Re: su legeis: you said it -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 08:17:47 03/21/08 Fri
Author: Erin Risch
Subject: Re: su legeis: you said it
In reply to: Betsy Peters 's message, "su legeis: you said it" on 08:24:04 03/19/08 Wed

Betsy, I was just thinking about this as I was reading Till We Have Faces for my seminar paper. I had just finished the scene in which Orual brings her complaint against the gods. Immediately afterwards the judge asks, "Are you answered?" "Yes," she says.

I was thinking about Christ's response to his accusers when he says, "You say that I am." It's the only way out of the cycle of mimetic accusations ("I am the King of the Jews." "No, you're not." "Yes, I am."), a way of non-participation. Moreover, the accusation in itself is a revelation. So too with Orual and her complaint against the gods. Not only are the gods removed from a bitter conflict of accusations and defenses (and we see where that leads with Oedipus and Creon), but the very nature of the accusation reveals the mimetic violence embedded in the accuser.

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