Mimesis in literature

In my thesis, I argue that the 1 ih -century Spanish writer, Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor, in a unique form of 'mimesis,' uses elements of magic to transform the
popular concept of the Spanish witch. Drawing on theories from Jacques Lacan's
mirror phase, Homi Bhabha and Barbara Fuchs's notion of mimesis, and Judith
Butler's idea of gender performitivity, I demonstrate how Zayas frees the witch from
the subjugated language constructed by the Catholic Church and society of her time.
I examine six of the short stories in her two novels to show how the author alters the
role of the witch associated with the devil, transforming her to a saint associated with
"lo magico de los cielos, " assigning the diabolical role to the man.

In Sidney's conception of mimesis, a pyramid of autonomy exists with God as the ultimate artificer, and the succeeding levels peopled with human artificers, then fictional artificers. The autonomous character of each descending artificer connects one to the power of the heavenly maker. Sidney's use of mimesis argues for cognizance of our innate capacities, for which we are grateful solely to God. In creating the characters of The Old Arcadia, Sidney first endows them with the capacity for "fore-conceit," a necessary corollary to Free will, the essential aspect of man's condition as Sidney conceived it. By emphasizing the artificer/artifact relationship on successive levels, Sidney implies the focal importance of the creative process. Because Sidney's artifacts are constructed in the image of their maker, despite the limitations of an "infected will," they are also artificers themselves, at least insofar as they approach a true mimesis of the nature of man.