Mimetic Desire Examples
Mimetic desire can be understood as an abstract concept, but it doesn’t really hit home until we see it in concrete events in the world around us—and in our own life. A young girl posts a selfie to Instagram. She’s beaming next to her new boyfriend at a sushi restaurant. Her ex, who she hasn’t heard from in months, ex starts texting her the next day. A college guy with a new girlfriend introduces her to every guy he knows, secretly hoping that they’ll want her, too. When he senses that they don’t, he begins to doubt that he made the right choice. Five year-old Caleb finds a shiny red toy dump truck in the corner of his classroom that none of the other kids seemed to care about. As soon he expresses an interest in it, there’s an all-out war. Everyone wants to play with the cool new toy. A university freshman chooses to major in accounting because his friend (who seems like he has it all together) really wants to be an accountant. For the job security, of course.
Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life — by Luke Burgis
WANTING is a large-scale exposition of mimetic theory and its practical applications, especially the positive potential of mimesis, written by entrepreneur, author, and professor of business Luke Burgis. This book is the most ambitious and engaging explanation of mimetic theory for someone new to Girard’s thought. The book has a wide, sweeping range, moving from an interview with Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel in the introduction to recounting the story of Zappos.com and the rivalry between Ferruccio Lamborghini and Enzo Ferrari to a three-Michelin-star chef Sebastien Bras, who renounced his stars and told the Michelin Guide not to come back to his restaurant or include him in the guide. The book is totally unsummarizable since it covers such broad ground and weaves together narrative with more academic explanations of mimetic theory. The first half of this book covers mimetic desire, distortions of desire (and objects), rivalries, conflict, and the scapegoating mechanism; the second part of the book deals with the transformation of desire. The second half of the book focuses on one can be anti-mimetic, or counteract and resist the forces of negative or destructive mimetic desire and thereby live a more fulfilling life. Learn more about Wanting.
Compassion Or Apocalypse?: A Comprehensible Guide to the Thought of Rene Girard – by James Warren
Apocalyptic Future, Warren’s written a gem, a much-needed “comprehensive” guide to Girard’s thought. It does an excellent job of starting “in the beginning,” with Genesis, and moving all the way through what Girard worried would be a man-made apocalypse. The table of contents is sweeping: Part I: MIMESIS Chapter 1: Mimesis and DesireChapter 2: Mimesis in Genesis 2 and 3Chapter 3: Scandal and Desire in the Gospels Part II: THE SCAPEGOAT Chapter 4: Sacrifice, Founding Murder, and the Scapegoat MechanismChapter 5: Mimesis, Rivalry, and Rounding Murder in GenesisChapter 6: The Primitive Sacred and the Hebrew Scriptures in Travail Chapter 7: MythologyChapter 8: The Gospel Revelation of Myth and Murder Part III: Compassion of Apocalypse Chapter 9: The Gerasene DemoniacChapter 10: The Apostle PaulChapter 11: Paradigm for a New Humanity Chapter 12: Apocalyptic Future and the Contemporary Situation Check out Compassion or Apocalypse on Amazon.
René Girard’s Mimetic Theory – by Wolfgang Palaver
A systematic introduction into the René Girard’s mimetic theory of the French-American literary theorist and philosophical anthropologist René Girard, this essential text explains its three main pillars (mimetic desire, the scapegoat mechanism, and the Biblical “difference”) with the help of examples from literature and philosophy. This book also offers an overview of René Girard’s life and work, showing how much mimetic theory results from existential and spiritual insights into one’s own mimetic entanglements. Furthermore, it examines the broader implications of Girard’s theories, from the mimetic aspect of sovereignty and wars to the relationship between the scapegoat mechanism and the question of capital punishment. Mimetic theory is placed within the context of current cultural and political debates like the relationship between religion and modernity, terrorism, the death penalty, and gender issues. Drawing textual examples from European literature (Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goethe, Kleist, Stendhal, Storm, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Proust) and philosophy (Plato, Camus, Sartre, Lévi-Strauss, Derrida, Vattimo), Palaver uses mimetic theory to explore the themes they present. A highly accessible book, this text is complemented by bibliographical references to Girard’s widespread work and secondary literature on mimetic theory and its applications, comprising a valuable bibliographical archive that provides the reader with an overview of the development and discussion of mimetic theory until the present day. Check out René Girard’s Mimetic Theory on Amazon
The Girard Reader (Edited by James G. Williams)
In one volume, an anthology of seminal work of one of the twentieth century’s most original thinkers, René Girard. This is a great place to start for newbie’s to Girard’s mimetic theory. The only drawback is that this book is out of print and thus is ridiculously expensive; however, it does contain essential nuggets of Girard’s thought and worth the read for those who want to drop the coin. This book includes Girard’s seminal insights into literary theory, the scapegoat mechanism, mimetic rivalries, and the foundational role of mimetic desire in all of this. Check out The Girard Reader on Amazon.
I See Satan Fall Like Lightning – by Rene Girard
One of Girard’s most important books, and one highly recommended for beginners –especially those interested in the religious implications of his work. It starts exploring the tenth commandment, which Girard believes is really an injunction against mimetic rivalry, and goes on to explain the apparent similarities between mythology and the Gospels. In Girard’s view, the similarities don’t threaten the uniqueness of Christianity but are rather the basis on which its uniqueness is made obvious. The Gospels are truly revelation, the Myth to end all myths…because it reveals the falsity of myths and the truth that lies underneath all of them. This book’s chapters are as follows: PART ONE: The Biblical Knowledge of Violence Scandal must come The Cycle of Mimetic Violence Satan PART TWO: The Enigma of Myth Resolved 4. The Horrible Miracle of Apollonius5. Mythology 6. Sacrifice7. The Founding Murder8. Powers and Principalities PART THREE: The Victory of the Cross 9. The uniqueness of the bible10. The uniqueness of the Gospels11. The Triumph of the Cross12. Scapegoat13. The Modern Concern for Victims14. The Twofold Nietzchean Heritage Check out I See Satan Fall Like Lightning on Amazon.