René Girard

Brian John Sudlow (Aston University)
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René Girard is one of those rare French theorists whose influence outside France is much greater than it has been in France. That might be due in part to the fact that he has spent his entire career since 1949 in the USA from where he has generated a series of controversial theories in the fields of literary studies, anthropology and biblical exegesis. While Girard has broken all the taboos of intellectual specialism by ranging widely across several academic disciplines, all his theoretical work has been related to his study of the nature of desire and violence and their origin in the human capacity for imitation (mimesis). Girard argues that while the unity of most cultures is founded or renewed through the legitimized social persecution of a scapegoat, Christianity’s founding…

2525 words

Citation: Sudlow, Brian John. "René Girard". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 October 2010 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12706, accessed 19 March 2024.]

12706 René Girard 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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