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Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture (SVMC)
When These Things Begin: Conversations with Michel Treguer
In this lively series of conversations with writer Michel Treguer, René Girard revisits the major concepts of mimetic theory and explores science, democracy, and the nature of God and freedom. Girard affirms that “our unprecedented present is incomprehensible without Christianity.” Globalization has unified the world, yet civil war and terrorism persist despite free trade and economic growth. Because of mimetic desire and the rivalry it generates, asserts Girard, “whether we’re talking about marriage, friendship, professional relationships, issues with neighbors or matters of national unity, human relations are always under threat.” Literary masters including Marivaux, Dostoevsky, and Joyce understood this, as did archaic religion, which warded off violence with blood sacrifice. Christianity brought a new understanding of sacrifice, giving rise not only to modern rationality and science but also to a fragile system that is, in Girard’s words, “always teetering between a new golden age and a destructive apocalypse.” Treguer, a skeptic of mimetic theory, “Is what he’s telling me true...or is it just a nice story, a way of looking at things?” In response, Girard makes a compelling case for his theory.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
17 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
René Girard
123 books850 followersRené Girard was a French-born American historian, literary critic, and philosopher of social science whose work belongs to the tradition of anthropological philosophy.
He was born in the southern French city of Avignon on Christmas day in 1923. Between 1943 and 1947, he studied in Paris at the École des Chartres, an institution for the training of archivists and historians, where he specialized in medieval history. In 1947 he went to Indiana University on a year’s fellowship and eventually made almost his entire career in the United States. He completed a PhD in history at Indiana University in 1950 but also began to teach literature, the field in which he would first make his reputation. He taught at Duke University and at Bryn Mawr before becoming a professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. In 1971 he went to the State University of New York at Buffalo for five years, returned to Johns Hopkins, and then finished his academic career at Stanford University where he taught between 1981 and his retirement in 1995.
Girard is the author of nearly thirty books, with his writings spanning many academic domains. Although the reception of his work is different in each of these areas, there is a growing body of secondary literature on his work and his influence on disciplines such as literary criticism, critical theory, anthropology, theology, psychology, mythology, sociology, economics, cultural studies, and philosophy.Girard’s fundamental ideas, which he has developed throughout his career and provide the foundation for his thinking, are that desire is mimetic (all of our desires are borrowed from other people), that all conflict originates in mimetic desire (mimetic rivalry), that the scapegoat mechanism is the origin of sacrifice and the foundation of human culture, and religion was necessary in human evolution to control the violence that can come from mimetic rivalry, and that the Bible reveals these ideas and denounces the scapegoat mechanism.
In 1990, friends and colleagues of Girard’s established the Colloquium on Violence and Religion to further research and discussion about the themes of Girard’s work. The Colloquium meets annually either in Europe or the United States.
René Girard died on November 4, 2015, at the age of 91 in Stanford.
He was born in the southern French city of Avignon on Christmas day in 1923. Between 1943 and 1947, he studied in Paris at the École des Chartres, an institution for the training of archivists and historians, where he specialized in medieval history. In 1947 he went to Indiana University on a year’s fellowship and eventually made almost his entire career in the United States. He completed a PhD in history at Indiana University in 1950 but also began to teach literature, the field in which he would first make his reputation. He taught at Duke University and at Bryn Mawr before becoming a professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. In 1971 he went to the State University of New York at Buffalo for five years, returned to Johns Hopkins, and then finished his academic career at Stanford University where he taught between 1981 and his retirement in 1995.
Girard is the author of nearly thirty books, with his writings spanning many academic domains. Although the reception of his work is different in each of these areas, there is a growing body of secondary literature on his work and his influence on disciplines such as literary criticism, critical theory, anthropology, theology, psychology, mythology, sociology, economics, cultural studies, and philosophy.Girard’s fundamental ideas, which he has developed throughout his career and provide the foundation for his thinking, are that desire is mimetic (all of our desires are borrowed from other people), that all conflict originates in mimetic desire (mimetic rivalry), that the scapegoat mechanism is the origin of sacrifice and the foundation of human culture, and religion was necessary in human evolution to control the violence that can come from mimetic rivalry, and that the Bible reveals these ideas and denounces the scapegoat mechanism.
In 1990, friends and colleagues of Girard’s established the Colloquium on Violence and Religion to further research and discussion about the themes of Girard’s work. The Colloquium meets annually either in Europe or the United States.
René Girard died on November 4, 2015, at the age of 91 in Stanford.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 3, 2014
Many of Girard's books are in dialogue form as is this one. The difference from the others is that Michel Treguer is a friendly questioner of Girard's ideas and of Girard's Christianity in particular. As a result of Tregeu's needling, this book has the most developed statements of Girard's faith as a Catholic Christian that I have seen, culminating in a detailed recounting of his conversion experience at the time he was finishing his seminal book "Desire, Deceit and the Novel" and was stricken by skin cancer that seemed potentially life-threatening at the time. Although this book is new to English readers, it was written quite a few years ago. The contrast between Girard's view of future potential between this book and "Battling to the End" is quite strong. Although Girard was aware of dangerous possibilities, he was strongly committed to God's ultimate control of history and more hopeful of how things could pan out on earth among humans. Some people may be comforted by this stronger hope that deserves to be kindled today.
May 4, 2022
4'5
Luminoso como siempre, Girard responde a una variada serie de cuestiones en un libro-entrevista conducido por Michel Treguer. Un Girard casi íntimo, diría, cuyo poder argumentativo y fecundas intuiciones se muestran en todo su esplendor en este formato.
Si usted siente ganas de exégesis de la más alta calidad, he aquí una propuesta que no le defraudará.
Luminoso como siempre, Girard responde a una variada serie de cuestiones en un libro-entrevista conducido por Michel Treguer. Un Girard casi íntimo, diría, cuyo poder argumentativo y fecundas intuiciones se muestran en todo su esplendor en este formato.
Si usted siente ganas de exégesis de la más alta calidad, he aquí una propuesta que no le defraudará.
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May 6, 2022Me adentro en el mundo de René Girard, aun no termino de entender su teoría mimética pero ligar deseo y mimesis es arriesgado, en si mismos deseo ya es perceptibilidad y mimesis cualidad, no desarrollar esta ligadura lo leo arriesgado. Partir de esta unión, vuela en particularidades tan singulares y fundamentales.
Aunque veo un poco de luz cuando aborda a Freud y su pulsión de muerte, tantea sin pretenderlo la separación, pero no lo veo tan claro. Me sigue pareciendo ambigua su partida, aunque sus desarrollos llegan a buenas reflexiones. Seguiré explorando.
Aunque veo un poco de luz cuando aborda a Freud y su pulsión de muerte, tantea sin pretenderlo la separación, pero no lo veo tan claro. Me sigue pareciendo ambigua su partida, aunque sus desarrollos llegan a buenas reflexiones. Seguiré explorando.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews