Mimetic Rivalry Research Articles

Mimesis, Desire, and the Novel: René Girard and Literary Criticism . Edited by Pierpaolo Antonello and Heather Webb

René Girard’s radical claims about subjectivity, mimetic rivalry, and literature as a purveyor of truth that exposes ‘the Romantic lie’ of authentic desire are so comprehensive that one might forgive his critics for suggesting that, in his work, great novels always seem to mean the same thing. This volume of essays, which stems from a series of conferences held in 2011 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque, is, then, all the more impressive for demonstrating the rich productive potential and continuing relevance of Girard’s thought, and constitutes a major achievement. Although the book does not aim to provide an introduction to Girard’s project, its prose is lucid and engaging, so that even relative newcomers will be able to navigate most essays with ease and find stimulating food for thought. The first part of the volume focuses on theoretical considerations in which Girard’s work is read alongside thinkers as diverse as Freud, Hegel, Deleuze, and Weil, among others. The second, longer, part consists of case studies that explore and at times challenge Girard’s treatment of literature as a heuristic tool. The contributors do not shy away from addressing controversial aspects of his work. Politics is one such critical blind spot, for as David Quint argues in his reading of Dickens, to surrender the wish to trade places with someone else might also mean to abandon the fight for justice and equality. Manuele Gragnolati and Heather Webb’s piece on Dante similarly seeks to release desire from the grips of debased envy by emphasizing its pedagogical and salvific functions, just as Maria DiBattista and Jan-Melissa Schramm re-appraise, in turn, jealousy in Proust and self-sacrifice in nineteenth-century British narrative. Whilst the Introduction alludes to under-theorized questions of sexuality, and Christoph F. E. Holzhey’s essay on Pier Paolo Pasolini acts as a corrective to the heterosexual normativity of the Girardian model, the collection’s literary corpus is composed exclusively of male writers. For a study that is so remarkably wide-ranging — analysing works in English, French, Italian, Russian, and Spanish; crossing periods and genres from the classical panegyric and medieval Occitan hagiographical poem to novels, plays, and short stories from the nineteenth century onwards — the absence of women writers is conspicuous. In her book What Is a Woman? (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), Toril Moi demonstrated the fertility of Girard’s work for thinking about gender, and it is a pity not to find similar engagement here. (A pity too, on another note, that such a handsome volume contains so many typographical errors in the French quotations.) Girard’s thought emerges from conceptual twists and narrative turns, and these essays testify to its dynamism by attending to the ways in which his ‘script’ can be (re)written. Thus Rosa Mucignat’s view that cultures also operate in relations of rivalry and imitation casts mimetic desire on a global stage where centre and periphery constantly shift. Trajectories also become far less predictable: acutely mindful of the polysemic slipperiness of texts, contributors such as Karen S. Feldman suggest an altogether more complex, unstable, and open-ended hermeneutics. The renunciation of false idols is a recurring theme in these pages, whether it be the self-reflexive conversions undergone by characters or indeed those of writers themselves. How fitting, then, that this important and invigorating volume should have for its coda Girard’s own account of this experience.

The revolutionary and Napoleonic wars in the Prussian political imaginary: a politico-anthropological genealogy of the ‘special’ German–French relations

This paper captures the processes by which the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars redefined enduringly the logics of interaction between Prussia/Germany and France. It explains transformations of power, political imagination and social organisation that are key to understanding the ‘special’ nature of contemporary German–French relations. The paper finds that historical and international relations narratives fail to address the entire range of system-level transformations in the international order. Making use of approaches and concepts such as liminality, communitas, mimetic theory and the sacred, this paper proposes a novel, political anthropological perspective on such transformations, conceiving them as the interlocking of mimetic binds. First, I present wars and revolutions as liminal moments of collective threshold experiences. Second, I show how the liminal process functions at the international system-level. Third, I explain the challenge that the approach of liminality is posing to theories of international and systemic change. Fourth, I analyse the liminal process in Prussia and show how the said wars brought the French and the Prussians/Germans in a long-term mimetic rivalry. Finally, I argue that the proposed theoretical framework can take the research on international institutions and nationalism beyond the narratives of sociology, political science and historical studies.

