Homo Mimeticus III
Plasticity, Mimesis and Metamorphosis with Catherine Malabou
Nidesh Lawtoo (Editor), Willow Verkerk (Editor),
Category: Literature, Media and Visual Culture, Philosophy, Political Science
Language: English
ISBN: 9789462705005
Publication date: November 28, 2025
€33.00 (including 6% VAT)
Buy NowNumber of pages: 350
Size: 234 x 156 x 18 mm
Funded by: ERC
KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access
Open Book Collective
Stock item: 169445
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Category: Literature, Media and Visual Culture, Philosophy, Political Science
Language: English
ISBN: 9789461667250
Publication date: November 28, 2025
Download Free EpubNumber of pages: 350
Funded by: ERC
KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access
Open Book Collective
Category: Literature, Media and Visual Culture, Philosophy, Political Science
Language: English
ISBN: 9789461667243
Publication date: November 28, 2025
Download Free PDFNumber of pages: 350
Funded by: ERC
KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access
Open Book Collective
New interdisciplinary essays on key topics in mimetic studies, including three contributions by internationally renowned philosopher Catherine Malabou
This is the third volume of a trilogy on Homo Mimeticus, yet in no way does it seek to bring mimetic studies to an end. On the contrary, the ambition of this book is to further the mimetic turn via a new beginning. In collaboration with the French philosopher Catherine Malabou, international contributors argue that plasticity—understood in its double capacity to receive form and to give form—plays a transformative role in the many lives of homo mimeticus qua homo plasticus. Ranging from philosophy to literature, sociology to semiology, the plastic arts to neurobiology, and addressing subjects as diverse as epigenetic mimesis and neuroliterature, plastic figures and the mimetic subconscious, Homo Mimeticus III shows that both new materialisms and mimetic studies are central to affirming plastic metamorphoses in the twenty-first century.
In collaboration with Catherine Malabou
Book Launch with Catherine Malabou – Watch on YouTube
Introduction: Morphing Mimetic Studies
Nidesh Lawtoo and Willow Verkerk
Prologue: The Four Metamorphoses of Plasticity: Proteus to Figura, Self-Care to the Overhuman
Nidesh Lawtoo
PART I — GENEALOGIES OF MIMETIC PLASTICITY
Chapter 1: Epigenetic Mimesis: Natural Brains and Synaptic Chips
Catherine Malabou
Chapter 2: Plasticity, Mimesis, Transformativity: A Genealogy of Theories of Change
Tom Boland
Chapter 3: Material Mimetism: On Plastics, Plasticity and Mimesis
Alice Iacobone
Chapter 4: Negative Plasticity and the Indifference of the Body
Kristian Schaeferling
PART II — PLASTIC ENCOUNTERS AND MIMETIC STUDIES
Chapter 5: Benjamin’s Great Criminal, a Plastic Mime
Gabriel Wartinger
Chapter 6: To Double Mimesis Bound: Mortal Plasticity between Malabou and Lacoue-Labarthe
Alex Obrigewitsch
Chapter 7: Eroticism, Gender and the Possibility For Transformation: With and Beyond Merleau-Ponty
Ida Djursaa
Chapter 8: Mimesis, Resonance and the Subject: A Critical Comparison
Mathijs Peters
PART III — FROM NEUROLITERATURE TO THE MIMETIC SUBCONSCIOUS
Chapter 9: Semiosis and Mimesis
Sergey Zenkin
Chapter 10: Neuroliterature and the Example
Tyler M. Williams
Chapter 11: Proust, Realism and the Plasticity of Natural Signs
Ian James
Chapter 12: Conflicting Subliminalities: The Other Ancestors of Mimesis
Catherine Malabou
Coda: The Three Metamorphoses of Mimesis: Thinking with Catherine Malabou
Catherine Malabou and Nidesh Lawtoo
Notes on Contributors
Nidesh Lawtoo
Nidesh Lawtoo is a philosopher and cultural critic, professor of Modern European Literature and Culture at Leiden University.
Willow Verkerk
Willow Verkerk is lecturer in Continental Philosophy and Social Philosophy at the University of British Columbia.
Catherine Malabou
Kristian Schaeferling
Alex Obrigewitsch
Mathijs Peters
Gabriel Wartinger
Tom Boland
Alice Iacobone
Sergey Zenkin
Ian James
Ida Djursaa
Tyler Williams
Homo Mimeticus III is a major contribution to contemporary thought. Through elegant argumentation, intellectual range, and remarkable conceptual inventiveness, the volume reanimates and redefines the relation between mimesis and plasticity for an era of radical transformation. It will be indispensable reading for scholars of philosophy, critical theory, and beyond. - Catherine Kellogg, University of Alberta
Mimesis and plasticity has been building a thriving career of its own. This volume with an excellent clutch of essays brings the subject of mimetic plasticity, rather plastic mimesis, into a fresh zone of introspection and reflection. Spearheaded by Lawtoo and Verkerk, the essays in this volume are insightful and extraordinary experiences in understanding plasticity and a variety of issues, like epigenesis, materiality, eroticism, semiosis, neuroliterature and others that hold themselves in its seductive spectrum. - Ranjan Ghosh, University of North Bengal
Frequently Asked Questions
What is "Homo Mimeticus III" about?
New interdisciplinary essays on key topics in mimetic studies, including three contributions by internationally renowned philosopher Catherine Malabou
This is the third volume of a trilogy on Homo Mimeticus, yet in no way does it seek to bring mimetic studies to an end. On the contrary, the ambition of this book is to further the mimetic turn via a new beginning. In collaboration with the French philosopher Catherine Malabou, international contributors argue that plasticity—understood in its double capacity to receive form and to give form—plays a transformative role in the many lives of homo mimeticus qua homo plasticus. Ranging from philosophy to literature, sociology to semiology, the plastic arts to neurobiology, and addressing subjects as diverse as epigenetic mimesis and neuroliterature, plastic figures and the mimetic subconscious, Homo Mimeticus III shows that both new materialisms and mimetic studies are central to affirming plastic metamorphoses in the twenty-first century.
In collaboration with Catherine Malabou
Book Launch with Catherine Malabou - Watch on YouTube
Who wrote "Homo Mimeticus III"?
"Homo Mimeticus III" was written by Catherine Malabou, Kristian Schaeferling, Alex Obrigewitsch, Mathijs Peters, Gabriel Wartinger, Tom Boland, Alice Iacobone, Sergey Zenkin, Ian James, Ida Djursaa and Tyler Williams.
Who edited "Homo Mimeticus III"?
"Homo Mimeticus III" was edited by Nidesh Lawtoo and Willow Verkerk.
Nidesh Lawtoo is a philosopher and cultural critic, professor of Modern European Literature and Culture at Leiden University.
Willow Verkerk is lecturer in Continental Philosophy and Social Philosophy at the University of British Columbia.
Is "Homo Mimeticus III" available Open Access?
Yes, "Homo Mimeticus III" is published Open Access. It is available under a BY-NC-ND license.
Who funded the publication of "Homo Mimeticus III"?
Publication of "Homo Mimeticus III" was funded by ERC
KU Leuven Fund for Fair Open Access
Open Book Collective
.
What is the Table of Contents for "Homo Mimeticus III"?
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