Is he imitating this anima image, and does the author then cast it off by the end of the novel? Flaubert, Hawthorne...
How does Girard handle gender? I noticed how he contrasts romanesque (the novelistic) with romance (the poetic), suggesting that modern literature requires a choice between the two. (Which by the way may fit with Bloom's framing of the modern novel as rejection Emile.) But does he draw on any of that Rougmont type material in critiquing romance?
Girard certainly likes de Rougemont and quotes him approvingly. I think Girard simply agrees with de Rougemont's critique of romance. I haven't read him extending the critique - he mentions the death/desire connection in passing.
ReplyDeleteGirard says nothing about gender per se in what I have read. As you know he thinks the novelists set up an anti-hero protagonist whom they intend to portray negatively. Madame Bovary is not disgarded - she is owned and incorporated. Madame Bovary c'est moi, says Flaubert. The negative traits Flaubert despises are of course aspects of his own soul and projected upon poor old Emma.
As Perelman says, every argument presupposes that the opposing point of view must have some merit, or at the very least, some emotional appeal, otherwise, why would you need to argue? If something is self-evidently true, nothing more need be said.
The fantasy of originality has immense appeal, flattering our egos. Presumably Girard is partly trying to convince himself that this Romantic fantasy is illusory.