“In the long run, the pessimism of reactionaries never proves to be justified, but neither does the optimism of revolutionaries. The expansion of human potential that the latter expect from the final, complete liberation of desire never turns out to be the triumph that they expect. Either the liberated desire is channeled into competitive directions that, though enormously creative, are ultimately disappointing, or it simply ends up in sterile conflict and anarchic confusion, with a corresponding increase in the sense of anguish. There is good reason for this. Modern people still fondly imagine that their discomfort and unease is the product of the straight-jacket that religious taboos, cultural prohibitions, and, in our day, even the legal forms of protection guaranteed by the judicial system place upon desire. They think that once this confinement is over, desire will be able to blossom forth; its wonderful innocence will finally be able to bear fruit. None of this comes true.” DesireIllusionsMimetic Author:René Girard
“The essence of desire is to have no essential goal. Truly to desire, we must have recourse to people about us; we have to desire their desires.” DesireMemesis Book:I See Satan Fall Like Lightning Source: I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
“Ogni mediazione proietta un suo miraggio; i miraggi si susseguono come altrettante "verità" che subentrino alle verità anteriori come una vera e propria uccisione del ricordo vivente e si proteggano dalle verità future con una censura implacabile dell'esperienza quotidiana. Marcel Proust chiama "Io" i "mondi" proiettati dalle successive mediazioni. Gli Io sono perfettamente isolati gli uni dagli altri, incapaci di rammentarsi degli Io passati o di presagire gli Io futuri.” DesireIdentityExpectationsExperiencesProustMarcel ProustIoGirardDesiderio Triangolare Book:Deceit, Desire and the Novel: Self and Other in Literary Structure Source: Deceit, Desire and the Novel: Self and Other in Literary Structure