Georges Bataille
Encyclopedia
Georges Bataille (10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French
writer
. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature
, anthropology
, philosophy
, economy
, sociology
and history of art
. Eroticism
and transgression
are at the core of his writings.
, and Antoinette-Aglae Tournarde (1865). Born in Billom
, Puy-de-Dôme
, his family moved to Champagne
in 1901 which allowed him to study in Reims
and then Épernay
. He initially considered priest
hood and went to a Catholic
seminary
but renounced his faith in 1922.
Bataille attended the École des Chartes in Paris
and graduated in February 1922. Bataille is often referred to, interchangeably, as an archivist
and a librarian
. While it is true that he worked at the Bibliothèque Nationale, his work there was with medallion collections (he also published scholarly articles on numismatics
), and his thesis at the École des Chartes was a critical edition of the medieval manuscript L’Ordre de chevalerie which he produced directly by classifying the eight manuscripts from which he reconstructed the poem. After graduating he moved to the School of Advanced Spanish Studies in Madrid
. As a young man, he befriended, and was much influenced by, the Russian existentialist, Lev Shestov
.
Founder of several journals and literary groups, Bataille is the author of an oeuvre both abundant and diverse: readings, poems, essays on innumerable subjects (on the mysticism
of economy, in passing of poetry
, philosophy, the arts, eroticism
). He sometimes published under pseudonym
s, and some of his publications were banned. He was relatively ignored during his lifetime and scorned by contemporaries such as Jean-Paul Sartre
as an advocate of mysticism
, but after his death had considerable influence on authors such as Michel Foucault
, Philippe Sollers
, and Jacques Derrida
, all of whom were affiliated with the journal Tel Quel
. His influence is felt in the work of Jean Baudrillard
, the psychoanalytic
theories of Jacques Lacan
and Julia Kristeva
, and recent anthropological work from the likes of Michael Taussig
.
Initially attracted to Surrealism
, Bataille quickly fell out with its founder André Breton
, although Bataille and the Surrealists resumed cautiously cordial relations after World War II
. Bataille was a member of the extremely influential College of Sociology
which included several other renegade surrealists. He was heavily influenced by Hegel
, Freud
, Marx
, Marcel Mauss
, the Marquis de Sade
, Alexandre Kojève
, and Friedrich Nietzsche
, the last of whom he defended in a notable essay against appropriation by the Nazis.
Fascinated by human sacrifice
, he founded a secret society, Acéphale
, the symbol of which was a decapitated man. According to legend, Bataille and the other members of Acéphale each agreed to be the sacrificial victim as an inauguration; none of them would agree to be the executioner. An indemnity was offered for an executioner, but none was found before the dissolution of Acéphale shortly before the war. The group also published an eponymous review, concerned with Nietzsche's philosophy, and which attempted to postulate what Jacques Derrida
has called an "anti-sovereignty
". Bataille thus collaborated with André Masson
, Pierre Klossowski
, Roger Caillois
, Jules Monnerot, Jean Rollin
and Jean Wahl
.
Bataille drew from diverse influences and used diverse modes of discourse to create his work. His novel Story of the Eye (Histoire de l'oeil), published under the pseudonym Lord Auch (literally, Lord "to the shithouse" — "auch" being short for "aux chiottes," slang for telling somebody off by sending him to the toilet), was initially read as pure pornography
, while interpretation of the work has gradually matured to reveal the considerable philosophical and emotional depth that is characteristic of other writers who have been categorized within "literature of transgression
". The imagery of the novel is built upon a series of metaphors which in turn refer to philosophical constructs developed in his work: the eye
, the egg
, the sun
, the earth
, the testicle
.
Other famous novels include the posthumously published My Mother (which would become the basis of Christophe Honoré
's film Ma mère), The Impossible and Blue of Noon
. The latter, with its necrophilia
, politics, and autobiographical undertones, is a much darker treatment of contemporary historical reality.
During World War II, he wrote a Summa Atheologica (the title parallels Thomas Aquinas
' Summa Theologica
) which comprises his works "Inner Experience," "Guilty," and "On Nietzsche." After the war he composed his The Accursed Share
, and founded the influential journal Critique. His singular conception of "sovereignty
" was discussed by Derrida, Giorgio Agamben
, Jean-Luc Nancy
and others.
Bataille's first marriage was to actress Silvia Maklès
, in 1928; they divorce
d in 1934, and she later married the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan
. Bataille also had an affair with Colette Peignot
, who died in 1938. In 1946 Bataille married Diane de Beauharnais, with whom he had a daughter.
In 1955 Bataille was diagnosed with cerebral arteriosclerosis, although he was not informed at the time of the terminal nature of his illness. He died seven years later, on 9 July 1962.
