Violence and dystopia: mimesis and sacrifice in contemporary western dystopian narratives
Violence and Dystopia is a critical examination of imitative desire, scapegoating and sacrifice in selected contemporary Western dystopian narratives through the lens of René Girard's mimetic theory. The first chapter offers an overview of the history of Western utopia/dystopia with a special e...
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| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Cambridge Scholars Publishing
2015
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| In: | Year: 2015 |
| Reviews: | [Rezension von: Cojocaru, Daniel, 1980-, Violence and dystopia : mimesis and sacrifice in contemporary western dystopian narratives] (2015) (Bartlett, Andrew, 1977 -)
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| Edition: | 1st ed |
| Further subjects: | B
Science fiction--History and criticism
B Electronic books B Thesis B Science fiction ; History and criticism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Aggregator) |
| Parallel Edition: | Non-electronic
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| Summary: | Violence and Dystopia is a critical examination of imitative desire, scapegoating and sacrifice in selected contemporary Western dystopian narratives through the lens of René Girard's mimetic theory. The first chapter offers an overview of the history of Western utopia/dystopia with a special emphasis on the problem of conflictive mimesis and scapegoating violence, and a critical introduction to Girard's theory. The second chapter is devoted to J.G. Ballard's seminal novel Crash (1973), Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club (1996) and Rant (2007), and Brad Anderson's film The Machinist (2004). It is argued that the car crash functions as a metaphor for conflictive mimetic desire and leads to a quasi-sacrificial crisis as defined by Girard for archaic religion. The third chapter focuses on the psychogeographical writings of Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd. Walking the streets of London the pedestrian represents the excluded underside of the world of Ballardian speed. The walking subject is portrayed in terms of the expelled victim of Girardian theory. The fourth chapter considers violent crowds as portrayed by Ballard's late fiction, the writings of Stewart Home, and David Peace's GB84 (2004). In accordance with Girard's hypothesis, the discussed narratives reveal the failure of scapegoat expulsion to restore peace to the potentially self-destructive violent crowds. The fifth chapter examines the post-apocalyptic environments resulting from failed scapegoat expulsion and mimetic conflict out of control, as portrayed in Sinclair's Radon Daughters (1994), Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and Oryx and Crake (2003), and Will Self's The Book of Dave (2006) Intro -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter One -- 1.1 Modern Dystopia -- 1.2 René Girard's Mimetic Theory -- 1.2.1 Imitative Desire -- 1.2.2 Violence and the Sacred -- 1.2.3 Girard and the Bible -- 1.2.4 Criticism of the Girardian Paradigm -- 1.3 Violence and Dystopia -- Chapter Two -- 2.1 J.G. Ballard's Crash - Revolutionary Millenarianism by Car -- 2.1.1 TV-violence and Car Culture as Mediators of Reality -- 2.1.2 The Crash: Breaking Through the Isolation of the Car -- 2.1.3 The Wounds Do Not Heal -- 2.1.4 The Scarifice - Sacrifice by Car -- 2.2 Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club and Rant, and Brad Anderson's The Machinist -- 2.2.1 Palincest in Fight Club -- 2.2.2 Rant -- 2.2.3 The Machinist -- Chapter Three -- 3.1. Iain Sinclair -- 3.1.1 Structuring the Unstructurable -- 3.1.2 Downriver I -- 3.1.3 Rodinsky's Room -- 3.1.4 Downriver II -- 3.1.5 Sinclair's Aura -- 3.1.6 Scapegoating The Widow -- 3.2. Peter Ackroyd -- 3.2.1 Hawksmoor -- 3.2.2 Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem -- 3.2.3 London: The Biography -- Chapter Four -- 4.1 J. G. Ballard -- 4.1.1 High-Rise -- 4.1.2 Cocaine Nights, Super-Cannes, Millennium People and Kingdom Come -- 4.2 Stewart Home -- 4.2.1 Come Before Christ and Murder Love -- 4.2.2 Defiant Pose, Red London and Blow Job -- 4.3 David Peace -- 4.3.1 The Red Riding Quartet -- 4.3.2 The Miners' Strike of 1984/85 -- 4.3.3 Battling to the End -- 4.3.4 GB84 -- 4.3.5 A Note on Hope in the Red Riding Quartet -- Chapter Five -- 5.1 Radon Daughters -- 5.2 Margaret Atwood -- 5.2.1 The Handmaid's Tale -- 5.2.2 Oryx and Crake -- 5.3 Will Self -- 5.3.1 Girardian Themes in Will Self's Fiction -- 5.3.2 The Book of Dave -- Chapter Six -- Bibliography -- Index |
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| ISBN: | 1443883522 |