Nancy Kress

Slipstream fiction is usually defined as fiction with a contemporary setting in which story elements are mimetic (that is, seem real) - except for one or two eerie strangenesses. Unlike outright fantasy, these are not explained or integrated into an alternate-reality setting.

American Writer

Rene Girard

Society's preservation against the unlimited violence of scandals lies in the mimetic coalition against the single victim and its ensuing limited violence. The violent death of Jesus is, humanly speaking, an example of this strange process.

French Historian

What I call a mimetic crisis is a situation of conflict so intense that on both sides people act the same way and talk the same way even though, or because, they are more and more hostile to each other.

A mimetic crisis is when people become undifferentiated. There are no more social classes, there are no more social differences, and so forth.

Learning that we have a scapegoat is to lose it forever and to expose ourselves to mimetic conflicts with no possible resolution.

The myth-making machine is the mimetic contagion that disappears behind the myth it generates.

Mimetic in this context refers to survival techniques in animals through imitation.

Survival Strategy

Mimetic can also refer to behaviors or sounds, not just physical appearance.

Not Always Visual

Sometimes 'mimetic' describes people imitating others, often unconsciously.

Human Mimicry

In art, 'mimetic' refers to capturing the essence of the real world accurately.

Artistic Imitation

In literary theory, 'mimetic' relates to the reflection of reality in literature.

Critical Theory

'Mimetic' art may interpret reality, not just replicate it exactly.

Not Pure Imitation

In biology, 'mimetic' implies functional equivalence, often with an evolutionary advantage.

Functional Similarity

In medicine, 'mimetic' drugs are designed to act like natural substances in the body.

Medicinal Imitation

'Mimetic' in technology often refers to designs inspired by natural forms or functions.