Pauls Case Narcissistic Personality
"Paul 's Case": A Narcissistic Personality Disorder
By Rob Saari
Willa Cather 's title "Paul 's Case" (1905) invites us to ponder the question, "What exactly is Paul 's Case?" Cather immediately informs us that Paul 's case is mysterious. His own father is "perplexed" about his son 's behavior, and the school faculty, who meet with Paul to discuss his recent suspension, speak of Paul with such "rancor" and "aggrievedness" that it is obvious that Paul 's is "not a usual case" (221). At first, it appears that Paul is, perhaps, simply filled with the arrogance that adolescence sometimes brings, but, as Cather continues with Paul 's case history, we learn that his problem is more deeply rooted. Paul 's problem drives him to take his own life, and simple adolescent arrogance does not lead to such drastic measures. My diagnosis is that Paul suffers from what contemporary psychiatry calls a "narcissistic personality disorder."
The term, "narcissism" comes, of course, from the Greek myth of Narcissus. Freud, who drew upon mythology to assist in his conceptual formulations of psychopathology, formally introduced the term narcissism into the psychiatric literature in his 1914 paper On Narcissism.(1) The term received recognition within the early psychoanalytic intelligentsia and has been historically rooted in the psychoanalytic tradition. Since Freud first introduced the term, it has been used to help explain disorders ranging from the mildly neurotic to the psychotic. Presently, the American Psychiatric Association uses the term to define a personality and outlines the diagnostic criteria for the narcissistic personality disorder (in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV].(2) To receive the diagnosis of a narcissistic personality disorder, a person must meet five of nine criteria: Paul appears to be a prototypical case, meeting all nine.(3) Amazingly, it seems that Willa Cather intuitively set forth the diagnostic
By Rob Saari
Willa Cather 's title "Paul 's Case" (1905) invites us to ponder the question, "What exactly is Paul 's Case?" Cather immediately informs us that Paul 's case is mysterious. His own father is "perplexed" about his son 's behavior, and the school faculty, who meet with Paul to discuss his recent suspension, speak of Paul with such "rancor" and "aggrievedness" that it is obvious that Paul 's is "not a usual case" (221). At first, it appears that Paul is, perhaps, simply filled with the arrogance that adolescence sometimes brings, but, as Cather continues with Paul 's case history, we learn that his problem is more deeply rooted. Paul 's problem drives him to take his own life, and simple adolescent arrogance does not lead to such drastic measures. My diagnosis is that Paul suffers from what contemporary psychiatry calls a "narcissistic personality disorder."
The term, "narcissism" comes, of course, from the Greek myth of Narcissus. Freud, who drew upon mythology to assist in his conceptual formulations of psychopathology, formally introduced the term narcissism into the psychiatric literature in his 1914 paper On Narcissism.(1) The term received recognition within the early psychoanalytic intelligentsia and has been historically rooted in the psychoanalytic tradition. Since Freud first introduced the term, it has been used to help explain disorders ranging from the mildly neurotic to the psychotic. Presently, the American Psychiatric Association uses the term to define a personality and outlines the diagnostic criteria for the narcissistic personality disorder (in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV].(2) To receive the diagnosis of a narcissistic personality disorder, a person must meet five of nine criteria: Paul appears to be a prototypical case, meeting all nine.(3) Amazingly, it seems that Willa Cather intuitively set forth the diagnostic
Cited: American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV. 4th ed. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, 1994. Cather, Willa Horney, Karen. Neurosis and Human Growth. New York: Norton, 1950 Kernberg, Otto Page, Philip. "The Theatricality of Willa Cather 's `Paul 's Case. '" Studies in Short Fiction 28 (1991): 553-57 Pitcher, Edward Salda, Michael. "What Really Happens in Cather 's `Paul 's Case '?" Studies in Short Fiction 29 (1992): 113-19. Stone, Michael Saari, Rob. " 'Paul 's Case ': A Narcissistic Personality Disorder, 301.81." Studies in Short Fiction 34.3 (1997): 389. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 June 2013.