Theoretical and material discontinuities in René Girard’s discussion of the miracle of Apollonius of Tyana

In discussing his mimetic theory, René Girard seeks to show that the story concerning the miraculous curing of Ephesus by Apollonius of Tyana could be used to demonstrate how an epidemic of mimetic rivalry can be converted into a state of unanimous violence that has a cathartic effect on society. In doing so, Girard emphasizes the importance of the model in mimetic contagion and its power in channelling the frustrations and violence of the crowd towards a single victim. For him, Apollonius achieved the curing of Ephesus, not through any miraculous intervention but by the single victim mechanism by which the trepidation of society is relieved through unanimous violence. This paper is an attempt to show what is wrong in Girard’s discussion of this miracle. While not necessarily discrediting Girard’s basic precept that human beings are mimetic in nature, it argues that his use of language in presenting the Apollonius story is unnecessarily emotive and inappropriate. It identifies historical and logical inconsistencies in Girard’s discussion and shows his denigration of Apollonius as irrelevant and unfair. It points to various inconsistencies in his adaptation of the story to his theory and concludes that the context and letter of the Apollonius miracle do not fit his mimetic mould and that his attempt to use the Apollonius miracle to further his theory fails to achieve its purpose.

Emulation on the Shakespearean Stage by Vernon Guy Dickson (review)

Vernon Guy Dickson. Emulation on Shakespearean Stage. Studies in Performance and Early Modern Drama. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, 2013. Pp. xx + 189. 60.00 [pounds sterling]. Early in Emulation on Shakespearean Stage, Vernon Guy Dickson quotes Quintilians The Orators Education: I do want Paraphrase to be mere passive reproduction, but to rival and vie with original in expressing same thoughts (quoted 11). Appearing in final paragraph of Dicksons book, another quotation from The Orators Education tempers ancient rhetoricians teaching on contentious imitation: no man can draw level with man in whose footsteps he feels bound to tread (quoted 172). In Dicksons account, in English combined these precepts. At once competition and homage, textual expression and lived behavior, emulation was seen as rote repetition but as an act of or construction, self-construction in daily life--governed by decorum, though also potentially generative of transgressive invention (12). This understanding of moreover, created that bred individuals who read selves closely like texts and attempted to shape themselves based on wide range of models, and persons, historical and contemporary--sometimes as agonists, sometimes as exemplars, sometimes simply as peers (xvii). In mounting case for this culture of emulation, Dickson draws on and deviates from Rene Girard's mimetic rivalry, Stephen Greenblatt's Renaissance self-fashioning, and Thomas M. Greenes era of imitation. Emulation on Shakespearean Stage thus ends up enacting very concept it examines. The result is study of English rhetorical and dramatic practice that provides useful review of scholarship and reads early modern drama in often generative ways. Emulation on Shakespearean Stage begins with genealogy of of in which early modern dramatists and their audiences engaged. In chapter 1 Dickson reviews principal early theories of imitation, with particular attention to Aristotle and Quintilian and to Thomas Wilson, Roger Ascham, and Sir Philip Sidney. This chapter proves especially useful in demonstrating differences in priorities between ancient and early modern rhetoricians and among English writers. For instance, although they all emphasize self-fashioning through emulative education, Wilson privileges imitation in context of classroom learning; Ascham, of social codes of behavior; and Sidney, of virtuous action (14-24). This blurring of texts (fiction and nonfiction, art and life), Dickson argues, is only foundational to emulative theory in but also the necessary condition of humanist ideal of an emulative theater on Shakespearean stage (62). The next four chapters closely read plays by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Philip Massinger that take classical Rome, including its texts, culture, and ethos, as object of emulation. Each of plays also portrays a confounding enactment of Roman models (29). This compelling turn of phrase appears in chapter 2, arguably strongest chapter in book. Here, Dickson demonstrates how in Andronicus characters compete to outdo available texts and each others imitations of these texts and precedents, constructing a destructive pattern of conflicted, partial, and uncritical emulations (28). Classroom learning sets Shakespearean stage for Roman patterns of behavior that ought to promote social and political action worthy of but miscalculations in characters' discernments of what and how to emulate lead to escalating retributive violence rather than mercy. Although not as overt as Titus (53), Hamlet enacts failure of emulative reading of classical models to yield anything other than rote repetition. In chapter 3 Dickson focuses on Hamlet and lapse of decorum (match[ing] deeds to . …

