La struttura del desiderio Note su antropologia e letteratura

Abstract

The text analyzes the relationships between anthropology and literature. It begins by presenting a distinction between Literary Anthropology and Anthropology of Literature and it continues proposing a theoretical pattern for the study of narrative from an anthropological point of view. The structure of mimetic desire elaborated by René Girard works as a basis to determine the common structure underlying both literature and anthropology. The text proposes that such a structure is based on a pursuit of otherness generated by the man’s biological incompleteness and ontological indetermination. The last part of the essay presents the concept of romantic Wanderung, in opposition to the model of journey, as a metaphor to demonstrate the close relationship between both disciplines and their common essence.