Synopses & Reviews
For Renand#233; Girard, human life revolves around mimetic desire, which regularly manifests itself in acquisitive rivalry when we find ourselves wanting an object because another wants it also. Noting that mimetic desire is driven by our sense of inadequacy or insufficiency, Girard arrives at a profound insight: our desire is not fundamentally directed toward the otherand#8217;s object but toward the otherand#8217;s being. We perceive the other to possess a fullness of being we lack. Mimetic desire devolves into violence when our quest after the being of the other remains unfulfilled. So pervasive is mimetic desire that Girard describes it as an ontological illness. In Intimate Domain, Reineke argues that it is necessary to augment Girardand#8217;s mimetic theory if we are to give a full account of the sickness he describes. Attending to familial dynamics Girard has overlooked and reclaiming aspects of his early theorizing on sensory experience, Reineke utilizes psychoanalytic theory to place Girardand#8217;s mimetic theory on firmer ground. Drawing on three exemplary narrativesand#151;Proustand#8217;s In Search of Lost Time, Sophoclesand#8217;s Antigone, and Julia Kristevaand#8217;s The Old Man and the Wolvesand#151;the author explores familial relationships. Together, these narratives demonstrate that a corporeal hermeneutics founded in psychoanalytic theory can usefully augment Girardand#8217;s insights, thereby ensuring that mimetic theory remains a definitive resource for all who seek to understand humanityand#8217;s ontological illness and identify a potential cure.
Review
Reinekeand#8217;s
Intimate Domain is an authoritative and timely response to many of our contemporary dilemmas. Drawing on Renand#233; Girardand#8217;s neglected early work on sensory experience, Reineke boldly reactivates the stalled relationship between mimetic theory and psychoanalysis.
and#151;Maria Margaroni, Associate Professor in Literary Theory and Feminist Thought, University of Cyprus
Synopsis
Intimate Domain productively augments Renand#233; Girardand#8217;s theory of mimetic violence by drawing on psychoanalytic theories of familial relationships and trauma to identify embodied pathways to healing, thereby demonstrating how scapegoating can be replaced with recognition and hatred can be replaced with forgiveness.
About the Author
Martha J. Reineke is Professor of Religion in the Department of Philosophy and World Religions at the University of Northern Iowa.