René Girard and Creative Mimesis
Contributions by Pablo Bandera, Christina Biava, Robin Collins, Robert Doran, Robert Doran, S.J., Joachim Duyndam, Patrick Imbert, André Lascaris, Richard McGuigan, Wolfgang Palaver, Andrew O'Shea, Nancy Popp, Petra Steinmair-Pösel, Martha Reineke, Thomas E. Reynolds, Francis Tobienne Jr. Edited by Thomas Ryba
Not available to order
Publication date:
21 November 2013Length of book:
342 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksISBN-13: 9780739168998
For half a century René Girard’s theories of mimetic desire and scapegoating have captivated the imagination of thinkers and doers in many fields as an incisive look into the human condition, particularly the roots of violence. In a 1993 interview with Rebecca Adams, he highlighted the positive dimensions of mimetic phenomena without expanding on what they might be. Now, two decades later, this groundbreaking book systematically explores the positive side of mimetic theory in the context of the multi-faceted world of creativity. Several authors build on Adams’ insight that loving mimesis can be understood as desiring the subjectivity of the other, particularly when the other may be young or wounded. With highly nuanced arguments authors show how mimetic theory can be used to address child and adult development, including the growth of consciousness and a capacity to handle complexity. Mimetic theory is brought to bear on big questions about creativity in nature, evolutionary development, originality, and religious intrusion into politics.
Harnessing the insights of some of the leading exponents of Girard's theories and examining all major parts of the creative process, this volume adroitly explores the relation of mimesis to creativity across the board in the humanities and social sciences — engaging fields as diverse as political science, psychology, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, literary study, religious studies, and theology. As such, it promises an innovative, re-invigorating, and productive set of approaches to questions that have withstood our attention for some two thousand years in the West, confined as they were for most of that time within the works of a few great literary artists.