Deceit, Desire and the Novel: Self and Other in Literature

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Summary: triangular mimesis
Review: Girard's work in _Deceit, Desire & the Novel_ is a psychoanalytic approach to literary criticism. It explores the relationship between the subject and object of desire, attributing the cause of desire to a third party, the mediator. He uses Proust, Dosteyvsky, Stendhal and Flaubert as models. Overall, it is engaging, easy to read and absolutely necessary for anyone interested in critical theory.

Rating:
Summary: An indispensable book
Review: Groucho Marx said "I wouldn't be a member of any club that would be stupid enough to have me". In DECEIT, DESIRE and THE NOVEL, Girard and his wonderful translator Yvonne Freccerro help us explore that dilemma of self-distaste, and the ever-receding goal of acceptance.

The book argues that the novel as a form is historically preoccupied with one particular dilemma: That when young, each of us believes that the OTHERS have some passport to community that we ourselves lack. The path through life (to maturity or to death) takes place through imitation of, and competition with, those persons who seem to have achieved what we wish ourselves to achieve. As part of this, we often chase after objects whose possession promises to "transform" us into someone else. Think of Swann and high society, Don Quixote and knighthood. If we tilt at windmills-- or seek achievements we don't value once we have them-- it may be because we thought these symbols will yield not merely themselves but also what they symbolize: Don Quixote hopes to become a knight, Swann hopes to become an aristocrat.

When the transformation doesn't happen-- when, for example, Groucho Marx becomes a member of the country club and discovers he's still as uncouth as he always was -- the possession disappoints. The victim then either matures, or sets off on another treasure hunt.

There has never been a work of literary criticism so revealing of the human psyche as DECEIT, DESIRE AND THE NOVEL. Girard's book focuses on envy, but in the process reveals a path to becoming genuine. If nothing else, this book will send you back to Proust, Cervantes and Stendhal greedy for text.

Rating:
Summary: A superior work of literary criticism
Review: Though Girard admits in an interview that when he wrote this book he was indulging in the dubious pleasure of debunking, it is still an excellent entree into the mimetic hypothesis. The book outlines the important theory of "triangular" or "mimetic" desire, which states that the notion of a desire original to the subject is a romantic lie, and that human beings borrow one another's desires. The book is also a monumental contribution to the study of the history of literature, showing that the evolution of society is tracked and analyzed by the great novelists, who alone in the Western world have understood the mimetic foundations of human interaction.