ABSTRACT
From a traditional diagnostic perspective, Aleksey Aleksandrovich would be considered a well-functioning obsessional character. Aleksandrovich needs to know everything to feel safe. At the moment he demonstrates that his knowledge is “perfect,” a sense of original narcissistic perfection is recaptured; he is smiled at either by himself or by a respected object. His narcissistic gratifications derive from a number of modes of winning smiling approval. The quality of Aleksey’s involvement with Anna Karenina is highlighted in his annoyed response to his grudging perception of her involvement with Vronsky. He is jolted at the prospect of her “separate” pursuit of narcissistic gratification. The traumatic events provoked a narcissistic regression that reactivated dormant narcissistically invested self-representations that in turn interacted with his ego endowment and his identificatory opportunity with his uncle. The defensive nature of this narcissistically invested identification is emphasized by the almost total involvement of his energies in pursuit of his ever illusive goals.