“Some witless paraclete beleaguered with all limbo’s clamor”: On Violent Contagion and Apocalyptic Logic in Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark

Research Article| May 01 2015 “Some witless paraclete beleaguered with all limbo’s clamor”: On Violent Contagion and Apocalyptic Logic in Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark Markus Wierschem Markus Wierschem University of Paderborn, Germany Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Contagion: Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture (2015) 22: 185–202. https://doi.org/10.14321/contagion.22.1.0185 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Markus Wierschem; “Some witless paraclete beleaguered with all limbo’s clamor”: On Violent Contagion and Apocalyptic Logic in Cormac McCarthy’s Outer Dark. Contagion: Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture 1 May 2015; 22 185–202. doi: https://doi.org/10.14321/contagion.22.1.0185 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectiveMichigan State University PressContagion: Journal of Violence Mimesis and Culture Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. © 2015 Michigan State University Press2015 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The mimetic politics of lone-wolf terrorism

Written at a time of crisis in the project of social and political modernity, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1864 novel Notes from Underground offers an intriguing parallel for the twenty-first century lone-wolf; it portrays an abject, outcast, spiteful unnamed anti-hero boiling with rage, bitter with resentment and on the verge of radicalisation. A Girardian reading of the poetic truths contained in Dostoevsky’s work is able to provide important keys to explain the contemporary transformation from ‘fourth-wave’ religious terrorism to ‘fifth-wave’ lone-wolf terrorism. Such a reading argues that it is mimetic rivalry – rather than much-trumpeted forms of religious violence or cultural differences – that fuels the triangular relation between governments, terrorists and civilian victims at heart of terrorist acts. This approach is further able to blend social inquiry with an account of the individual, in fact anthropological, conditions of lone-wolf terrorism by tracing the globalisation of resentment and the individualisation of violence to the hyper-mimeticism characterising the globalisation of late modernity. Finally, a mimetic reading of ‘fifth-wave’ terrorism accounts for the turbulence of a global politics in which victimhood and scapegoating no longer have the ability to stabilise social order and warns against a future where violence proliferates and escalates unchecked.

An alternative vision of politics and violence: Introducing mimetic theory in international studies

This article aims at introducing René Girard’s mimetic theory in the field of International Studies, identifying some of the areas of research that it might usefully open up. First, the article explores mimetic theory and some of its basic concepts—mimetic desire, mimetic rivalry, the scapegoat mechanism, and the sacrificial crisis—in order to highlight the strong heuristic and analytical potential of Girard’s work. Second, the article considers Girard’s contribution in light of contemporary theories of International Relations to demonstrate its added value. Third, the article serves as a critical introduction to the various sections and contributions of the Special Issue.

Desire for power or the power of desire? Mimetic theory and the heart of twentieth-century realism

For René Girard, mimetic rivalry is the main cause of violence. Mimetic theory addresses a fundamental problem of international relations theory: the problem of anarchy as it is outlined in basic texts of Realism, also acknowledging the conflicting potential of desire. The article argues for deepening the discussion between the mimetic theory of the French philosopher, anthropologist, and literary theorist Girard and the tradition of twentieth-century Realism as exemplified by Hans Morgenthau, who frequently stressed in his concept of “the political” the importance of the human desire for power. For Girard, the problem of conflicting desire is solved by the scapegoat mechanism, the canalization of mimetic violence. Nevertheless, international relations theory reveals that identity is formed prior to the construction of the Other. I argue that Girard’s insights can enrich thinking about the terms Self, Other, and identity, particularly in the twentieth-century Realist tradition. Ultimately, this leads to the proposition that appreciating Girard’s thoughts helps make implicit claims and assumptions of Realism, particularly regarding violence and sub-state issues, more explicit.

