Last millennium (~ 1990), while obtaining a Ph.D. in English, I had the fortune to hear, later to read, and finally to meet René Girard. His is one of the most brilliant minds of the latter half of the 20th century. His honest and honorable character validated my respect for his writings and their significance. When I was writing this, René had recently turned 95. Upon the encouragement of a friend, I recorded some of my memories of René, who died not long after:
Recently I found an old cassette tape of a talk René gave to a mixed audience who allowed René to use "more matter with less art"—meaning he could speak plainly without qualifying statements as is required when speaking before an academic audience. (I believe the talk was organized by the Florilegia Institute, which was run by Gil Bailie.)
Here are a few links related to imitative desire and scapegoating (email me with suggestions):
Two PDF versions of my articles that use mimetic theory:
rev. 2019/02/04