One of the foremost literary critics turns to the major figure in English literature and proposes a dramatic new reading of nearly all his plays and poems, involving a novel interpretation of "mimesis." For Girard, people desire objects not for their intrinsic value but because they are desired by someone else; we mime or imitate their desires.
Thus envy, or "mimetic desire," drives the human condition..
One of the foremost literary critics turns to the major figure in English literature and proposes a dramatic new reading of nearly all his plays and poems, involving a novel interpretation of "mimesis." For Girard, people desire objects not for their intrinsic value but because they are desired by someone else; we mime or imitate their desires