. Bataille argues for the concept of an active base matter that disrupts the opposition of high and low and destabilises all foundations. In a sense the concept is similar to Spinoza's neutral monism
of a substance
that encompasses both the dual substances of mind and matter posited by Descartes; however, it defies strict definition and remains in the realm of experience rather than rationalisation. Base materialism was a major influence on Derrida's deconstruction
, and both share the attempt to destabilise philosophical oppositions by means of an unstable "third term." Bataille's notion of Base Materialism may also be seen as anticipating Althusser's
conception of aleatory materialism or "materialism of the encounter," which draws on similar atomist metaphors to sketch a world in which causality and actuality are abandoned in favor of limitless possibilities of action.
Georges Bataille, Œuvres complètes (Paris: Gallimard)
Works published in French:
Posthumous works:
Translated works:
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. His multifaceted work is linked to the domains of literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
and history of art
History of art
The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...
. Eroticism
Eroticism
Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...
and transgression
Transgression
Transgression may be:*a Biblical transgression, violation of God's ten commandments; sin *a legal transgression, a crime usually created by a social or economic boundary*a social transgression, violating a norm...
are at the core of his writings.
Life and work
George Bataille was the son of Joseph-Aristide Bataille (1851), a tax collectorTax collector
A tax collector is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations. Tax collectors are often portrayed in fiction as being evil, and in the modern world share a somewhat similar stereotype to that of lawyers....
, and Antoinette-Aglae Tournarde (1865). Born in Billom
Billom
Billom is a commune in the Puy-de-Dôme department in Auvergne in central France.-People:It was the birthplace of philosopher Georges Bataille.Hugh Aycelin was a French Cardinal.-References:*...
, Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme
Puy-de-Dôme is a department in the centre of France named after the famous dormant volcano, the Puy-de-Dôme.Inhabitants were called Puydedomois until December 2005...
, his family moved to Champagne
Champagne, France
Champagne is a historic province in the northeast of France, now best known for the sparkling white wine that bears its name.Formerly ruled by the counts of Champagne, its western edge is about 100 miles east of Paris. The cities of Troyes, Reims, and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area...
in 1901 which allowed him to study in Reims
Reims
Reims , a city in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France, lies east-northeast of Paris. Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire....
and then Épernay
Épernay
Épernay is a commune in the Marne department in northern France. Épernay is located some 130 km north-east of Paris on the main line of the Eastern railway to Strasbourg...
. He initially considered priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
hood and went to a Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
but renounced his faith in 1922.
Bataille attended the École des Chartes in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and graduated in February 1922. Bataille is often referred to, interchangeably, as an archivist
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
and a librarian
Librarian
A librarian is an information professional trained in library and information science, which is the organization and management of information services or materials for those with information needs...
. While it is true that he worked at the Bibliothèque Nationale, his work there was with medallion collections (he also published scholarly articles on numismatics
Numismatics
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the...
), and his thesis at the École des Chartes was a critical edition of the medieval manuscript L’Ordre de chevalerie which he produced directly by classifying the eight manuscripts from which he reconstructed the poem. After graduating he moved to the School of Advanced Spanish Studies in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
. As a young man, he befriended, and was much influenced by, the Russian existentialist, Lev Shestov
Lev Shestov
Lev Isaakovich Shestov , born Yehuda Leyb Schwarzmann , was a Ukrainian/Russian existentialist philosopher. Born in Kiev on , he emigrated to France in 1921, fleeing from the aftermath of the October Revolution. He lived in Paris until his death on November 19, 1938.- Life :Shestov was born Lev...
.
Founder of several journals and literary groups, Bataille is the author of an oeuvre both abundant and diverse: readings, poems, essays on innumerable subjects (on the mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
of economy, in passing of poetry
Poetry
Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
, philosophy, the arts, eroticism
Eroticism
Eroticism is generally understood to refer to a state of sexual arousal or anticipation of such – an insistent sexual impulse, desire, or pattern of thoughts, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality and romantic love...
). He sometimes published under pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
s, and some of his publications were banned. He was relatively ignored during his lifetime and scorned by contemporaries such as Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
as an advocate of mysticism
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, but after his death had considerable influence on authors such as Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault
Michel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
, Philippe Sollers
Philippe Sollers
Philippe Sollers is a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the avant garde journal Tel Quel , published by Seuil, which ran until 1982...
, and Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
, all of whom were affiliated with the journal Tel Quel
Tel Quel
Tel Quel was an avant-garde magazine for literature, founded in 1960 in Paris by Philippe Sollers and Jean-Edern Hallier.-Overview:...
. His influence is felt in the work of Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard
Jean Baudrillard was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer. His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and post-structuralism.-Life:...
, the psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
theories of Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
and Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, psychoanalyst, sociologist, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She is now a Professor at the University Paris Diderot...
