Mimetic Desire

[fatestorm]

"As a general rule, quiet and untroubled possession weakens desire. In giving my model a rival I return to him, in a way, the gift of the desire that he just gave to me. I give a model to my own model. The spectacle of my desire reinforces his at the precise moment when, in confronting me, he reinforces mine. That man whose wife I desire, for

Comments

[anonymous]

hi matthew. have you read girard's essay on the francesca/paolo episode in the inferno? pretty good stuff. i don't know if i buy into his theory of everything (interpreting all human actions through mimetic desire, that is), but it's fairly persuasive while you're reading it.

(this is rachel. i don't have a livejournal account, so it wouldn't let me sign in.)

[fatestorm]

Hey Rachel. No, I didn't know that Girard wrote on the Inferno, I'll have to check it out. I mentioned Girard here because I'm doing my master's thesis on Girard and Clement of Alexandria on the culturally institutionalized demonic