The Dangerous Mimesis Is Embedded in the System

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I'm not at all a Trump supporter, but often I see more as you're already in behavior amongst the critics of Trump than the Trumpians themselves. You get creamed much more supporting Trump than attacking him. So where the dangerous mimesis really is embedded in the system? I'm never quite sure. If we valued intelligent thinking, intelligent speaking in our public lives, I think we'd be less likely to get to kind of candidates that we're getting.

As a little girl, Cynthia Haven loved reading classic works of literature. At sixteen, she began her career as a reporter. And years later, those two interests converged as they led her to interview and write books about three writers and thinkers whom she also came to call mentors: René Girard, Czeslaw Milosz, and Joseph Brodsky.

Cynthia joined Tyler to discuss what she’s gleaned from each of the three, including what traits they have in common, why her biography of Girard had to come from outside academia, Milosz’s reaction to the Berkley Free Speech Movement, Girard’s greatest talent—and flaw—as a thinker, whether Brodsky will fall down the memory hole, why he was so terrible on Ukraine, why Cynthia’s early career was much like The Devil Wears Prada, the failings of Twitter, and more.

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Recorded May 18th, 2022 Other ways to connect

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