Intuited Mimetic Rivalry: Playing Hard to Get -- Mimetic Theory and Literary Study

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Date Posted: 21:00:15 02/10/08 Sun
Author: Erin Risch
Subject: Intuited Mimetic Rivalry: Playing Hard to Get

We've talked briefly about how some authors intuit mimetic rivalry and about how some "hacks" manage to get it right, as well. But it seems that, as human beings, we intuit a little bit of it as well. I was thinking about this while reading David Copperfield and Mme Bovary.

When David is on the picnic with Dora and she is enjoying the attention of another man (Red Whisker), David's instant recourse is to flirt with another pretty young girl in pink. And it works, for as David catches Dora's eye upon toasting her health, he thinks she is appealing for reconciliation.

Similiarly, when Emma first realizes that Leon is in love with her, she almost instinctively throws herself into a fit of devotion to her husband, whom she actually detests. I heard someone say that she's recoiling from her adulterous desires, but she has already betrayed herself. She says (in chapter 5, part 2) something along the lines of, "Oh! If the heavens willed it . . . why not? . . . what prevented it?" Emma has very few if any scruples about betraying her husband.

Both David and Emma seem to intuit the fact that, by getting your lover to see you as belonging to another, you actually increase their desire for you.

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Replies:

Re: Intuited Mimetic Rivalry: Playing Hard to Get -- Jonathan Dunn, 17:51:00 02/17/08 Sun
- Re: Intuited Mimetic Rivalry: Playing Hard to Get -- Erin Risch, 16:17:05 02/18/08 Mon