Narcissism Between Life and Death in the Novel “Anna Karenina”

The final qualifying work “The Narcissism of Life and the Narcissism of Death in the work of Leo Tolstoy's“ Anna Karenina ”” is devoted to the issue of normal and pathological narcissism. As an example, the personality of Anna Karenina of the heroine of the work of the same name by L. N. Tolstoy will be considered. It is surprising how the term narcissism is gaining momentum in society in recent years. Due to the interest in narcissism and the emergence of patients with various narcissistic pathologies, narcissism is one of the most popular topics in psychoanalytic circles and asks a number of questions for psychoanalysts from around the world. The concept of narcissism is very broadly understood, it is regarded as egocentrism and self-esteem, on the other hand, as sexual perversion and the transfer of libidinal energy into the self, it is also regarded as a stage in the development of the mental apparatus. The phenomenon of narcissism is becoming more interesting for those who are far from professional psychoanalytic and psychological circles. This phenomenon, which is actively developing in modern society, raises the urgency of studying the issues of narcissism, especially regarding its destructive component, making it one of the central. Such a massive development of narcissism is a danger to the modern world, given that with such a phenomenon, building normal object relations is practically impossible and because such people are the destroyers of not only their own, but also of other people's lives. The distinction between healthy narcissism, the desire to express oneself and pathology, a destructive life is a key issue for a person’s personality.