Free The Girard Reader by René Girard

not be surprised if the look cast by M. de Rênal on
    Valenod is vastly different from that raised by Don Quixote toward Amadis.
    In Cervantes the mediator is enthroned in an inaccessible heaven and transmits to his faithful
    follower a little of his serenity. In Stendhal, this same mediator has come down to earth. The
    clear distinction between these two types of relationship between mediator and subject
    indicates the enormous spiritual gap which separates Don Quixote from the most despicably
    vain of Stendhal's characters. The image of the triangle cannot remain valid for us unless it at
    once allows this distinction and measures this gap for us. To achieve this double objective,
    we have only to vary the distance , in the triangle, separating the mediator from the desiring
    subject.
    Obviously this distance is greatest in Cervantes. There can be no contact whatsoever between
    Don Quixote and his legendary Amadis. Emma Bovary is already closer to her Parisian
    mediator. Travelers' tales, books, and the press bring the latest fashions of the capital even to
    Yonville. Emma comes still closer to her mediator when she goes to the ball at the
    Vaubyessards'; she penetrates the holy of holies and gazes at the idol face to face. But this
    proximity is fleeting. Emma will never be able to desire that which the incarnations of her
    "ideal" desire; she will never be able to be their rival; she will never leave for Paris.
    Julien Sorel does all that Emma cannot do. At the beginning of The Red and the Black the distance between the hero and his mediator is as great as in Madame Bovary . But Julien spans
    this distance; he leaves his province and becomes the lover of the proud Mathilde; he rises
    rapidly to a brilliant position. Stendhal's other heroes are also close to their mediators. It is
    this which distinguishes Stendhal's universe from those we have already considered. Between
    Julien and Mathilde, between Rênal and Valenod, between Lucien Leuwen and the nobles of
    Nancy, between Sansfin and the petty squires of Normandy, the distance is always small
    enough to permit the rivalry of desires. In the novels of Cervantes and
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    Flaubert, the mediator remained beyond the universe of the hero; he is now within the same
    universe.
    Romantic works are, therefore, grouped into two fundamental categories -- but within these
    categories there can be an infinite number of secondary distinctions. We shall speak of
    external mediation when the distance is sufficient to eliminate any contact between the two
    spheres of possibilities of which the mediator and the subject occupy the respective centers.
    We shall speak of internal mediation when this same distance is sufficiently reduced to allow
    these two spheres to penetrate each other more or less profoundly.
    Obviously it is not physical space that measures the gap between mediator and the desiring
    subject. Although geographical separation might be one factor, the distance between
    mediator and subject is primarily spiritual. Don Quixote and Sancho are always close to each
    other physically but the social and intellectual distance which separates them remains
    insuperable. The valet never desires what his master desires. Sancho covets the food left by
    the monks, the purse of gold found on the road, and other objects which Don Quixote
    willingly lets him have. As for the imaginary island, it is from Don Quixote himself that
    Sancho is counting on receiving it, as the faithful vassal holds everything in the name of his
    lord. The mediation of Sancho is therefore an external mediation. No rivalry with the
    mediator is possible. The harmony between the two companions is never seriously troubled.
    The hero of external mediation proclaims aloud the true nature of his desire. He worships his
    model openly and declares himself his disciple. We have seen Don Quixote himself explain
    to Sancho the privileged part Amadis plays in his life. Mme. Bovary and Léon also admit the
    truth about their