, and recent anthropological work from the likes of Michael Taussig
Michael Taussig
Michael Taussig earned a medical degree from the University of Sydney, received his PhD. in anthropology from the London School of Economics and is a professor at Columbia University and European Graduate School...
.
Initially attracted to Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, Bataille quickly fell out with its founder André Breton
André Breton
André Breton was a French writer and poet. He is known best as the founder of Surrealism. His writings include the first Surrealist Manifesto of 1924, in which he defined surrealism as "pure psychic automatism"....
, although Bataille and the Surrealists resumed cautiously cordial relations after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Bataille was a member of the extremely influential College of Sociology
College of Sociology
The College of Sociology was a loosely-knit group of French intellectuals, named after the informal discussion series that they organized...
which included several other renegade surrealists. He was heavily influenced by Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
, Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
, Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
, Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss
Marcel Mauss was a French sociologist. The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss' academic work traversed the boundaries between sociology and anthropology...
, the Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a French aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer famous for his libertine sexuality and lifestyle...
, Alexandre Kojève
Alexandre Kojève
Alexandre Kojève was a Russian-born French philosopher and statesman whose philosophical seminars had an immense influence on twentieth-century French philosophy, particularly via his integration of Hegelian concepts into continental philosophy...
, and Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...
, the last of whom he defended in a notable essay against appropriation by the Nazis.
Fascinated by human sacrifice
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice is the act of killing one or more human beings as part of a religious ritual . Its typology closely parallels the various practices of ritual slaughter of animals and of religious sacrifice in general. Human sacrifice has been practised in various cultures throughout history...
, he founded a secret society, Acéphale
Acéphale
Acéphale designates both a public review created by Georges Bataille and a secret and esoteric society formed by Bataille and some other members who had sworn to keep silence.-Acéphale, the review:Dated 24 June 1936, the first issue was composed of only eight pages...
, the symbol of which was a decapitated man. According to legend, Bataille and the other members of Acéphale each agreed to be the sacrificial victim as an inauguration; none of them would agree to be the executioner. An indemnity was offered for an executioner, but none was found before the dissolution of Acéphale shortly before the war. The group also published an eponymous review, concerned with Nietzsche's philosophy, and which attempted to postulate what Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
has called an "anti-sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
". Bataille thus collaborated with André Masson
André Masson
André-Aimé-René Masson was a French artist.-Biography:Masson was born in Balagny-sur-Thérain, Oise, but was brought up in Belgium. He began his study of art at the age of eleven in Brussels, at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts under the guidance of Constant Montald, and later he studied in Paris...
, Pierre Klossowski
Pierre Klossowski
Pierre Klossowski was a French writer, translator and artist. He was the eldest son of the artists Erich Klossowski and Baladine Klossowska, and his younger brother was the painter Balthus.-Life:...
, Roger Caillois
Roger Caillois
Roger Caillois was a French intellectual whose idiosyncratic work brought together literary criticism, sociology, and philosophy by focusing on subjects as diverse as games, play and the sacred...
, Jules Monnerot, Jean Rollin
Jean Rollin
Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his films in the fantastique genre such as the vampire film Le Viol du Vampire and the first French gore film Les Raisins de la Mort .-Early life:Jean Rollin was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine , France to...
and Jean Wahl
Jean Wahl
Jean André Wahl was a French philosopher.-Early career:He was professor at the Sorbonne from 1936 to 1967, broken by World War II. He was in the U.S...
.
Bataille drew from diverse influences and used diverse modes of discourse to create his work. His novel Story of the Eye (Histoire de l'oeil), published under the pseudonym Lord Auch (literally, Lord "to the shithouse" — "auch" being short for "aux chiottes," slang for telling somebody off by sending him to the toilet), was initially read as pure pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, while interpretation of the work has gradually matured to reveal the considerable philosophical and emotional depth that is characteristic of other writers who have been categorized within "literature of transgression
Transgressional fiction
Transgressive fiction is a genre of literature that focuses on characters who feel confined by the norms and expectations of society and who break free of those confines in unusual and/or illicit ways. Because they are rebelling against the basic norms of society, protagonists of transgressional...
". The imagery of the novel is built upon a series of metaphors which in turn refer to philosophical constructs developed in his work: the eye
Eye
Eyes are organs that detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptors in conscious vision connect light to movement...
, the egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
, the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, the earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, the testicle
Testicle
The testicle is the male gonad in animals. Like the ovaries to which they are homologous, testes are components of both the reproductive system and the endocrine system...
.
Other famous novels include the posthumously published My Mother (which would become the basis of Christophe Honoré
Christophe Honoré
Christophe Honoré is a French writer and film director born in Carhaix, Finistère in 1970.After moving to Paris in 1995, he wrote articles in "Les Cahiers du Cinéma." He started writing soon-after. His 1996 book Tout contre Léo talks about HIV and is aimed at young adults; he made it into a movie...
