CfP: "Mimesis in Philosophy and Literature: Representation, Truth, and Meaning"

27.03.2025

Issue Editors: Emre Koyuncu (Ankara University) and Servet Gündoğdu (Universität zu Köln)

One of the most enduring concepts in the philosophy of art and literature, mimesis has historically developed around the idea of “imitation,” serving as a key reference point in discussions of how art represents nature, human life, and action. Etymologically, mimesis refers not merely to imitation but also to a dramatic and embodied re-enactment. In Ancient Greece, it emerged as a performative mode of ritual, poetry, theatre, and music. In later classical philosophy, according to traditional interpretations, Plato regarded mimesis as a derivative and misleading copy of ideal forms, while Aristotle reconceptualized it as a creative act linked to learning and catharsis—one that reveals the universal order behind appearances.

Over time, mimesis evolved in tandem with changing aesthetic regimes of representation: from the medieval notion of the worldly reflection of divine truth, to Renaissance ideals of naturalism, and finally to the formal harmony of Neoclassicism. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, Romantic aesthetics displaced mimesis in favor of artistic originality and inner expression. In the twentieth century, structuralist and poststructuralist critiques further destabilized the concept, challenging the reliability of representation itself. Within semiotic frameworks, mimesis came to be seen as complicit in the illusion of referentiality and was subjected to deconstruction. Yet rather than vanishing, mimesis reemerged beyond the aesthetic domain, offering new conceptual possibilities in psychoanalysis, sociology, anthropology, philosophy of language, and hermeneutics.

In this broader context, mimesis has found renewed theoretical vitality. From Lacan’s theory of the mirror stage and the formation of the ego, to Girard’s analysis of mimetic desire and the origins of cultural violence; from Tarde’s theory of social imitation, to Gadamer’s view of art as the enactment of truth through play; from Ricoeur’s threefold model of narrative time, to Auerbach’s philological exploration of literary realism—mimesis is now understood not merely as imitation, but as a foundational mode of thought and representation. Today, it allows us to rethink relations among repetition, difference, subjectivity, desire, alterity, and truth across disciplines and traditions.

Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies invites contributions for its ninth issue, to be published in October 2025, focusing on the concept of mimesis in its various dimensions across philosophy and literature. The journal welcomes research articles, critical essays, translations, research notes, and book reviews written in Turkish or English.

Submissions must follow the journal’s submission and citation guidelines and should be sent by August 1, 2025.

Reality and Representation: Literary and aesthetic transformations from Ancient Greece to postmodernism
Mimesis in Ancient Philosophy: Reinterpreting Plato and Aristotle in contemporary theoretical contexts
Difference, Repetition, and the Copy: Rethinking mimesis through models, exemplars, and representation
Linguistic Mimesis: The mimetic force of language, imitation in discourse and speech
At the Limits of Representation: Aesthetic ruptures, the crisis of representation, and the dissolution of mimesis
Between Mimeses: Adaptation and rewriting across genres, media, and narratives
Imitating the Sacred: Mimesis, icons, ritual, and theological representations of the divine
Cultural Imitation and Social Modeling: Traces of mimesis in anthropology and sociology
The Mimetic Self: Psychoanalytic subject formation and mirror theory in Freud and Lacan
Ethical and Political Representation: Mimesis in art, politics, and the public sphere
Digital Mimesis: Virtual reality, algorithmic creativity, and representation in technological environments