Discourses of Violence (Girard)

[Jack Kollmann]

I think my next door neighbor, Rene Girard, would enjoy knowing that his 
ideas have surfaced in this forum.  Without meaning to embarrass Rima S. 
and her brief summary of Professor Girard's ideas (she rightly refers us to 
Girard's book), I'll pass on to him the items submitted in the "discourses 
of violence" thread in this list.
Jack Kollmann
Stanford University


At 08:05 AM 10/19/2005, you wrote:
>Bob, I was referring to Rene Girard's Violence and the Sacred, which argues
>that violence is an essential manifestation of the sacred, a way traditional
>societies achieve transcendence, and that this violence is often expressed
>through sacrifice. The sacrifice of victims/scapegoats purifies the community
>and, just as importantly, unifies it.  Think of Pavlichenko's apprehension of
>life, "really getting to know it," through trampling his master, or Lyutov's
>sacrifice of the goose, the cossacks sitting like heathen idols, their
>invitation to Lyutov at the end and so on. But please look at the Girard book
>rather than going by my superficial summary.
>
>Mark Lipovetsky, who is the expert here, is interested in the application of
>these and related ideas to Stalinist discourses (which themselves used and
>encouraged mythic referents) as a way of deconstructing--not justifying--
>Terror.
>
>                                                    Best, Rima S.
>
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Chandler" <kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM>
>To: <SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU>
>Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2005 12:28 AM
>Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Discourses of Violence (Girard)
>
>
>>Rima,
>>
>>Do you have time to tell us a little about "Girardian theories of ritualized
>>violence in society"?  It would be interesting.
>>
>>R.
>>
>>>Rimgaila Salys <Salys at buffmail.Colorado.EDU>:
>>>
>>>>It seems to me that Babel's depiction of the cossacks in Red Cavalry is
>>>>perfectly consistent with Girardian theories of ritualized violence in
>>>>society.  I've noticed that many people who have lived through/escaped
>>>>Stalinism or even its gentler successors are very resistant to myth 
>>>>criticism
>>>>as a way of approaching the Soviet era, and here one has to agree to
>>>>disagree.
>>>>
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>>>
>>******************************************************************************>
>>*
>>>Mark Lipovetsky [Leiderman]
>>>Associate Professor of Russian Studies and Comparative Literature,
>>>Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures,
>>>CU-Boulder, UCB 276, Boulder CO 80309
>>>Fax: (303)492-5376
>>>Tel: 303-492-7957
>>>
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>>
>>
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