's film Ma mère), The Impossible and Blue of Noon
Blue of Noon
Blue of Noon is a transgressive novella of erotic fiction written in 1935, and its French author, Georges Bataille was a dedicated anti-fascist, as can be seen from the content of this particular work . Harry Matthews translated it into English in 1978...
. The latter, with its necrophilia
Necrophilia
Necrophilia, also called thanatophilia or necrolagnia, is the sexual attraction to corpses,It is classified as a paraphilia by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association. The word is artificially derived from the ancient Greek words: νεκρός and φιλία...
, politics, and autobiographical undertones, is a much darker treatment of contemporary historical reality.
During World War II, he wrote a Summa Atheologica (the title parallels Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
' Summa Theologica
Summa Theologica
The Summa Theologiæ is the best-known work of Thomas Aquinas , and although unfinished, "one of the classics of the history of philosophy and one of the most influential works of Western literature." It is intended as a manual for beginners in theology and a compendium of all of the main...
) which comprises his works "Inner Experience," "Guilty," and "On Nietzsche." After the war he composed his The Accursed Share
La Part maudite
La Part maudite is a book by Georges Bataille, written between 1946 and 1949, when it was published by Les Éditions de Minuit. It was translated into English and published in 1991 with the title The Accursed Share....
, and founded the influential journal Critique. His singular conception of "sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
" was discussed by Derrida, Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben
Giorgio Agamben is an Italian political philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception and homo sacer....
, Jean-Luc Nancy
Jean-Luc Nancy
Jean-Luc Nancy is a French philosopher.Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was Le titre de la lettre , a reading of the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, written in collaboration with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe...
and others.
Bataille's first marriage was to actress Silvia Maklès
Sylvia Bataille
Sylvia Bataille was a French actress, born Sylvia Maklès in Paris , of Romanian-Jewish descent. When she was twenty, she married the writer Georges Bataille with whom she had a daughter, the psychoanalyst Laurence Bataille . Georges Bataille and Sylvia separated in 1934 but did not divorce until...
, in 1928; they divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d in 1934, and she later married the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan
Jacques Lacan
Jacques Marie Émile Lacan was a French psychoanalyst and psychiatrist who made prominent contributions to psychoanalysis and philosophy, and has been called "the most controversial psycho-analyst since Freud". Giving yearly seminars in Paris from 1953 to 1981, Lacan influenced France's...
. Bataille also had an affair with Colette Peignot
Colette Peignot
Colette Peignot was a French author who is most known by the pseudonym Laure, but also wrote under the name Claude Araxe.She was profoundly affected by the deaths of her father, brothers and uncle during World War I...
, who died in 1938. In 1946 Bataille married Diane de Beauharnais, with whom he had a daughter.
In 1955 Bataille was diagnosed with cerebral arteriosclerosis, although he was not informed at the time of the terminal nature of his illness. He died seven years later, on 9 July 1962.
Base materialism
Bataille developed base materialism during the late 1920s and early 1930s as an attempt to break with mainstream materialismMaterialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
. Bataille argues for the concept of an active base matter that disrupts the opposition of high and low and destabilises all foundations. In a sense the concept is similar to Spinoza's neutral monism
Neutral monism
Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysical view that the mental and the physical are two ways of organizing or describing the same elements, which are themselves "neutral," that is, neither physical nor mental. This view denies that the mental and the physical are two fundamentally...
of a substance
Substance theory
Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its properties. A thing-in-itself is a property-bearer that must be distinguished from the properties it bears....
that encompasses both the dual substances of mind and matter posited by Descartes; however, it defies strict definition and remains in the realm of experience rather than rationalisation. Base materialism was a major influence on Derrida's deconstruction
Deconstruction
Deconstruction is a term introduced by French philosopher Jacques Derrida in his 1967 book Of Grammatology. Although he carefully avoided defining the term directly, he sought to apply Martin Heidegger's concept of Destruktion or Abbau, to textual reading...
, and both share the attempt to destabilise philosophical oppositions by means of an unstable "third term." Bataille's notion of Base Materialism may also be seen as anticipating Althusser's
Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
conception of aleatory materialism or "materialism of the encounter," which draws on similar atomist metaphors to sketch a world in which causality and actuality are abandoned in favor of limitless possibilities of action.
Other
- The Accursed ShareLa Part mauditeLa Part maudite is a book by Georges Bataille, written between 1946 and 1949, when it was published by Les Éditions de Minuit. It was translated into English and published in 1991 with the title The Accursed Share....
- Erotism
- Heterogeneous matter
- ImmanenceImmanenceImmanence refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing of the material world. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world...