Crisis, Mimetic Desire, and Communal Violence in William Faulkner’s Sanctuary

Faulkner' Journal Kevin G. Wilson Crisis, Mimetic Desire, and Communal Violence in William Faulkner’s Sanctuary ULYSSES. O, when degree is shak’d, Which is the ladder ofall high designs, The enterprise is sick! How could communities, Degrees in schools, and brotherhoods in cities, Peaceful commerce from dividable shores, The primogenity and due ofbirth, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand in authentic place? Take but degree away, untune that string, And hark what discord follows! Each thing melts In mere oppugnancy.... —William Shakespeare 'Troilus and Cressida 1.3) I decided I might just as well make some of it [money] my­ self. I took a little time out, and speculated what a person in Mississippi would believe to be current trends, chose what I thought was the right answer and invented the most hor­ rific tale I could imagine and wrote it in about three weeks. —William Faulkner (qtd. in Blotner 605) Introduction Sanctuary stands apart from the novels of Faulkners Yoknapatawpha cycle. Most notably, the focus is community and not the family (Kerr, “Creative” 15). Themes identified by many Faulkner scholars do not seem to apply. Signs of disorder and corruption permeate the novel as bedrock institutions of family, social class, patriarchy, and the courts fail to secure peace and protection for the novel’s protagonists. Southern myths are shattered. Hypocrisy is exposed as the righteous members of proper society are shown to be lacking in Christian mercy, and the deviant members of outlaw communities are shown to be car­ ing and faithful. Novelistically, the work is also problematic. The characters do not grow. There is no salvation or redemption. Indeed, apart from the rape of Temple Drake and the lynching of Lee Goodwin, nothing happens (Tate 426). Moreover, Faulkner provides few clues to the reader concerning the meaning of these violent events. 49 50 Kevin G. Wilson Crisis, Mimetic Desire, and Communal Violence in Sanctuary Rene Girard’s theory of scapegoating is a useful lens through which to view the violence in the novel. According to Girard, scapegoating is a cultural mechanism designed to defuse the uncontrolled spiral of violence that a com­ munity in crisis would otherwise direct against itself. The origins of this vio­ lence are to be found in mimetic behavior—the propensity ofhuman beings to imitate or borrow from others, including others’ desires. When the concepts of mimetic desire and mimetic rivalry are applied to an interpretation of Sanctu­ ary, it becomes clear that Temple’s rape and the lynching and rape of Goodwin are related in unexpected ways. In Sanctuary, it is not so much the presence of Temple Drake and Ruby Lamar as objects of male desire that unsettles these communities. Rather, it is the encounter between exclusive groups and the excluded other (in the per­ sons of Temple Drake, Lee Goodwin, and Ruby Lamar) that prompts a series of mimetic responses which culminate in conflict and violence. According to Girard, the seeds of communal violence are sown when members of a group enter into mimetic relationships and these relationships become continuously doubled through repetition (Girard, Mimesis 227; Ciuba 8). When mimetic ri­ valry spirals out of control, it produces a crisis of differentiation in the social and cultural order of the group. Faulkner’s Sanctuary portrays such a world through its dramatization of mimetic relationships involving Temple Drake, Ruby Lamar, and Narcissa Sartoris. However, the most significant index of mimetic appropriation is the relationship between Horace Benbow and Lee Goodwin. In effect, Goodwin becomes the model-mediator of Horace’s desire to affirm himself as a virile male capable of exerting patriarchal authority over his family/household. More importantly, these mimetic relationships, involv­ ing members ofexcluded and exclusive communities, demonstrate how far so­ cial differentiation has broken down in Mississippi society under Prohibition. Sanctuary’s Triptych Structure and its Geography of Exclusive and Excluded Places Paying careful attention to the geography of Sanctuary, Arthur Kinney notes that Faulkner organized the novel according to narrative blocks correspond­ ing to three locations: the Old Frenchman place, Jefferson, and Memphis. The first third of the novel takes place almost entirely at the Old Frenchman place with the remainder divided between...

