Ser (e deixar de ser) o homem doente, o homem mau e o homem desagradável: notas sobre Memórias do subsolo

O presente artigo comenta e analisa as estratégias e o percurso narrativo do protagonista anônimo das Memórias do subsolo (1864), de Fiódor Dostoiévski, com o intuito de destacar a pertinência de uma leitura critico-clínica acerca da novela, tendo em vista o estudo das sintomatologias e o diálogo com o pensamento de Gilles Deleuze que diz respeito à literatura como devir, à função do escritor como médico da civilização e ao sujeito larvar das micropolíticas que atua nos efeitos do real e na potência do impossível. O texto tem também como objetivo levantar a hipótese ensaística de que o homem do subsolo experencia transcendentalmente um efetivo movimento entre a enfermidade e a saúde do mundo, entre o bem e o mal e, por fim, entre a crítica negativa e a afirmação do desejo na vida, sempre sob vias de transbordar esses limites todos. Para tal aproveitamento, discute-se igualmente algumas observações centrais a propósito da obra e/ou da filosofia do tempo de Dostoiévski realizadas por René Girard, Bakhtin, Nietzsche, Sergio Givone, dentre outros. De uma leitura diferencial da novela à leitura da teoria literária contemporânea, o artigo se utiliza das Memórias como um local intensivo de disputas pelo sentido da escrita, da mimese como técnica poética primordial e do gênero textual das confissões, ou melhor, dos castigos correcionais que conjuram por aporias. Palavras-chave: Memórias do subsolo; devir literário; sintomatologia; Deleuze.

La danza de la tierra: el material musical, rito y sacrificio en La consagración de la primavera de Igor Stravinsky

En este artículo, se examina la concepción adorniana del material musical en la obra de Stravinsky y el análisis del mito que hace el filósofo René Girard en La Consagración de la Primavera. La aproximación teórica desde la concepción girardiana del sacrificio permite reexaminar la obra de Stravinsky y el significado del impacto de escenificar el asesinato fundacional, a inicios del siglo XX. La estructura de la violencia sacrificial que expone Girard expande el análisis de la obra del compositor ruso ofreciendo una lectura antropológica del hecho artístico. De este modo, el horizonte crítico que abre el pensamiento girardiano apuntala una contextualización de la obra que va más allá de una postura respecto a la sedimentación del material musical.

Beyond Contagion of Violence: Passionate Love and Empathy in the Thought of René Girard and Max Scheler

In his last book René Girard depicts apocalypse as disclosure of mimetic violence that is world-ending. He claims that in times of violent pandemic we are not called to fight for this world, but follow Christ in his withdrawal from the world. However, such an assertion creates serious theoretical and practical issues for the effort to heal interhuman relations from the virus of mimetic hostility. I argue for the importance of restoring a foundational distinction between passionate love and acquisitive mimetic desire from the forgotten regions of Girard’s oeuvre. With Max Scheler’s interpretation of Stendhal’s concept of l’amour passion, I explore in each thinker a fundamental insight about possibilities of transforming violent contagion through empathy and loving commitment to the world. I conclude that respective “passive” and “active” approaches to the contagion of mimetic rivalry and violence are necessary and equally valuable.

Inés de Castro y la teoría del chivo expiatorio

El personaje Inés de Castro merece un lugar de honor entre los dramatizados por el teatro español del Siglo de Oro, pues su intervención en "Reinar después de morir", de Luis Vélez de Guevara, ha quedado como paradigmática de un mito francamente fecundo. A partir de la observación del mito a la luz de la teoría filosófico-literaria del chivo expiatorio de René Girard, se explica el fenómeno de Inés de Castro y su pervivencia a lo largo del tiempo y en diversidad de espacios culturales.

