Tag Archives: mimesis

Violence and the Oedipal Unconscious: vol. 1, The Catharsis Hypothesis

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In his latest contribution to mimetic studies, Violence and the Oedipal Unconscious (MSU P, 2023), Nidesh Lawtoo reframes current debates on (new) media violence by tracing the philosophical, aesthetic, and historical vicissitudes of the “catharsis hypothesis” from antiquity to modernity into the present via Aristotle, Nietzsche, Bernays, Freud, Girard, Morin among others. In the process, he outlines a new theory of violence, mimesis, and the unconscious that does not have desire as a via regia, but rather, the untimely realization that all affects spread contagiously and thus mimetically.

The Angel as Host: J. Hillis Miller Last Flight

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Hillis Miller's Concept of Critic as Host – Literary Theory and Criticism

The HOM project officially ended in 2022 but publications are still forthcoming. In this article Nidesh Lawtoo revisits J. Hillis Miller’s career as one of the most influential theorists and critics of the past 50 years and shows that Miller’s last work offers an essential contribution to the mimetic turn, or re-turn. Published with symploke, the article is available Open Access HERE.

Homo Mimeticus Book Launch and Conclusion

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In this book launch of Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation (Leuven UP, 2023, OPEN ACCESS), HOM/GM PI Nidesh Lawtoo joins forces with his team (Niki Hadikoesoemo, Marina Garcia-Granero & Giulia Rignano) to sum up the main results of the HOM project and open up the new transdisciplinary field of mimetic studies Homo Mimeticus proposes.

HOM Videos 8, The Psychology of Mimesis: Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen

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In the eighth episode of HOM Videos, the philosopher and historian of psychoanalysis Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen (University of Washington) discusses with Nidesh Lawtoo the genealogical foundations of psychic mimesis: from his studies at the University of Strasbourg with Lacoue-Labarthe to the birth of psychoanalysis (out of Charcot’s and Bernheim’s theories of hysteria and suggestion), from Freud’s account of identification to Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage to Big Pharma, mimesis turns out to play the leading protean role in the modern and contemporary pathologies of homo mimeticus.

Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation–BOOK LAUNCH (Fri. Nov. 18, 4 pm CET, hybrid)

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5 years ago the HOM project promised a new theory of imitation to face some of the main challenges of the present. Here it is, with Leuven UP! In this book launch, HOM/GM team members Niki Hadikoesoemo, Marina García-Granero and Giulia Rignano talk with Nidesh Lawtoo about the main insights and takeaways of Homo Mimeticus: A New Theory of Imitation (Freely available Open Access here). All are welcome, reception to follow, and on hybrid mode More information including Zoom link here.

HOM Videos, ep. 7, Mimesis, Sport, Crowds: Gunter Gebauer

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In this seventh episode of HOM videos, German philosopher Gunter Gebauer (Free U of Berlin) discusses the role mimesis plays in sports, the origins of language, social distinction, crowd behavior, and the recent rise of hypermimetic behavior in the digital age, all of which paint a picture of homo mimeticus beyond good and evil.

Georges Bataille 60 years after

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In this special issue of Europe, edited by Stephane Massonet, prominent Bataille scholars including Denis Hollier, Michel Surya, Jean-Christophe Bailly, Mathilde Girard, and others testify to the timeliness of this untimely thinker. Nidesh Lawtoo adds a chapter on Bataille’s mimetic community.