Table of Contents

Introduction: Approaching Mimesis Part 1: Foundations 1. Plato's Republic The Invention of the Image. Poetry and Censorship: Books Two and Three. Mirrors and Forms: Book Ten. Poetry and the City 2. Aristotle’s Poetics Second Nature. Tragedy, Plot, and Reason. The Tragic Effect Part 2: Three Versions of Mimesis 3. Imitatio: Rhetorical Imitation Mimesis as a Cultural Practice. Roman Echoes. Ancients and Moderns. Genius, Originality, and the Anxiety of Influence 4. Theatre and Theatricality Spectacle and Spectator. Theatrum Mundi. Acting, Naturally. 'The Never Ending Show'. 5. Realism The Grapes of Zeuxis. Reflection and Convention. Realism and Sincerity. Pygmalion's Folly: Anti-Realism. Part 3: Mimesis in Modern Theory 6. Mimesis and Identity Psychic Mimesis. Identification: Freud. The Mirror Stage: Lacan. Performing Race and Gender. 7. Mimesis and Culture Sympathetic Magic. Mimicry and the Mimetic Faculty. Mimetic Desire: Girard Simulacra and Hyperreality. Conclusion: Memetics

About the Author

Matthew Potolsky is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Utah where he teaches literary theory and modern British and comparative literature. He is co-editor of Perennial Decay: On the Aesthetics and Politics of Decadence (1999) and has published on theory and late nineteenth century writing.