Jesus, Girard, and Twentieth-Century Fantasy for Young Adults

In the first half of the twentieth century, fantasy stories for children and adolescents were often domestically oriented romps such as P. L. Travers's Mary Poppins (first published in 1934), or amusing but safe adventures such as L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (first published in 1900). In these early fantasies, the child protagonists were more or less safe under the watchful eyes of careful adults. After the Second World War, however, children's fantasy in the West underwent a decided shift in focus. The child protagonists could no longer rely on well-meaning adults, but had to confront danger themselves and resolve it. (1) These young protagonists faced battles, undertook quests, and struggled with concepts of heroism in a way that, while not completely new to the genre, had not been witnessed since the fantasies of George MacDonald in the Victorian era. (2) One particular motif that returned to the genre in full force after having been long absent was the idea of sacrificial death, or death that pays the price of something that cannot be bought in any other way. This motif first (re)appeared in the post-World War II fantasy by C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Many scholars have explored the religious significance of this text in relation to the author's own Christian belief, which distinguishes the use of this motif from those of earlier narratives in that its occurrence also marks the end of a sacrificial system due to the innocence of the and victim. Undoubtedly, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a good example of post-war twentieth-century fantasy that proffers, through the motif, precisely such an ideological position as its theme, but it is not the only such work. During this period, fantasy stories with a comparable narrative trajectory, while not plentiful, were surprisingly popular, but were arguably eclipsed by the popularity of Lewis's work, at least within critical scholarship. Two such stories, which serve as substantial prototypical examples of the way the motif of sacrificial death is deployed according to this trend, are Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron and Elizabeth Marie Pope's The Perilous Gard. (3) Intriguingly, the sacrificial deaths in both these stories seem to follow a pattern that the philosopher, historian, and literary critic Rene Girard has discussed in his various studies, most completely in The Scapegoat. This pattern, which begins with what Girard calls the scapegoat function, has ostensibly shaped various ancient cultures and formed their mythological systems; its influence, moreover, remains felt up until the present day, if only in terms of how it continues to structure human relationships in an array of social situations. Since my reading of the motif and the theme of sacrifice in these two fantasy writings for adolescent readers is heavily dependent on Girard's formulation, a quick explanation of his theory at this juncture is imperative. According to Girard, any conflict that leads to the sacrifice of a scapegoat, who is ultimately an innocent victim, always begins with desire. At the heart of desire is the motivation toward imitation, or mimesis: that is, an individual learns to want what another person wants, and as a result, tension ensues. The pursuit of a desire by two persons inevitably compels rivalry, and, as Girard explains in Violence and the Sacred, such a mimetic rivalry will subsequently spread quickly to the rest of the community that may only have a vague idea of the cause of argument. In fact, the original object of desire becomes completely forgotten as the rivalry escalates, since the opposing parties have now shifted their focus to the discord itself. As the mimetic rivalry soon reaches a crisis point, a violent altercation becomes unavoidable, unless something is done to allay the communal stress. To this end, a ritual is enacted whereby the community chooses a to whom it will direct its anxieties in order to deflect . …

Contours of an Interaction Sequence in Rioting: The Gothenburg Disturbances of 2009

This article examines a series of public disturbances in Gothenburg, Sweden. Drawing on recent work in micro-sociology, public order theory, and imitation studies, it considers why and how the ‘travelling’ of violence could develop among the city's street gangs as dramatically as it did, resulting in widespread rioting, vandalism, and arson. The situational dynamics behind the unfolding sequence of events are explored, using police intelligence records, interviews, and court documents as primary data sources. A five-part interaction sequence is outlined, focusing on the role of flash-point events, hostile belief systems, moral holidays, spirals of opinion, and mimetic rivalry in the escalation of the unrest.

Expositions of Sacrificial Logic: Girard, Žižek, and Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men

