Breaking the cycle

I See Satan Fall Like Lightening. By René Girard. Translated by James G. Williams. Orbis, 199 pp., $20.00 paperback.

René Girard, a French scholar who recently retired from Stanford University, is one of the most creative and provocative explorers of mimesis, violence and religion in recent years, and a growing school of followers is applying his thought to a wide range of topics. This book is the clearest and most accessible introduction to Girard's theory. For new readers it is a clear and helpful statement of his positions, recapping the development of his thought. The translator, James G. Williams, a biblical scholar who has accepted Girard's framework, writes a helpful foreword with questions and answers regarding Girard's terminology and claims. He also provides explanatory footnotes for the uninitiated. Since Girard argued his positions at greater length and in greater detail in earlier works, readers seeking justification for his views will have to consult his other books to appreciate the full range of his system.

After receiving his doctorate in history, Girard turned his attention to the modern novel and developed a mimetic theory of the self which stresses the power of models in teaching us what to desire (Deceit, Desire, and the Novel: Self and Other in Literary Structure, 1961; English version, 1965). Because of the double bind in which models place their disciples (imitate me, but not to the point of threatening my position), conflicts inevitably arise from mimetic rivalry, leading to the threat of violence. The role of mimesis in constituting desire, however, is usually hidden from awareness, since humans like to think of their desires as original and spontaneous.