Literary Aesthetics and Knowledge in René Girard’s Mimetic Theory
Literature and Aesthetics 17 (1):35-50 (2007)
| Abstract | René Girard’s mimetic theory has significantly influenced the fields of comparative literature and cultural studies, as well as sociological anthropology and philosophy. Nevertheless, I argue that a somewhat different line of interpretation, an interdisciplinary one, has not been sufficiently investigated. This involves an interpretation which focuses on the vicissitudes of the mimetic and “victimage” circle not (or not only) in sociological terms, but by analysing their articulation on the level of knowledge. The sociological and epistemological perspectives do not exclude each other, but can be integrated. The main aim of this paper is to clarify this articulation, and to show that integration between these two perspectives is possible only by bringing into play a real ‘literary aesthetics’. The notion of literary aesthetics needs to be considered in both the common and the etymological sense, as a theory of feeling and of experiencing. In doing so, I firstly cover in brief the main stages of Girard’s thought in the light of this perspective, to then focus on the relationship between literary aesthetics and knowledge. Finally I argue that this picture, if seriously considered, could lead to a mystical outcome, and will discuss the possible alternatives to that outcome. | |||||||||
| Keywords | Girard Aesthetics Knowledge | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,701 |
| External links | This entry has no external links. Add one. |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesPaul Dumouchel (ed.) (1988). Violence and Truth: On the Work of René Girard. Stanford University Press.
Sergio Manghi (2006). Traps for Sacrifice: Bateson's Schizophrenic and Girard's Scapegoat. World Futures 62 (8):561 – 575.
Christopher A. Fox (2007). Sacrificial Pasts and Messianic Futures: Religion as a Political Prospect in René Girard and Giorgio Agamben. Philosophy and Social Criticism 33 (5):563-595.
Marie Cabaud Meaney (2010). Simone Weil and René Girard. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (3):565-587.
Gene Fendt (2010). Plato's Mimetic Art. Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 84:239-252.
Neil Ormerod (forthcoming). Desire and the Origins of Culture: Lonergan and Girard in Conversation. Heythrop Journal.
Paisley Livingston (1994). What is Mimetic Desire? Philosophical Psychology 7 (3):291 – 305.
Sherwood Belangia (2011). Metaphysical Desire in Girard and Plato. Comparative and Continental Philosophy 2 (2):197-209.
Paolo Diego Bubbio (2008). Review of Chris Fleming, Rene Girard: Violence and Mimesis. [REVIEW] Australian Religious Studies Review 21 (1):96-97.
Analytics
Monthly downloads
Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
|
Added to index2009-11-17Total downloads0Recent downloads (6 months)0How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
