Self-contemplation replaces genuine relationship and blinds the narcissist to how others see her.

Evidence

But narcissist drama plays itself out at the expense of real life; an imaginary personage solicits the admiration of an imaginary public; a woman tormented by her ego loses all hold on the concrete world, she does not care about establishing any real relationship with others; Mme de Staël would not declaim Phaedra so wholeheartedly if she had foreseen the mockeries her “admirers” noted that night in their notebooks; but the narcissist refuses to accept she can be seen other than as she shows herself: this is what explains why, so busy contemplating herself, she totally fails to judge herself, and she falls so easily into ridiculousness. She no longer listens, she talks, and when she talks, she recites her lines. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1830

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the existentialist framework of bad faith and the refusal to be seen as an object-for-others from Being and Nothingness. — connects to: The girl’s narcissism follows from an early craving to be looked at by others; Montherlant replaced genuine engagement with the world by narcissistic self-worship — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 496; Narcissism’s demand for repeated recognition flattens the other into sameness. — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 90 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Narcissism’s demand for repeated recognition flattens the other into sameness. #expands (0.85) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 90
• Narcissistic women use audiences rather than mirrors to confirm their self-image #corroborates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1813
• Narcissistic self-fashioning lets woman express personality without being beautiful #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1800