Gandhi’s Militant Nonviolence in the Light of Girard’s Mimetic Anthropology

Nuclear rivalry, as well as terrorism and the war against terror, exemplify the dangerous escalation of violence that is threatening our world. Gandhi’s militant nonviolence offers a possible alternative that avoids a complacent indifference toward injustice as well as the imitation of violence that leads to its escalation. The French-American cultural anthropologist René Girard discovered mimetic rivalries as one of the main roots of human conflicts, and also highlighted the contagious nature of violence. This article shows that Gandhi shares these basic insights of Girard’s anthropology, which increases the plausibility of his plea for nonviolence. Reading Gandhi with Girard also complements Girard’s mimetic theory by offering an active practice of nonviolence as a response to violent threats, and by broadening the scope of its religious outreach. Gandhi’s reading of the Sermon on Mount not only renounces violence and retaliation like Girard but also underlines the need to actively break with evil. Both Gandhi and Girard also address the religious preconditions of nonviolent action by underlining the need to prefer godly over worldly pursuits, and to overcome the fear of death by God’s grace. This congruence shows that Girard’s anthropology is valid beyond its usual affinity with Judaism and Christianity.

Denken over religie. Deel III Hedendaagse perspectieven

Met Deel III. Hedendaagse perspectieven is auteur Valeer Neckebrouck tot het sluitstuk gekomen van de chronologisch opgevatte reeks Denken over religie. Antropologische theorie en godsdienst. De studie van de antropologie van de religie wordt in dit laatste deel vanuit de meest toonaangevende, hedendaagse modellen en perspectieven belicht. De secularisatietheorieën, het postmodernisme, het feminisme, het neodarwinisme en de cognitieve antropologie van de godsdienst worden uitvoerig behandeld, maar ook denkers als René Girard, Walter Burkert, Edward O. Wilson en Richard Dawkins passeren de revue. Met de behandeling van hedendaagse theoretische perspectieven in de antropologische studie van de godsdienst gaat het om onderzoeksterreinen die nog constant in beweging zijn, om inzichten die nog in volle ontwikkeling verkeren. Bijna dagelijks worden in de biologie nieuwe ontdekkingen gedaan waarvan sommige verplichten tot een radicale herziening van inzichten die voordien als vaststaande verworvenheden werden beschouwd. Omdat onze kennis op gebied van biologie en neurologie voortdurend evolueert, dient het bilan ervan steeds weer herschreven te worden. Met dit derde deel uit de reeks Denken over religie heeft Valeer Neckebrouck hiertoe onmiskenbaar een belangwekkende bijdrage geleverd. Neckebrouck brengt de lezer in dit finale volume een grondige analyse en kritische evaluatie van de verschillende theoretische systemen waarmee grote en minder grote geesten uit de recente westerse cultuurgeschiedenis getracht hebben het enigmatische fenomeen “religie” vanuit antropologisch standpunt te verhelderen. Voor eenieder die geïnteresseerd is in het fenomeen “religie” en wil weten hoe antropologen doorheen de geschiedenis over godsdienst hebben gedacht, is deze trilogie een onmisbaar en bijzonder rijk gestoffeerd naslagwerk. Een zo gedetailleerde beschrijving en kritische evaluatie van de behandelde materie was tot nog toe in geen enkel taalgebied voorhanden.

BAKHTIN AND RENE GIRARD ON DOSTOEVSKY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

The article provides a critical comparison of two independent interpretations of F. M. Dostoevsky: from the side of M. Bakhtin and from the side of Rene Girard. Both authors have created coherent ways of understanding and reading the literary heritage of the writer in the perspective of their own understanding of the history of literature and the intellectual history of mankind as such. Dostoevsky is significant for Bakhtin not simply as an illustration of the applicability of some of his own ideas within the framework of literary criticism. Bakhtin sees Dostoevsky as an innovator in the development of the menippea genre and an unprecedented dialogization of literature. At the same time, without Dostoevsky, the movement of literature postulated by Girard towards the embodiment of the Gospel revelation would be incomplete. The incompleteness of Girard or Bakhtin without Dostoevsky (with all the reservations) is not fundamental. Without Dostoevsky, history as such fundamentally changes for Girard and for Bakhtin. The apparent incomparability of the authors makes it possible to read Dostoevsky differently. From the context of Girard, the meaning of Bakhtin's works and, inevitably, the meaning of laughter and dialogue (polyphony) in history are significantly transformed. On the other hand, the ways of including Dostoevsky in the image of history created by Girard, independently of Bakhtin, also run into difficulties.