Violence and Dystopia: Mimesis and Sacrifice in Contemporary Western Dystopian Narratives

Violence and Dystopia is a critical examination of imitative desire, scapegoating and sacrifice in selected contemporary Western dystopian narratives through the lens of René Girard’s mimetic theory. The first chapter offers an overview of the history of Western utopia/dystopia with a special emphasis on the problem of conflictive mimesis and scapegoating violence, and a critical introduction to Girard’s theory. The second chapter is devoted to J.G. Ballard’s seminal novel Crash (1973), Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club (1996) and Rant (2007), and Brad Anderson’s film The Machinist (2004). It is argued that the car crash functions as a metaphor for conflictive mimetic desire and leads to a quasi-sacrificial crisis as defined by Girard for archaic religion. The third chapter focuses on the psychogeographical writings of Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd. Walking the streets of London the pedestrian represents the excluded underside of the world of Ballardian speed. The walking subject is portrayed in terms of the expelled victim of Girardian theory. The fourth chapter considers violent crowds as portrayed by Ballard’s late fiction, the writings of Stewart Home, and David Peace’s GB84 (2004). In accordance with Girard’s hypothesis, the discussed narratives reveal the failure of scapegoat expulsion to restore peace to the potentially self-destructive violent crowds. The fifth chapter examines the post-apocalyptic environments resulting from failed scapegoat expulsion and mimetic conflict out of control, as portrayed in Sinclair’s Radon Daughters (1994), Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and Oryx and Crake (2003), and Will Self’s The Book of Dave (2006).


Daniel Cojocaru received his DPhil from Oxford University in 2011. He has taught English Literature at the Universities of Oxford and Zurich. His research focuses on contemporary fiction and film, literary theory, and literature and the Bible. He currently teaches English at the Kantonsschule Zürcher Oberland and the Neue Schule Zürich, Switzerland.

"Based on René Girard’s ideas of scapegoating violence and sacrifice, Cojocaru convincingly demonstrates that ‘both [of Atwood’s] novels read together reveal the gradual exhaustion of the scapegoat mechanism, culminating in social entropy and the potential end of the human race in Oryx’."

Christine Lorre-Johnston (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris) and Mark Williams (Victoria University of Wellington) The Year’s Work in English Studies (2017)

"Cojucaru’s choice of texts is novel enough to keep one reading. [...] [This is a] timely and welcome intervention in dystopian and post-apocalyptic studies."

Jeff Hicks Science Fiction Studies, 44:2 (2017)

"This book will be in constant use for those interested in theorists, genre theory, in particular dystopia, and contemporary literature and film."

Professor William A. Johnsen Michigan State University

"One must respect Violence and Dystopia ... for its originality and even-handedness. The book exemplifies responsible, searching scholarship; its cautiously detailed interpretations give it the weight one associates with reference works. And it does what all good literary criticism should do: communicate the desire to read the texts being scrutinized so that the reader wishes to make contact with them himself or herself. Incidentally, the hardcover volume is very handsomely produced on fine paper with robust binding. If you have a commitment to Girard’s thought and you are working in an institution where contemporary literature is studied, you should ensure your campus library orders a copy of Daniel Cojocaru’s fine book—or buy a copy for yourself. It is valuable work."

Dr Andrew Bartlett Kwantlen Polytechnic University Bulletin of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion, 47 (2015)

Buy This Book

ISBN: 1-4438-7613-5

ISBN13: 978-1-4438-7613-1

Release Date: 4th June 2015

Pages: 335

Price: £52.99

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