Mimetic Theory and Film by Paolo Diego Bubbio
The interdisciplinary French-American thinker René Girard (1923-2015) has been one of the towering figures of the humanities in the last half-century. The title of René Girard’s first book offered his own thesis in summary form: romantic lie and novelistic truth [mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque]. And yet, for a thinker whose career began by an engagement with literature, it came as a shock to some that, in La Conversion de l’art, Girard asserted that the novel may be an “outmoded” form for revealing humans to themselves. However, Girard never specified what, if anything, might take the place of the novel. This collection of essays is one attempt at answering this question, by offering a series of analyses of films that aims to test mimetic theory in an area in which relatively little has so far been offered. Does it make any sense to talk of vérité filmique?
In addition, Mimetic Theory and Film is a response to the widespread objection that there is no viable “Girardian aesthetics.” One of the main questions that this collection considers is: can we develop a genre-specific mimetic analysis (of film), and are we able to develop anything approaching a “Girardian aesthetic”? Each of the contributors addresses these questions through the analysis of a film.
A strong collection of major Girard scholars who persuasively argue for reading film through René Girard’s mimetic theory. The introduction by Fleming and Bubbio itself is a valuable guide for extending Girard’s ideas. This volume will be of great interest and use for readers in film studies, popular culture, and those following the exciting (re)turn to Girard occurring at Bloomsbury. * William A. Johnsen, Professor of English, Michigan State University, USA, and editor of Contagion: The Journal of The Colloquium on Violence and Religion *
For over fifty years, Rene´ Girard's mimetic theory has given us a startling way of reading texts, especially novels and other classic literature. His approach identifies a strong complicity between ‘the sacred’ and the violence which is at the root of social and cultural formation. The present volume offers an overdue extension of this hermeneutic, by exploring the mimetic dimension of cinema. However, the essays are far from being a simple mechanical application of Girard's theory. Once again, the remarkable energy and creativity of the Australian circle of Girardian scholars have yielded fresh questions, but also a new fertility, with regard to Girardian theory. * Michael Kirwan, SJ, Research Associate, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK, and co-editor of Philosophy, Theology and the Jesuit Tradition (Bloomsbury, 2017) *
Paolo Diego Bubbio is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Western Sydney University, Australia. He is the author of Sacrifice in the Post-Kantian Tradition: Perspectivism, Intersubjectivity, and Recognition (2014) and God and the Self in Hegel: Beyond Subjectivism (2017). His most recent book, entirely devoted to mimetic theory, is entitled Intellectual Sacrifice and Other Mimetic Paradoxes (2018).
Chris Fleming is Associate Professor in Philosophy and Social and Cultural Analysis at Western Sydney University, Australia. He is an editor of the Bloomsbury series on mimetic theory, Violence, Desire, and the Sacred, and the author of René Girard: Violence and Mimesis (2004) and Modern Conspiracy: The Importance of Being Paranoid (with Emma A. Jane) (Bloomsbury, 2014). He is also co-translator of René Girard and Raymund Schwager: Correspondence 1974-1991 (2016).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781501367663 |
| ISBN 10 | 1501367668 |
| Title | Mimetic Theory and Film |
| Author | Paolo Diego Bubbio |
| Series | Violence Desire And The Sacred |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing Plc |
| Year published | 2020-08-20 |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |