How French thinker René Girard became a reference for the American far right
Best known for his theory of mimetic desire, French intellectual René Girard, who died in 2015, is enjoying a resurgence in popularity across the Atlantic. His admirers include billionaire Peter Thiel and current Vice President J.D. Vance. The Financial Times traces the career of this academic expatriate in the United States, whose thinking has infused everything from Silicon Valley to Trump's inner circle.
US Vice President J.D. Vance has revealed that it was a lecture he attended at Yale Law School in 2011 that changed his life. The speaker was billionaire investor Peter Thiel, who was a lawyer before joining Silicon Valley in 1996. At the lecture, Thiel criticized the prestigious law firms that law students are drawn to, describing them as places where people engage in fruitless competition rather than pursuing potentially world-changing inventions.
The argument hit home. Two years after graduating from law school, JD Vance left his legal career to work for one of Peter Thiel's investment funds. However, it wasn't actually the billionaire's thoughts that changed his mind, but René Girard's.
René Girard, who died in 2015, was a French literary critic who taught at American universities and published around twenty books on subjects as diverse as the 19th - century novel and Hindu sacred texts. He never achieved great notoriety, even though his work is widely cited. But in recent years, he has experienced a surprising resurgence in
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