Theories of Mimesis

Mimesis has long been cited as a key concept in the exploration of the relationship between art and reality. In this major study Arne Melberg discusses the theory and history of mimesis through analysis of texts by Plato, Cervantes, Rousseau and Kierkegaard, and brings mimesis as a concept into the context of the literary theories of de Man and others. This strenuously argued account of language and time charts the movement of mimesis from the Platonic philosophy of similarity to modern ideas of difference.