Roger Caillois: Magic, metaphor, mimicry

Abstract

This paper tracks the question of power in Roger Caillois’ work, and its insertion in the realm of the sacred. For this purpose, it examines the concepts of mimicry, magic and play in the context of post-sacred culture, indicating the differences with Georges Bataille’s thought, the influence of his teacher Georges Dumézil, the resemblances and discrepancies with Walter Benjamin’s concept of mimicry in The Arcades Project, the precursory nature of Caillois’ ideas in relation to Giorgio Agamben’s theories in Homo sacer and Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction. Moreover, the research sets the author’s position in historical context, emphasizing the Second World War and the dissolution of national ties as a result of it. The political importance of the questions of method in the configuration of a “sacred sociology” is also pointed out; to pursue this, the paper examines the influence of Latin American political experiences for the development of Caillois’ theories, and the relationship with Argentinean intellectuality, especially with the group of the journal Sur (Jorge Luis Borges, Victoria Ocampo).