Tragic Novels, René Girard and the American Dream

This book draws on the philosopher René Girard to argue that three twentieth-century American novels (Jeffrey Eugenides''s The Virgin Suicides, Rick Moody''s The Ice Storm, and Richard Yates''s Revolutionary Road) are tragedies.

Until now, Girardian literary analysis has generally focused on representations of human desire in texts, and neglected both other emotions and the place of tragedy. Carly ...