Mimesis, desire, and the novel : René Girard and literary criticism / edited by Pierpaolo Antonello and Heather Webb.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Antonello, Pierpaolo, editor.

Webb, Heather, 1976- editor.

Phi Beta Kappa Library Trust Fund.

Series:

Studies in violence, mimesis, and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mimesis in literature.

Desire in literature.

Girard, René, 1923-2015--Criticism and interpretation.

Girard, René.

Girard, René, 1923-2015.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

liii, 303 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

East Lansing : Michigan State University Press, 2015.

Summary:

Fifty years after its publication in English, René Girard's Deceit, Desire, and the Novel (1965) has never ceased to fascinate, challenge, inspire, and sometimes irritate, literary scholars. It has become one of the great classics of literary criticism, and the notion of triangular desire is now part of the theoretical parlance among critics and students. It also represents the genetic starting point for what has become one of the most encompassing, challenging, and far-reaching theories conceived in the humanities in the last century: mimetic theory. This book provides a forum for new generations of scholars and critics to reassess, challenge, and expand the theoretical and hermeneutical reach of key issues brought forward by Girard's book, including literary knowledge, realism and representation, imitation and the anxiety of influence, metaphysical desire, deviated transcendence, literature and religious experience, individualism and modernity, and death and resurrection. It also provides a more extensive and detailed historical understanding of the representation of desire, imitation, and rivalry within European and world literature, from Dante to Proust and from Dickens to Jonathan Littell.

Contents:

Part 1 Theoretical Considerations

Jealousy and Novelistic Knowledge / Maria DiBattista DiBattista, Maria 3

Desiring Proust: Girard against Deleuze / Alessia Ricciardi Ricciardi, Alessia 17

Within and Beyond Mimetic Desire / Luca Di Blasi Blasi, Luca Di 39

On Girard's Biblical Realism / Karen S. Feldman Feldman, Karen S. 55

Creative Renunciation: The Spiritual Heart of Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, Wolfgang Palaver 69

Part 2 Mimetic Hermeneutics in History

The Desire to Be You: The Discourse of Praise for the Roman Emperor / Marco Formisano Formisano, Marco 81

René Girard and (Medieval) Sanctity: A Reappraisal / Bill Burgwinkle Burgwinkle, Bill 101

Dubbiosi Disiri: Mimetic Processes in Dante's Comedy / Manuele Gragnolati Gragnolati, Manuele, Heather Webb Webb, Heather 113

For a Comparative Topography of Desire: Mimetic Theory and the World Map / Rosa Mucignat Mucignat, Rosa 133

Nobody's Fault: Dickens, René Girard, and the Novel / David Quint Quint, David 147

"Let Us Carve Him as a Feast Fit for the Gods": Girard and Unjust Execution in Nineteenth-Century Narrative / Jan-Melissa Schramm Schramm, Jan-Melissa 161

Dostoyevsky's Metaphysical Theater: The Underground Man and the Masochist in Deceit, Desire, and the Novel and Resurrection from the Underground / Yue Zhuo Zhuo, Yue 175

Deceit, Desire, Violence, and Death in the Short Stories of Georges Bernanos / Brian Sudlow Sudlow, Brian 189

Mimetic Desire in Otherworldly Narratives / Laura Wittman Wittman, Laura 205

Desire, Deceit, and Defeat in the Work of Roberto Arlt / Jobst Welge Welge, Jobst 219

Recantation without Conversion: Desire, Mimesis, and the Paradox of Engagement in Pier Paolo Pasolini's Petrolio / Christoph F. E. Holzhey Holzhey, Christoph F. E. 233

Jonathan Franzen's Novelistic Conversion / Trevor Cribben Merrill Merrill, Trevor Cribben 253

Mimetic Desire and Monstrous Doubles in Jonathan Littell's The Kindly Ones / Robert Buch Buch, Robert 265.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Phi Beta Kappa Library Trust Fund.

ISBN:

1611861659

9781611861655

OCLC:

908991025

Publisher Number:

99964792913