- The Pineal Eye
- PotlatchPotlatchA potlatch is a gift-giving festival and primary economic system practiced by indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and United States. This includes Heiltsuk Nation, Haida, Nuxalk, Tlingit, Makah, Tsimshian, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka'wakw, and Coast Salish cultures...
- The Sacred
- Slow slicing
- The Solar AnusThe Solar AnusThe Solar Anus is a short Surrealist text written by the French writer and philosopher Georges Bataille, as well as the name of a performance art piece by Ron Athey....
- TransgressionTabooA taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
Primary literature
Complete worksGeorges Bataille, Œuvres complètes (Paris: Gallimard)
- Volume 1: Premiers écrits, 1922–1940: Histoire de l'œil - L'Anus solaire - Sacrifices - Articles.
- Volume 2: Écrits posthumes, 1922–1940
- Volume 3: Œuvres littéraires: Madame Edwarda - Le Petit - L'Archangélique - L'Impossible - La Scissiparité - L'Abbé C. - L'être différencié n'est rien - Le Bleu du ciel.
- Volume 4: Œuvres littéraires posthumes: Poèmes - Le Mort - Julie - La Maison brûlée - La Tombe de Louis XXX - Divinus Deus - Ébauches.
- Volume 5: La Somme athéologique I: L'Expérience intérieure - Méthode de méditation - Post-scriptum 1953 - Le Coupable - L'Alleluiah.
- Volume 6: La Somme athéologique II: Sur Nietzsche - Mémorandum - Annexes.
- Volume 7: L'économie à la mesure de l'univers - La Part maudite - La limite de l'utile (Fragments) - Théorie de la Religion - Conférences 1947-1948 - Annexes.
- Volume 8: L'Histoire de l'érotisme - Le surréalisme au jour le jour - Conférences 1951-1953 - La Souveraineté - Annexes.
- Volume 9: Lascaux, ou La naissance de l’art - Manet - La littérature et le mal - Annexes
- Volume 10: L’érotisme - Le procès de Gilles de Rais - Les larmes d’Eros
- Volume 11: Articles I, 1944–1949
- Volume 12: Articles II, 1950–1961
- Georges Bataille: Une liberté souveraine: Textes et entretiens, 2004. (Articles, Book Reviews and Interviews not included in Oeuvres Complètes, Michel Surya Ed.)
Works published in French:
- Histoire de l'oeilHistoire de l'oeilStory of the Eye is a novella written by Georges Bataille and published in 1928 that details the increasingly bizarre sexual perversions of a pair of teenage lovers...
, 1928. (Story of the Eye) (under pseudonym of Lord Auch) - L'Anus solaire, 1931. (The Solar Anus)
- The Notion of Expenditure, 1933.
- L'Amité, 1940 (Friendship) (under pseudonym of Dianus - Early version of Part One of Le Coupable)
- Madame Edwarda, 1941. (under pseudonym of Pierre Angélique - Fictitiously dated 1937; 2nd Edition - 1945; 3rd Edition - 1956 published with preface in Bataille's name)
- Le Petit, 1943. (under pseudonym of Louis Trente; fictitious publication date of 1934)
- L'expérience intérieureL'expérience intérieureL'expérience intérieure is a book by Georges Bataille first published by Gallimard in 1943 then reedited as part of the fifth volume of Bataille's complete works in 1954....
, 1943. (Inner Experience) - L'Archangélique, 1944. (The Archangelical)
- Le Coupable, 1944. (Guilty)
- Sur Nietzsche, 1945. (On Nietzsche)
- DirtyDirtyDirty is the seventh album by the American alternative rock group Sonic Youth, originally released on July 21, 1992 by DGC Records. It was deemed best album of 1992 by Entertainment Weekly.-Recording:...
, 1945. - L'Orestie, 1945. (The Oresteia)
- Histoire de rats, 1947. (A Story of Rats)
- L'Alleluiah, 1947. (Alleluia: The Catechism of Dianus)
- Méthode de méditation, 1947. (Method of Meditation)
- La Haine de la Poésie, 1947. (The Hatred of Poetry - reissued in 1962 as The Impossible)
- La Scissiparité, 1949. (The Scission)
- La Part mauditeLa Part mauditeLa Part maudite is a book by Georges Bataille, written between 1946 and 1949, when it was published by Les Éditions de Minuit. It was translated into English and published in 1991 with the title The Accursed Share....
, 1949. (The Accursed Share) - L'Abbe CL'Abbe CL'Abbé C was Georges Bataille's first published novella. It is a work of dark eroticism, centred on the relationship between two twentieth century brothers in a small French village, one of whom is a Catholic parish priest, while the other is a libertine....
