Deceit, desire, and the novel
by René Girard · first published 1961
2mentions
1recommended by
2HN commenters
2013–2021first – last mentioned
50% recommend50% neutral
Discussion of the thesis that any goal which the protagonist of a novel seeks has been suggested by a mediator and that this "triangular desire" is the form of all great novels.
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…David Foster Wallace Gödel, Escher, Bach, Douglas Hofstadter Collected Fictions, Jorge Luis Borges In Praise of Idleness, Bertrand Russell Antifragile, Nassim Taleb The Long Way, Bernard Moitessier Deceit, Desire, and the Novel, Rene Girard The Wu-Tang Manual, RZA Meditations, Marcus Aurelius Essays, Michel de Montaigne We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live, Joan Didion
on “Ask HN: What are some good books?” ↗…teen, in Spanish, and reading this now makes me think I very definitely read an abridged version! It was one of the novels behind René Girard's early development of his theory of mimetic desire+, in Deceit, Desire and the Novel ([0] is a review). I'm fascinated that OP sees the book as offering subtle life advice, while Girard sees it as an analysis of an aspect of human nature we all share. +as made famous by Peter Thiel...…
on ““Don Quixote” as a manual for living” ↗