Expositions of Sacrificial LogicGirard, Žižek, and Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men Benjamin Barber (bio) Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men, and Joel and Ethan Coen’s film adaptation of the same name, deliver two separate critiques of sacrificial violence through their particular renderings of Carla Jean Moss’s death scene, as they correspond, respectively, to the theories of René Girard and Slavoj Žižek. In both film and novel, the chase narrative offers a concrete representation of runaway acquisitive mimesis engendering resentment and cathartic violence. This violence is symbolically manifest in the character of Anton Chigurh. An assassin whose killings often employ a ritual of chance, Chigurh is a symbol for both the violence foundational to culture and the fascinating draw such violence continues to have in contemporary culture. A comparison of the film and the novel versions of Carla Jean Moss’s conversation with her murderer illuminate the distinction between Girard and Žižek’s favored examples for the exposition of culture’s violent logic. In Things Hidden since the Foundation of The World, Girard finds the best expositors of sacrificial violence in Christ and the good harlot from “The Judgment of Solomon”1 and briefly considers Sophocles’s Antigone as a less effective exposition of the same violence. The discourse of the novel’s Carla Jean is virtually free [End Page 163] from mimetic rivalry, whereas the film’s Carla Jean more closely resembles Antigone’s heroic and rivalrous abstention. These correlations are interesting, since Žižek seizes upon Antigone’s abstention as the quintessential questioning of the sociosymbolic and its violent origins, which he and Girard trace to the ontological violence of Heidegger’s Heraclitean Logos. Ultimately, the comparison of the two versions of the murder scene point toward the divergence between Girard and Žižek’s view on how the violent foundations and workings of culture are best exposed. In Things Hidden, Girard states that Lacan’s abstraction of Freud’s thought to the realm of language further mystifies the best of Freud’s already myth-tainted insights.2 Thus, it may seem strange to draw together a committed Lacanian like Žižek and Girard for comparison. Despite his loyalty to Lacan, Žižek’s thought shares with Girard’s an interest in similar philosophical questions and cultural phenomena. Because of this, a fluency of dialogue is possible between Žižek and mimetic theory. For example, Žižek accepts Heidegger’s notion of ontological violence (Heraclitean Logos) as the foundation of the symbolic in the same way that Girard does in Things Hidden.3 Where Lacan claims that psychosis represents a foreclosure of the symbolic, Žižek recognizes envy and resentment as the impetus behind the death drive, which is an attempted escape from the sociosymbolic.4 A parallel exists between this formulation and mimetic theory’s supposition that resentment grows out of the subject’s lack of metaphysical being, which it subsequently pursues in the other. Girard posits this as the function of desire in Freud’s death drive.5 In the emphasis he places on envy, Žižek opens up parallels between his Lacanian reflections on the nature of desire and those of mimetic theory. Further, his assumption that violence is the basis for the emergence of culture forms, or the symbolic, closely resembles Girard’s own theory of origins. Žižek’s use of film and popular culture to explicate the movements of desire in Lacanian theory makes contemporary literature and film an ideal forum for comparing Žižek’s thought with mimetic theory, which itself claims to subsume the best of Freud and Lacan in its analysis of desire and violence. The chase plot of No Country for Old Men concretely illustrates the movement of interdividual desire toward violence, as schematized in mimetic theory. Llewelyn Moss finds $2 million in drug money. When he subsequently discovers that the money’s true owners have sent an assassin to retrieve it, he runs with money in hand. Anton Chigurh pursues and the two men become warring doubles.6 The triangular configuration of desire, as subject (Moss) and rival (Chigurh and the drug industry) pursue the [End Page...

Mimetic desire and scapegoat mechanism in sport

Background: The most fundamental question about sport is what is sport, what is its origin and its essence? Because sport is connected with the human being (there is no sport without human beings) different anthropological visions of human being result in different understandings of sport. Objective: The objective of this paper is to present and explain an anthropological vision of the human being and society as was developed by Rene Girard. In his view mimetic desire and the scapegoat mechanism have a central role in any culture, religion or other secular institutions. The explanatory power of his theory is presented when it is applied to the world of sport. Methods: Our methodology is philosophical, involving conceptual analysis and the application of the outcomes to sport. Results: In the paper we show that mimetic desire can be recognized as one of the important origins of recreational and competitive sports. When people recognize what other people are able to do or accomplish in sport this invokes the mimetic desire as a result of which motivation for sport and competiveness can arise. But mimetic rivalry leads to an unstable situation. Therefore a second element is needed: Scapegoating in sport is presented as a mean to preserve the good reputation of sport, to keep peace in sport as well as in society as a whole. Finally, the attempt to overcome mimetic desire and scapegoating in sport is presented and the question if this is worth trying at all is opened. Conclusions: The theories of mimetic desire and scapegoat mechanism have great explanatory power when they are applied to the field of sport. They could reveal us some hidden motives and forces which drive athletes and sport as a whole. Moreover, they exceed the world of sport and reveal the influence of sport on the whole of society.

