
The World of Rene Girard
Interviews
Michigan State University Press
Published on 1. February 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
188 pages
978-1-61186-486-1 (ISBN)
Description
In 1988, Nadine Dormoy conducted a series of interviews with Rene Girard at a pivotal moment in his career, just after a number of books and conferences had situated his work in a new context of research on self-organizing systems. In these interviews, Girard discusses the flurry of intellectual activity that followed the landmark 1981 Stanford University conference, Disorder and Order. Attended by several Nobel prize winners and other important intellectual figures, this event expanded his reputation in Europe and laid the groundwork for later accolades, including the Modern Language Association's Award for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement and being elected as a member of the Academie Francaise. Girard also discusses Theater of Envy, his then-forthcoming book on Shakespeare and his first book written in English, as well as corrects several misunderstandings of his mimetic hypothesis. Dormoy is a spirited interlocutor, like Girard a postwar emigre who came to make a new life for herself teaching French in American universities. Translated into English for the first time by leading mimetic studies scholar William A. Johnsen, The World of Rene Girard is a must-have for those new to and familiar with Girard's work.
Reviews / Votes
In this spellbinding series of transdisciplinary interviews, Girard reconstructs the transatlantic vicissitudes of his intellectual adventure-from Avignon to Indiana, Johns Hopkins to Stanford. A hypothesis linking mimetic desire to the sacrificial origins of culture comes to life via sustained dialogues spanning from the Bible to Greek tragedy, Shakespeare to Proust, Freud to Nietzsche, among other untimely precursors. The World of Rene Girard opens up new perspectives for mimetic studies to come. This is a must-read for anyone interested in why imitation is in the maelstrom of contagious pathologies haunting our past, present, and future. -Nidesh Lawtoo, professor of modern/contemporary European literature and culture at Leiden University, Netherlands, and author of Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of ImitationMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
East Lansing, MI
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
200 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61186-486-1 (9781611864861)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Rene Girard (1923-2015) was a member of the French Academy and professor emeritus at Stanford University. His books have been translated and acclaimed worldwide. He received the Modern Language Association's Award for Lifetime Scholarly Achievement in 2008.
Translation
Content
Contents
Translator's Note | William A. Johnsen
A Preliminary Note
Prologue
Chapter 1. In the Shadow of the Palais des Papes
Chapter 2. America as a Mirror
Chapter 3. The Sacred, the Religious, and the Biblical
Chapter 4. The King and the Orphan
Chapter 5. The Infernal Triangle
Chapter 6. Socio-economic Emergences
Chapter 7. France and Its Myths
Notes
Translator's Note | William A. Johnsen
A Preliminary Note
Prologue
Chapter 1. In the Shadow of the Palais des Papes
Chapter 2. America as a Mirror
Chapter 3. The Sacred, the Religious, and the Biblical
Chapter 4. The King and the Orphan
Chapter 5. The Infernal Triangle
Chapter 6. Socio-economic Emergences
Chapter 7. France and Its Myths
Notes