I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
| Author | René Girard |
|---|---|
| Published | 1999 |
| Pages | 256 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Girard’s most compact statement of his own theory, argued from scripture: desire is imitative, archaic societies discharged the resulting violence onto a victim and made the killing sacred, and the Gospels narrate the same mechanism from the victim’s side and declare him innocent — which is why modern societies both defend victims obsessively and keep producing them. |
I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
Where I heard about it
- Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, shared in March 2026, in Literature and Societal Critique alongside DeLillo and Houellebecq — the theoretical key to the section, since Girard derived mimetic desire from novels before he applied it to religion. Full transcription: The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.
Connections
- René Girard — the author.
- Mimetic Desire — the mechanism the book argues from.
- Mimetic Theory — the wider framework.
- Christianity — the tradition whose texts Girard reads as exposing the scapegoat mechanism.
- The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the list this came from.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.