Christ as Second Adam: Girardian Mimesis Redeemed

AbstractAnalysis of several chapters of the book of Genesis beginning with the Fall in chapter three reveals a consistent theme which is well-interpreted by René Girard's concept of mimetic rivalry. This mimetic rivalry can be considered one manifestation of original sin which has been perpetuated generationally since its inception with the First Adam. Since a number of scholars, including James D.G. Dunn, have identified Phil 2:6–11 as a key piece of Second Adam Christology, I examine this pericope for clues to a remedy for mimetic rivalry. Christ's kenosis and humiliation—his self-emptying and choice not to seek after self-glorification—become the cornerstones to a counter-program which redeems mimesis. Christ is the Second Adam who fulfills through his obedience the failed role of the First Adam. One facet of Christ's overall redemption is to establish himself as the perfect Girardian ‘model’—one whose imitation leads not to violent rivalry but ever-increasing humble charity.

The Jewish Vaccine against Mimetic Desire: A Girardian Exploration of a Sabbath Ritual

The Jewish Vaccine against Mimetic DesireA Girardian Exploration of a Sabbath Ritual Vanessa Avery (bio) In Violence and the Sacred (henceforth, V&S), Rene Girard remarks that when we think of siblings, we often think of affectionate relationships.1 He then proposes, however, that the stories that have come down to us through mythology and sacred scriptures often tell us otherwise. Warring siblings are embedded deeply in history, religion, and literature: Girard lists Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Eteocles and Polyneices, Romulus and Remus, Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland as just a few examples of the fraternal rivalry in our collective consciousness. We might add the biblical Isaac and Ishmael and Joseph and his brothers to this list. The rivalries are so pervasive that Girard declares: “the theme itself is a form of violence.”2 In both V&S and I See Satan Fall like Lightning (I See Satan), Girard demonstrates how the biblical voice is groundbreaking in its exposure of mimesis and the sacrificial mechanism. Alongside this assertion, in Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World (Things Hidden), Girard states: think it is possible to show that the texts of the Gospels manage to achieve what the Old Testament leaves incomplete. These texts therefore serve as an extension of [End Page 19] the Judaic bible, bringing to completion an enterprise that the Judaic bible did not take far enough, as Christian tradition has always maintained.3 The Hebrew Scriptures, however, are the writings of a religious community in their nascent state. They are the ideas and prescriptions that were only later to be formed into what we now call rabbinic Judaism. Jesus and the New Testament writers had the benefit of knowing these scriptures, and it is important to look at the Jewish writings that developed alongside the writing down of the New Testament as both Judaism and Christianity were maturing. The two religions were mutually influencing each other in this nascent stage, and this can be seen in many of the theological ideas that they were generating.4 Using both the Tanakh and the early rabbinic midrash, I will demonstrate in this essay that, contra Girard, ancient Judaism did indeed “reveal,” address, and even attempt to provide an antidote for mimetic rivalry. I will demonstrate this specifically through an analysis of Genesis 48, in which Jacob blesses his grandchildren Ephraim and Manasseh, and its corresponding ritual of the Birkat Ha-Banim (“Blessing of the Children”).5 Particularly because they are a sibling pair in the Book of Genesis, two sons of Joseph, the brothers Ephraim and Manasseh, are deserving of a Girardian analysis, although Girard does not offer one. These brothers are blessed by their grandfather, Jacob, as 2 of the future 12 tribes of Israel. But despite their historical import, these brothers play a very minor narrative role in Genesis. Indeed, after Jacob blesses them, the book ends (possibly because there is no conflict to drive the tale!). Ephraim and Manasseh are the only peaceful brothers we encounter in Genesis, and it may be no coincidence that they arrive on the scene at the tail end of this book; they do not engage in the mimetic competition of the brothers that came before them. Did Girard overlook this absence of rivalry? This, I assert, is precisely why this story is of Girardian import and needs to be addressed. Perhaps not coincidentally, these brothers also occupy a central role in Jewish ritual: Jews bless their children every week on the Sabbath, asking that God make their sons “like Ephraim and Manasseh.” This ritual, I propose, is the weekly Jewish vaccine used to keep mimetic inclinations in check. The structure of the Book of Genesis invites such a conclusion; the rabbinic explanations of Ephraim and Manasseh and the purpose of the Sabbath underscore it (as I will demonstrate). My ultimate goal is to determine to what extent this text and its ritual can really be effective in releasing humans from the sacrificial mentality. I will examine how it operates, on one hand, as sustenance for Jewish identity in particular; and, on the other hand, how it is intended to operate universally for the transformation of...

