Narcissus and Pygmalion, Sphinx and Labyrinth, the art of the emblem, caricature, and the fantastic manifestations in art, literature, and architecture of the 19th century are the themes of this early work by the great Italian philosopher. Agamben repeatedly circles around the relationship between the real thing and its representation, as it specifically unfolds in the tradition of the West in language and art. Language is, on one hand, the place where phantoms are (re)produced and stored, while on the other hand, there always remains an unbridgeable rift between the object of desire and the attempt to possess it. The stanza stands for this impossible place of possession and at the same time the retreat of the thing: the core of art and poetry. Agamben's reading of medical love doctrines and medieval love poetry is equally fascinating.