Resources
There are numerous resources available to those who wish to learn more about René Girard’s
mimetic theory. The following are some recommendations:
Books & Articles
Works by René Girard
Girard, René, Deceit, Desire and the Novel: Self and Other in Literary Structure, trans. Y. Freccero, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1965.
________. Violence and the Sacred, trans. P. Gregory, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977.
________. “To Double Business Bound”: Essays on Literature, Mimesis, and Anthropology, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.
________. The Scapegoat, trans. Y. Freccero, (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986).
________. Job, the Victim of his People, trans. Y. Freccero, London: Athlone Press, 1987a.
________. with J-M. Oughourlian & G. Lefort. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, trans. S. Bann & M. Metteer, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987b.
________. The Girard Reader, ed. J. G. Williams, New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1996.
________. A Theatre of Envy: William Shakespeare, London: Gracewing & New Malden, UK: Inigo Enterprises, 2000.
________. I See Satan Fall Like Lightning, trans. J. G. Williams, Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001.
________. Oedipus unbound: selected writings on rivalry and desire, ed. Mark R. Anspach, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2004.
________. with P. Antonello & J. Cezar de Castro Rocha, Evolution and Conversion: Dialogues on the Origins of Culture, London & New York: Continuum, 2007.
________. Battling to the End: Conversations with Benoît Chantre, trans. Mary Baker, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2010.
NB: Some of the above-mentioned books by Girard appear on Imitatio’s Online Library: http://www.imitatio.org/online-library/online-library-introduction.html. See Michael Kirwan’s Discovering Girard and the COV&R Bulletin for a more exhaustive list of sources by Girard and those writing on Girard’s theory.
Works by Other Scholars
Alison, James, Raising Abel: The Recovery of the Eschatological Imagination, New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing, 1996.
________. The Joy of Being Wrong: Original Sin through Easter Eyes, New York: CrossroadPublishing, 1998.
________. Knowing Jesus, new ed. London: SPCK, 1998.
Bailie, Gil, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads, Crossroad Publishing, New York, 1995.
Cowdell, Scott, Abiding Faith: Christianity beyond certainty, anxiety and violence, Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2009.
Fleming, Chris, “Mimesis and Violence – An Introduction to the Thought of René Girard,” Australian Religion Studies Review 15, no. 1 (2002): pp. 57-72;
________. René Girard: Violence and Mimesis, Cambridge, UK & Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2004);
Goodhart, Sandor, Sacrificing Commentary: Reading The End of Literature, Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996.
Hamerton-Kelly, Robert G., Sacred Violence: Paul’s Hermeneutic of the Cross, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992.
________. The Gospel and the Sacred: Poetics of Violence in Mark, Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1994.
Kirwan, Michael, Discovering Girard, London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 2004. ________. Girard and Theology, London & New York: T&T Clark, 2009.
McKenna, Andrew, Violence and difference: Girard, Derrida, and deconstruction, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1992.
Oughourlian, Jean-Michel, The Puppet of Desire: The Psychology of Hysteria, Possession, and Hypnosis. trans. E. Webb, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1991.
________. The Genesis of Desire, trans. E. Webb, East Lansing, MI: Michigan State
University Press; 2010.
Palaver, Wolfgang & Steinmair-Pösel, Petra (eds.), Passions in economy, politics, and the media : in discussion with Christian theology, Wien: Lit Verlag, 2005.
Schwager, Raymund, Must There Be Scapegoats? Violence and Redemption in the Bible, trans. M.L. Assad, Leominster, UK: Gracewing, & New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2000.
________. Banished from Eden : original sin and evolutionary theory in the drama of
salvation, trans. J. G. Williams, Leominster, Eng: Gracewing, 2006.
Swartley, Willard M. (ed.), Violence Renounced : René Girard, Biblical Studies, and Peacemaking. Telford, PA: Pandora Press U.S., 2000.
Williams, James G., The Bible, Violence, and the Sacred: Liberation from the Myth of Sanctioned Violence. San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1991.
See also the COV&R journal, Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, for articles on Girard’s work in English:
http://msupress.msu.edu/journals/cont/
Talks and Interviews with René Girard
“Genesis of Mimetic Theory” and other videos (including Girard on Charles Darwin), Accessible at: http://www.imitatio.org/mimetic-theory/video-audio-selections.html
“Shakespeare on Passions: Keynote Speech at the COV&R Conference 2003 in Innsbruck, Austria” and “Violence, Victims and Christianity: The D’Arcy Lecture”. 5 Nov 1997. University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. Accessible at: http://www.uibk.ac.at/theol/cover/girard/videos.html and http://www.uibk.ac.at/theol/cover/girard_oxford_video.html.