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 Rene 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, Chuck Pal...