Fenomenologia dello spirito e verità romanzesca. Suggestioni di lettura a partire da René Girard

The paper aims at providing suggestions for reading the Phenomenology of Spiritin the light of the categories of Mensonge romantique et vérité romanesque by René Girard. The paper first of all traces Girard’s harsh criticism of philosophical language and of the Hegelian dialectic in particular, highlighting how Girard himself speaks nevertheless of the temptation to glimpse in some of the protagonists of Hegel’s book the signs of mimetic desire. Taking Girard literally, the essay attempts to reread the dialectic between servant and lord and that of the unhappy conscience in this light. Lastly, an attempt is then made to rethink the association between the Phenomenologyand the Bildungsroman of the spirit (Hyppolite) by trying to think how it is precisely Hegel’s style of writing that unmasks the (romantic) lies of each protagonist in order to bring out its philosophical truth.