"Easily, Pleasantly, and Decorously": Psychological Defenses and Cognitive Distortions of Tolstoy's Ilych

by Michelle C. Conan

Tolstoy’s novella The Death of Ivan Ilych is used to compare psychological defense mechanisms with cognitive distortions. The main character, Mr. Ilych, displays narcissistic personality traits throughout his life and in his confrontation with death from an unknown illness. Faced with his own mortality, he suffers what can be viewed as either a narcissistic injury (from a psychodynamic perspective) or a narcissistic insult (from a cognitive perspective) to which he responds through the use of the narcissist’s characteristic defense mechanisms or cognitive distortions, respectively. Both conceptualizations, which are functionally similar but conceptually different, account for Mr. Ilych’s life trajectory.

PsyArt is an online, peer-reviewed journal featuring articles using a psychological approach to the arts. We provide a rapid publication decision and a large and international readership. The journal is open to any psychology and any art, although PsyArt specializes in psychoanalytic psychology and literature or film.