Mimetic rivalry and similitude: towards a comparative analysis of cultural property, identity and violence

Mimetic rivalry and similitude: towards a comparative analysis of cultural property, identity and violence

Acousmatic Fabrications: Les Paul and the ‘Les Paulverizer’

Acousmatic sound – a sound that one hears without seeing the causes behind it – creates situations where visual contributions to auditory experience are diminished. The author theorizes that acousmatic separation unsettles the relationship of the source, cause and effect of sound. To draw out the consequences of this theory, Les Paul and Mary Ford’s multi-tracked recordings and live performances are examined, and three central claims are posited. First, Paul’s turn to multi-tracked recording was motivated by mimetic rivalry when his ‘sound’ was imitated on the radio. Second, Paul misdirected listeners of his radio program by creating scenarios that depended on false attributions of source and cause. Third, the problems that faced Paul in live performance of his multi-tracked hits resulted in Paul’s creation of the ‘Les Paulverizer’. This device afforded the maintenance of acousmatic spacing during live performance but also forced him into the unusual position of ventriloquizing his own voice.

Mimetic Desire and Professional Closure: Toward a Theory of Intra/Inter-Professional Aggression

The purpose of this article is to present a renewed way to theorize intra/inter-professional aggression in nursing. To this end, René Girard's mimetic mechanism and Max Weber's conception of professional closure will be explored. More specifically mimetic mechanism, summarized as a sequence of four distinct but interdependent phases including mimetic desire, mimetic rivalry, mimetic (sacrificial) crisis, and scapegoat, will serve to broaden the understanding ofintra-professional aggression. For its part, professional closure, a strategy designed to limit and control the number of individuals admitted to a specific profession, will provide a fresh perspective to critically examine the issue of inter-professional aggression by drawing attention to hidden practices of dominance and control.

Breaching the Sacred Walls of Illness: A Girardian Model of Forgiveness as Healing

Mimetic rivalry, as described in the work of René Girard, can be a cause of illness. Therefore, reconciliation can have beneficial somatic effects. Girard's theory is briefly introduced, especially his concept of differentiation. Arthur Kleinman's distinction between illness and disease is examined, and reinforced by Girardian theory. The placebo effect is used to illustrate the relationship between culture and disease processes. It is argued that primal healing methods reduce nosogenic mimetic rivalries by reinforcing cultural standards, but they rely on subliminal violence. Faith in God's grace offers an alternative, nonviolent, method.

METAPHYSICS AND THE REDEMPTION OF SACRIFICE: ON RENÉ GIRARD AND CHARLES WILLIAMS

René Girard is something of a Janus for philosophers and theologians interested in the question of sacrifice. On the one hand, few thinkers in any century have made such a compelling case for the importance and centrality of sacrifice within all human culture. On the other hand, Girard has steadfastly insisted that sacrifice be understood in exclusively anthropological terms thus foreclosing the metaphysical and theological questions that prima facie seem to attend any robust consideration of sacrifice. In this essay, I seek to move beyond this Girardian impasse by supplementing Girard's late‐thought with a more robust metaphysics of sacrifice as found in the work of the novelist, literary critic, and theologian, Charles Williams (one of the Oxford ‘Inklings’ and a close companion of C.S. Lewis). To begin with, I first explain Girard's understanding of the mimetic mechanism and the sacrificial origins of human culture. I then consider a number of the criticisms with which he has been charged, especially the accusation of methodological reductionism. I explore the way that Girard's late work has responded to a number of these criticisms but argue that Girard's responses fail to diffuse the charges. By way of conclusion, I suggest that Girard's insights can be saved when supplemented with the kind of relational metaphysics found in Williams' most perfectly realized novel, Descent into Hell. Rather than dispensing with ontology in favour of praxis, Williams transforms the profoundly Girardian themes of mediated desire, the doppelganger, mimetic rivalry, ritual, and the function of sacrifice by placing them in the context of what he calls the metaphysics of ‘co‐inherence.’ This allows Williams to provide a far more positive account of both mimesis and sacrifice (even in its substitutionary mode) than Girard, not just non‐retaliation but the actual bearing of one another's deepest burdens in communion, prayer, and love.