Power Relations and Mimetic Desire at the Origin of History
The Tale of Gyges and Candaule (Herodotus, Boccaccio and Moravia)
Abstract
The essay reads Herodotus’ tale of Gyges and Candaule as a fundamental archetype of human behavior set at the origins of History. By dramatizing the “mimetic desire” (Girard) within “relations of power” (Ginzburg), the narration represents History in its universality, through the lens of literary characters, symbols and plots. Among the rewritings of the tale, Boccaccio’s Dec., II 7 and Moravia’s novel La donna leopardo show the strength and the flexibility of the archetype in suiting different historical and cultural contexts.
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