, 1950. - L'expérience intérieureL'expérience intérieureL'expérience intérieure is a book by Georges Bataille first published by Gallimard in 1943 then reedited as part of the fifth volume of Bataille's complete works in 1954....
, 1954 (second edition of Inner Experience, followed by Method of Meditation and Post-scriptum 1953) - L'Être indifférence n'est rien, 1954. (Undifferentiated Being is Nothing)
- Lascaux, ou la Naissance de l'Art, 1955.
- ManetManet-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....
, 1955. - Le Bleu du ciel, 1957 (Written 1935-36) (Blue of Noon)
- La littérature et le Mal, 1957. (Literature and Evil)
- L'Erotisme, 1957. (Erotism)
- Le Coupable, 1961. (Guilty, second, revised edition, followed by Alleluia: The Catechism of Dianus)
- Les larmes d'Éros, 1961. (The Tears of Eros)
- L'Impossible : Histoire de rats suivi de Dianus et de L'Orestie, 1962. (The Impossible)
Posthumous works:
- Ma MéreMa mèreMy Mother is a French-Austrian-Portuguese-Spanish 2004 movie about the fictional story of an incestuous relationship between a 17-year-old boy and his attractive, promiscuous, 43-year-old mother. The movie stars Isabelle Hupert, Louis Garrel, Emma de Caunes, Joana Preiss, Philipe Duclos and...
, 1966 (My Mother) - Le Mort, 1967 (The Dead Man)
- Théorie de la Religion, 1973. (Theory of Religion)
Translated works:
- Lascaux; or, the Birth of Art, the Prehistoric Paintings, Austryn Wainhouse, 1955, Lausanne: Skira.
- ManetManet-MANET as an abbreviation:*MANET is a mobile ad hoc network, a self-configuring mobile wireless network.*MANET database or Molecular Ancestry Network, bioinformatics database-People with the surname Manet:*Édouard Manet, a 19th-century French painter....
, Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons, 1955, Editions d'Art Albert Skira. - Literature and Evil, Alastair Hamilton, 1973, Calder & Boyars Ltd.
- Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939, Allan Stoekl, Carl R. Lovitt, and Donald M. Leslie, Jr., 1985, University of Minnesota Press.
- Erotism: Death and Sensuality, Mary Dalwood, 1986, City Lights Books.
- Story of the Eye, Joachim NeugroschelJoachim NeugroschelJoachim Neugroschel was a well known literary translator from French, German, Italian, Russian, and Yiddish, and also to German. He also published poetry and was a poetry magazine founder.- Biography :...
, 1987, City Lights Books. - The Accursed Share: An Essay On General Economy. Volume I: ConsumptionLa Part mauditeLa Part maudite is a book by Georges Bataille, written between 1946 and 1949, when it was published by Les Éditions de Minuit. It was translated into English and published in 1991 with the title The Accursed Share....
, Robert Hurley, 1988, Zone Books. - The College of Sociology, 1937–39 (Bataille et al.), Betsy Wing, 1988, University of Minnesota Press.
- Guilty, Bruce Boone, 1988, The Lapis Press.
- Inner Experience, Leslie Anne Boldt, 1988, State University of New York.
- My Mother, Madame Edwarda, The Dead Man, Austryn Wainhouse, with essays by Yukio Mishima and Ken Hollings, 1989, Marion Boyars PublishersMarion Boyars PublishersMarion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences.-External links:*...
. - The Tears of Eros, Peter Connor, 1989, City Lights Books.
- Theory of Religion, Robert Hurley, 1989, Zone Books.
- The Accursed Share: Volumes II and III, Robert Hurley, 1991, Zone Books.
- The Impossible, Robert Hurley, 1991, City Lights Books.
- The Trial of Gilles de Rais, Richard Robinson, 1991, Amok Press.
- On Nietzsche, Bruce Boone, 1992, Paragon House.
- The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, Michael Richardson, 1994, Verso.
- Encyclopaedia Acephalica (Bataille et al.), Iain White et al., 1995, Atlas Press.
- L'Abbe CL'Abbe CL'Abbé C was Georges Bataille's first published novella. It is a work of dark eroticism, centred on the relationship between two twentieth century brothers in a small French village, one of whom is a Catholic parish priest, while the other is a libertine....
, Philip A Facey, 2001, Marion Boyars Publishers. - Blue of Noon, Harry Matthews, 2002, Marion Boyars Publishers.
- The Unfinished System of Nonknowledge, Stuart Kendall and Michelle Kendall, 2004, University of Minnesota PressUniversity of Minnesota PressThe University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota.Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its books in social and cultural thought, critical theory, race and ethnic studies, urbanism, feminist criticism, and media...
. - The Cradle of Humanity: Prehistoric Art and Culture, Stuart Kendall, Michelle Kendall, 2009, Zone Books.
- Divine Filth: Lost Scatology and Erotica, Mark Spitzer, 2009, Solar Books.
Secondary literature
- Ades, Dawn, and Simon Baker, Undercover Surrealism: Georges Bataille and Documents. (Cambridge: The MIT PressMIT PressThe MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts .-History:...
, 2006). - Barthes, RolandRoland BarthesRoland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
. "The Metaphor of the Eye". In Critical Essays. Trans. Richard HowardRichard HowardRichard Howard is an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and is a graduate of Columbia University, where he studied under Mark Van Doren, and where he now teaches...
. (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1972). 239-248. - Blanchot, MauriceMaurice BlanchotMaurice Blanchot was a French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist. His work had a strong influence on post-structuralist philosophers such as Jacques Derrida.-Works:...
. "The Limit-Experience". In The Infinite Conversation. Trans. Susan Hanson. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993). 202-229. - Blanchot, MauriceMaurice BlanchotMaurice Blanchot was a French writer, philosopher, and literary theorist. His work had a strong influence on post-structuralist philosophers such as Jacques Derrida.-Works:...
. The Unavowable Community. Trans. Pierre Joris. (Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press, 1988). - Boldt-Irons, Leslie Anne (ed.), On Bataille: Critical Essays (Albany: SUNY Press, 1995).
- Bourgon, Jérome, Bataille et le supplicié Chinois: erreurs sur la personne, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Campillo, Antonio, Contra la Economía. Ensayos sobre Bataille (Granada: Comares, 2001).
- Connor, Peter, Georges Bataille and the Mysticism of Sin (Johns Hopkins University PressJohns Hopkins University PressThe Johns Hopkins University Press is the publishing division of the Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The Press publishes books, journals, and electronic databases...
, 2000). - Derrida, JacquesJacques DerridaJacques Derrida was a French philosopher, born in French Algeria. He developed the critical theory known as deconstruction and his work has been labeled as post-structuralism and associated with postmodern philosophy...
, "From Restricted to General Economy: A Hegelianism without Reserve," in Writing and Difference (London: Routledge, 1978). - Dick, Marcus: Die Dialektik der Souveränität. Philosophische Untersuchungen zu Georges Bataille (Hildesheim/Zürich/New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 2010)
- Ferri, Laurent, and Gauthier, Christophe [eds.], L'Histoire-Bataille: l'Ecriture de l'histoire dans l'oeuvre de Georges Bataille, Geneva: Droz, 2006.
- Foucault, MichelMichel FoucaultMichel Foucault , born Paul-Michel Foucault , was a French philosopher, social theorist and historian of ideas...
. "A Preface to Transgression". Trans. Donald F. Bouchard and Sherry Simon. In Aesthetics, Method and Epistemology: Essential Works of Foucault, 1954-1984. Ed. James D. Faubion. (New York: New Press, 1998). 103-122. - Gill, Carolyn, Bataille: Writing the Sacred, (London: Routledge, 1995).
- French, Patrick, The Cut (Oxford: Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1999). - Gemerchak, Christopher, The Sunday of the Negative: Reading Bataille Reading Hegel (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003).
- Heinämäki, Elisa, Tyhjä taivas: Georges Bataille ja uskonnon kysymys (Helsinki, Tutkijaliitto, 2008) (Kirjastoluokitus: uskonnonfilosofia, 21).
- Hill, Leslie, "Bataille, Klossowski, Blanchot: Writing At The Limit" (Oxford University Press, 2001).
- Hollier, Denis, Against Architecture: The Writings of Georges Bataille (MIT Press, 1992).
- Hollier, Denis, dir.,Georges Bataille après tout, Belin, Paris, 1995.
- Hussey, AndrewAndrew HusseyAndrew Hussey OBE is a cultural historian and biographer, born in Liverpool, England. He lectured in French at the University of Huddersfield in the mid to late 1990s. He was a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Wales Aberystwyth and since 2006 he has been the Head of French and...
, Inner Scar: The Mysicism of Georges Bataille (Amsterdam: Rudopi, 2000). - Kendall, Stuart, Georges Bataille (London, Reaktion Books, 2007).
- Land, Nick, The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (an essay on atheistic religion) (London: Routledge, 1992).
- Merritt, Naomi, ‘Cannibalistic Capitalism and other American Delicacies: A Bataillean Taste of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’, Film-Philosophy, (Vol 14, No 1, 2010, http://www.film-philosophy.com/index.php/f-p/article/view/190 )
- Mitchell, Andrew, and Winfree, Jason, ed. The Obsessions of Georges Bataille: Community and Communication. (Albany: SUNY 2009).
