Narrators, Narratees, and Mimetic Desire

Girard’s thesis of mimetic desire (also called “triangular” or “metaphysical” desire)¹ has aroused much theoretical interest among literary scholars, who have expanded and expounded his theory, while at the same time criticizing its universal pretensions and its blurring of differences between different types of desire (e.g., male vs. female, heterosexual vs. homosexual).² Literary interpretations that apply Girard’s ideas from his workDeceit, Desire, and the Novel(1965) to fictional narratives focus on the dynamics of mimetic desire and rivalry between two (or more) characters on the story level: the desiring subject, the mediator (or rival), and the desired object. In