René Girard is a French philosopher, historian and philologist. He is the author of several books (see below), developing the idea that human culture is based on a sacrifice as the way out of a mimetic crisis . His writing covers anthropology, theology and literature, as well as philosophy. His most controversial book is "Violence and the Sacred" (1977). As a Catholic he tends to be rejected by secularists. On the other hand Catholics tend to reject him because of his attempts to separate religion from some ancient traditions. He asks such serious questions as: Is it possible for a religion to be both universal and unique?

Life and career

René Girard was born in the southern French city of Avignon on December 25, 1923. Between 1943 and 1947, he studied medieval history in Paris at the École des Chartes. In 1947 he went to Indiana University on a year's fellowship and eventually made almost his entire career in the United States. He completed a PhD in history at Indiana University in 1950 but also began to teach literature, the field in which he would first make his reputation. He taught at Duke University and at Bryn Mawr before becoming a professor at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Moving back and forth between Buffalo and Johns Hopkins, he finished his academic career at Stanford University where he taught between 1981 and his retirement in 1995. He is Honorary Chair of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion and was elected at the Académie Française, the highest rank for French intellectuals, on March 17, 2005.

Bibliography

• 1961. Mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque. Paris: Grasset. (Trans. Deceit, Desire and the Novel: Self and Other in Literary Structure. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ Press, 1965)
• 1962. Proust: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
• 1963. Dostoïevski, du double à l'unité. Paris: Plon. (Trans. Resurrection from the Underground: Feodor Dostoevsky. Crossroad Publishing Company. 1997)
• 1972. La violence et le Sacré. Paris: Grasset. (Trans. Violence and the Sacred. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977)
• 1976. Critique dans un souterrain. Lausanne: L'Age d'Homme.
• 1978. To Double Business Bound: Essays on Literature, Mimesis, and Anthropology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
• 1978. Des choses cachées depuis la fondation du monde. Paris: Grasset. (Trans. Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World: Research undertaken in collaboration with J.-M. Oughourlian and G. Lefort. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987)
• 1982. Le Bouc émissaire. Paris: Grasset. (Trans. The Scapegoat. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986)
• 1985. La route antique des hommes pervers. Paris: Grasset. (Trans. Job, the Victim of His People. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987)
• 1991. A Theatre of Envy: William Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press.
• 1994. Quand ces choses commenceront ... Entretiens avec Michel Treguer. Paris: arléa.
• 1996. The Girard Reader. Ed. by. James G. Williams. New York: Crossroad.
• 1999. Je vois Satan tomber comme l'éclair. Paris: Grasset. (Trans. I See Satan Fall Like Lightning. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2001)
• 2001. Celui par qui le scandale arrive. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer.
• 2003. Le sacrifice. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France.
• 2004. Les origines de la culture. Entretiens avec Pierpaolo Antonello et João Cezar de Castro Rocha. Paris: Desclée de Brouwer.
• 2004. Oedipus Unbound: Selected Writings on Rivalry and Desire. Ed. by Mark R. Anspach. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Books about Girard

• Kirwan, Michael (2004). Discovering Girard. London: Darton, Longman & Todd. ISBN 0232525269.
• Fleming, Chris (2004). René Girard: Violence and Mimesis. Cambridge: Polity. ISBN 0745629482.
• Swartley, Wiliam M. (Ed.; 2000). Violence Renounced: Rene Girard, Biblical Studies and Peacemaking. Telford: Pandora Press. ISBN 0966502159.
• Bailie, Gil (1995). Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads. Introduction by René Girard. New York: Crossroad. ISBN 0824516451.
• Dumouchel, Paul (Ed.; 1988). Violence and Truth: On the Work of René Girard. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804713383.

References

• On René Girard
• Stanford University on René Girard
• Homepage of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion