got this confused but makes me think also that a small action could have consequences that continue - amplified indefinitely.

Coincidentally, I am also reading South Wind – Douglas – quote (from memory) “people who stop reflecting tend to end up by becoming idealists’….

and once I read “The Tain”

* (the model may still be true if all we see is original – just means the observable universe is not “mirrored” as the repeating unit is too large, but this is less fun to speculate on..)

[DoktorH]

mirrors in weird/fantasy/horror fiction?
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone. The Mirror of Erised is a sort of boobytrapped safe for hiding valuable objects.
The Broken - people's reflections come after them!
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - mirrors used for scrying and other magical purposes.
American Psycho - tthe protagonist frequently checks his reflection

[MagnusTC]

Quote

Since you're writing about mirrors in sculpture, you may already be aware of Robert Smithson, who was sometimes called a sculptor. His extraordinary essay "Incidents of Mirror-Travel in the Yucatan" is about a series of "mirror displacements" he did there. I haven't seen anyone else make this connection, but something about Smithson's sensibility (as it comes across in his writings and interviews, more than in his "earthworks" themselves) reminds me of J. G. Ballard.

Yeah, I am definitely aware of Smithson's works and writings, but thanks gveranon for reminding me of him anyway! In his essays, Smithson seems to make a lot of references not only to Ballard, but also to Borges, Caroll, crystallography and a great deal of other things relating to mirrors.

Another sculptor I am looking at is Michelangelo Pistoletto, who has worked with and written extensively about mirrors since the early 60's. Here is a work of his, A Cubic Meter of Infinity, made of mirror and cord.



Ok, if anyone is reminded of other fiction about mirrors, I'd be happy to hear about it. I have to get hold of Fritz Leiber's Midnight in the Mirror World, thanks G.S. Carnivals!

[MagnusTC]

In the Mirror by Valery Bryosov

http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0647.pdf

a brilliant little story about the halfconscious and uncanny life on the other side of the mirror.

[dysnomia]

"Reflections From the Abyss" by Richard Gavin

[MagnusTC]

Quote

I am reading (as well as the Leiber above now, which I thank GSC very much for) – the Wraparound Universe – by Luminet (it was mentioned by Bakker in some context which initially prompted me to look into it…)

Hi Acutely decayed, I just checked out The Wraparound Universe, don't think I have ever actually read a book on cosmology :-) but I have to admit this one looks pretty interesting. The way you describe his theory makes me think of some of Borges' essays on horror in metaphysics, Pascal etc.