— Overview
The notes stay with that reading, and they stop before a later list of terms.
— Contents and key concepts
A 2010 novel, and a triangle
The notes take up Kim Do-jong’s The Last Testimony, a work from 2010, and read it through René Girard’s triangle of desire. A person who desires, they write, comes to desire an object through a mediator who stirs that desire.
People, on this account, wish to imitate others; once a person or a thing stands as a mediator, they try to fulfil the desire by imitation. From desires of that kind, Girard reads conflict, and violence, over the object. Desire itself, they add, is not simply a person’s own: it is what someone else already wants.
Three books, and a scapegoat
Girard, they write, is known for the triangle of desire. He began in literature, then moved across history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religion and psychology, in a long inquiry into the human being.
The same thought, they add, runs through Deceit, Desire and the Novel (1961), and through later books, Violence and the Sacred (1972) and The Scapegoat (1982), among some thirty works. When conflict in a society grows acute, they write, Girard reads a search for a scapegoat: blame is piled on one figure, the rest step free, and the group, once that figure is removed, draws tighter.
Where the notes stop
The notes leave the novel and that theory there, before a later list of terms. The same Korean report, in a longer form, sits on CampusDown.
Sources
- The notes, a student reading of Kim Do-jong’s The Last Testimony through Girard’s triangle of desire.
Last updated: 15 November 2026
Frequently asked questions
What novel do the notes read, and through what theory?
Kim Do-jong’s The Last Testimony, from 2010, read through René Girard’s triangle of desire. A person, they write, comes to desire an object through a mediator who stirs that desire.
How do they introduce Girard?
As a writer known for the triangle of desire, who began in literature and moved across history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, religion and psychology. They name Deceit, Desire and the Novel (1961), Violence and the Sacred (1972) and The Scapegoat (1982).
Where do they stop?
After that frame is set against the novel, and after a brief word on the scapegoat. They leave a later list of terms unused.
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