TEORIJA ODRAZA: KAŽNJAVANJE ŽENSKOG NARCIZMA U TEKSTOVIMA LAVA NIKOLAJEVIČA TOLSTOJA
REFLECTION THEORY: PUNISHING FEMALE NARCISSISM IN THE WORKS BY LEV NIKOLAYEVICH TOLSTOY

Summary/Abstract: Even though Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy is mostly known as an opponent of (female) sexuality, this essay argues that female narcissism is an equally controversial category. As plots of three texts – the novellas “The Kreutzer Sonata” and “Family Happiness”, and the novel Anna Karenina – show, female characters have to convert ego-libido into object -libido in order to, while overcoming disappointment, reach Tolstoy’s idea of living for others. The first part of the essay is based on a close reading of Tolstoy’s novellas, and the second part examines the female characters of Anna Karenina. Instead of pointing out the differences between Kitty, Dolly and Ana, I am trying to foreground the ways in which they reflect each other, while linking Anna’s intertextual representations, two portraits, to Tolstoy’s remarks on the social function of art.

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