Girard, il letterato invidioso

Abstract

Girard, the envious man of letters.

The article advances a systematic critique of René Girard’s mimetic theory, calling into question its epistemological and methodological foundations. It challenges Girard’s identification of desire with its symbolic mediation, arguing that this identification stems from a confusion between the content and the form of desire, as well as between the form of the mediator and the form of desire itself, thus equating desire with what merely expresses it. The hypothesis of a structurally empty desire is therefore refuted, as the article argues instead that desire itself determines the choice of the mediator. The essay further highlights an internal contradiction in the generalization of mimesis: the universality of mimetic desire necessarily presupposes at least one non-mimetic desire as its condition of possibility, a problem that Girard ultimately evades. A detailed comparison is then drawn between Girard’s mimetic theory and Freud’s theory of identification, demonstrating the latter’s greater epistemological and explanatory value. On the methodological level, the article criticizes Girard’s interpretive treatment of myths, which distorts both their narratives and meanings in order to conform them to the theory, as exemplified by his reading of the Oedipus myth, where specific errors are systematically identified. Finally, the author interprets mimetic theory as a form of «censored psychoanalysis» that banishes sexuality, reducing desire to mere identification.