- Nancy, Jean-LucJean-Luc NancyJean-Luc Nancy is a French philosopher.Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was Le titre de la lettre , a reading of the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, written in collaboration with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe...
, The Inoperative Community (Minneapolis & Oxford: University of Minnesota PressUniversity of Minnesota PressThe University of Minnesota Press is a university press that is part of the University of Minnesota.Founded in 1925, the University of Minnesota Press is best known for its books in social and cultural thought, critical theory, race and ethnic studies, urbanism, feminist criticism, and media...
, 1991). - Nechvatal, JosephJoseph NechvatalJoseph Nechvatal is a post-conceptual art digital artist and art theoretician who creates computer-assisted paintings and computer animations, often using custom-created computer viruses.-Life and work:Joseph Nechvatal was born in Chicago...
, Immersive Excess in the Apse of LascauxLascauxLascaux is the setting of a complex of caves in southwestern France famous for its Paleolithic cave paintings. The original caves are located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be...
, Technonoetic Arts 3, no3. 2005 - Noys, Benjamin, Georges Bataille: a critical introduction (London: Pluto, 2000).
- Pefanis, Julian, Heterology and the Postmodern : Bataille, Baudrillard and Lyotard, London, Duke University Press, 1991.
- Perniola, MarioMario PerniolaMario Perniola is an internationally acclaimed Italian philosopher, professor of Aesthetics and author. Many of his works have been published in English.-Biography:...
, L'instant éternel. Bataille et la pensée de la marginalité, translated by François Pelletier, preface to the French edition by the author, Paris, Méridien/Anthropos, 1981, ISBN 2-86563-024-2. - Richardson, Michael, Georges Bataille (London: Routledge, 1994).
- Roudinesco, ElisabethElisabeth RoudinescoÉlisabeth Roudinesco is a French academic historian and psychoanalyst. She is an independent guest researcher at University of Paris VII – Denis Diderot...
, Jacques Lacan & Co.: a history of psychoanalysis in France, 1925-1985, 1990, Chicago,Chicago University Press - Roudinesco, Elisabeth, Jacques Lacan, Outline of a Life, History of a System of Thought, 1999, New York, Columbia University Press.
- Roudinesco, Elisabeth, Our Dark Side, A History of Perversion, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2009.
- Sollers, PhilippePhilippe SollersPhilippe Sollers is a French writer and critic. In 1960 he founded the avant garde journal Tel Quel , published by Seuil, which ran until 1982...
, Writing and the Experience of Limits (Columbia University PressColumbia University PressColumbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by James D. Jordan and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fields of literary and cultural studies, history, social work, sociology,...
, 1982). - Santi, Sylvain, Georges Bataille, а l’extrémité fuyante de la poêsie (Amsterdam/New York, 2007) (Faux Titre, 303).
- Sontag, Susan. "The Pornographic Imagination." Styles of Radical Will. (Picador, 1967).
- Sørensen, Asger. "The Inner Experience of Living Matter: Bataille and Dialectics", Philosophy & Social Criticism , vol. 33, no. 5, 2007.
- Stoekl, Allan (ed.), On Bataille: Yale French Studies 78 (1990). Includes: Bataille, "Hegel, Death and Sacrifice"; Bataille, "Letter to René CharRené CharRené Char was a 20th century French poet.-Biography:Char was born in L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue in the Vaucluse department of France, the youngest of four children of Emile Char and Marie-Therese Rouget, where his father was mayor and managing director of the Vaucluse plasterworks...
on the Incompatibilities of the Writer"; Jean-Luc NancyJean-Luc NancyJean-Luc Nancy is a French philosopher.Nancy's first book, published in 1973, was Le titre de la lettre , a reading of the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan, written in collaboration with Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe...
, "Exscription"; Rebecca Comay, "Gifts without Presents: Economies of 'Experience' in Bataille and Heidegger"; Jean-Joseph Goux, "General Economics and Postmodern Capitalism." - Surya, Michel, Georges Bataille: an intellectual biography, trans. by Krzysztof Fijalkowski and Michael Richardson (London: Verso, 2002).
External links
- Kirjasto, sf, Overview of Bataille
- Popsubculture, Bio Project, George Bataille biography
- SOFT TARGETS Journal, Bataille's Apocalypse
- University of Wolverhampton, Extract from Bataille's Eroticism
- IMDb entry for Ma mère
- Hayward Gallery's 'Undercover Surrealism' site
- New Statesman, Bataille's exhibition
- Bataille Dutch
- Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology, and the Arts. Geoffrey Roche, "Bataille on Sade"
- Revue Silène, From Heterogeneity to the Sacred
- Video Interview of Bataille on Dailymotion.com French
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Jérome Bourgon's Bataille essay
- Out of line theatre's devised theatre creation based upon Bataille's "The Dead Man"