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Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard (Studies in Violence, Mimesis & Culture)
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About Evolution Of Desire: A Life Of René Girard
Product Description René Girard (1923–2015) was one of the leading thinkers of our era—a provocative sage who bypassed prevailing orthodoxies to offer a bold, sweeping vision of human nature, human history, and human destiny. His oeuvre, offering a “mimetic theory” of cultural origins and human behavior, inspired such writers as Milan Kundera and J. M. Coetzee, and earned him a place among the forty “immortals” of the Académie Française. Too often, however, his work is considered only within various academic specializations. This first-ever biographical study takes a wider view. Cynthia L. Haven traces the evolution of Girard’s thought in parallel with his life and times. She recounts his formative years in France and his arrival in a country torn by racial division, and reveals his insights into the collective delusions of our technological world and the changing nature of warfare. Drawing on interviews with Girard and his colleagues, Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard provides an essential introduction to one of the twentieth century’s most controversial and original minds. Review In Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard, Cynthia Haven--a literary journalist and the author of books on Joseph Brodsky and Czesław Miłosz--offers a lively, well-documented, highly readable account of how Girard built up his grand "mimetic theory," as it's sometimes called, over time. Her decision to introduce his thought to a broader public by way of an intellectual biography was a good one. --New York Review of Books .Haven's ability to interweave Girard's life with his publications keeps her narrative flowing at a lively place. ... Her carefully researched biography is a fitting tribute to her late friend and one that will enlighten both specialists and non-specialists alike. --Wall Street Journal It is the author's closeness to the man once described as "the new Darwin of the human sciences" that brings this fascinating biography to life.... At a time when religious fundamentalism, violent extremism and societal division dominates the headlines, Haven's book is a call to revisit and reclaim one of the 20th century's most important thinkers.-- San Francisco Chronicle René Girard, who died in 2015 at 91, ventured into many disciplines. Cynthia Haven's Evolution of Desire is an ingenious travelogue of his life and thought. The result is an an extraordinarily vivid portrait of a man admired not just for his intelligence and erudition, but also for his character, wisdom, and humor. --Philadelphia Inquirer Cynthia Haven's moving portrait inspires readers to look inward and scrutinize themselves, unsparingly yet forgivingly -- just as Girard would have wanted. --Los Angeles Review of Books Cynthia Haven's mind-altering biography of this towering figure in 20th-century thought brings so much new information, and so many interpretive insights, that it's hard to imagine any full-service public library, not to mention any academic collection, without a copy. The book is alive. --Tablet Magazine While the relationship between biographer and subject can be risky -producing hagiography at one extreme, disparagement at the other - Haven balances her frank admiration with critical commentary ... this is an ambitious and thought-provoking life portrait.--Stanford Magazine In this intimate but philosophically searching book, the author's writing is marvelously clear. She expertly unpacks Girard's ideas, making them unusually accessible, even to readers with limited familiarity. A penetrating account of an important thinker - and as agile, profound,and affecting as its subject. --Kirkus Reviews Evolution of Desire is one of the best biographies I have ever read.--Books, Inq. It is my humble opinion that, when the dust finally settles, René Girard will be considered one of the truly great thinkers of the twentieth century. Do I exaggerate? Read Cynthia Haven's beautifully written biography and be your own judge. Here is a book that gives us Girard
