Georges Bataille

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Georges Bataille (French pronunciation: [ʒɔʀʒ baˈtaj]) (September 10, 1897 – July 8, 1962) was a French writer. Although subsequent philosophers have been significantly influenced by his thought, Bataille tended not to refer to himself as a philosopher.

Life and work

Bataille was born in Billom, Puy-de-Dôme. He initially considered priesthood 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 pseudonyms, 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 Tel Quel journal. His influence is felt in the work of Jean Baudrillard, as well as in the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan.

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 in France between World War I and World War II. The College of Sociology also included several 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.^[1]

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 Ma mère, a French movie written and directed by Christophe Honoré), The Impossible and Blue of Noon. The latter, with its necrophilic, political, 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 Jacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben, Jean-Luc Nancy and others.

Bataille's first marriage was to actress Silvia Maklès, in 1928; they divorced 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.^[2] He died seven years later, on July 8, 1962.

Key concepts

Base materialism

Bataille developed base materialism during the late 1920s and early 1930s as an attempt to break with mainstream materialism. 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.

Other

• The Accursed Share
• Erotism
• Heterogeneous matter
• Immanence
• The Pineal Eye
• Potlatch
• The Sacred
• Slow slicing
• The Solar Anus
• Transgression

Bibliography

Primary literature

Complete works

Georges 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'oeil, 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)^[3]
• Le Petit, 1943. (under pseudonym of Louis Trente; fictitious publication date of 1934)
• L'expérience intérieure, 1943. (Inner Experience)
• L'Archangélique, 1944. (The Archangelical)
• Le Coupable, 1944. (Guilty)
• Sur Nietzsche, 1945. (On Nietzsche)
• Dirty, 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 maudite, 1949. (The Accursed Share)
• L'Abbe C, 1950.
• L'expérience intérieure, 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.
• Manet, 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 Mére, 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.
• Manet, 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 Neugroschel, 1987, City Lights Books.
• The Accursed Share: An Essay On General Economy. Volume I: Consumption, 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 Publishers.
• 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 C, 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 Press.
• 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 Press, 2006).
• 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 (French)
• Campillo, Antonio, Contra la Economía. Ensayos sobre Bataille (Granada: Comares, 2001).
• Connor, Peter, Georges Bataille and the Mysticism of Sin (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).
• Derrida, Jacques, "From Restricted to General Economy: A Hegelianism without Reserve," in Writing and Difference (London: Routledge, 1978).
• Ferri, Laurent, and Gauthier, Christophe [eds.], L'Histoire-Bataille: l'Ecriture de l'histoire dans l'oeuvre de Georges Bataille, Geneva: Droz, 2006.
• Gill, Carolyn, Bataille: Writing the Sacred, (London: Routledge, 1995).
• French, Patrick, The Cut (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
• Gemerchak, Christopher, The Sunday of the Negative: Reading Bataille Reading Hegel (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003).
• 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).
• Hussey, Andrew, Inner Scar: The Mysicism of Georges Bataille (Amsterdam: Rudopi, 2000).
• Land, Nick, The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (an essay on atheistic religion) (London: Routledge, 1992).
• Nancy, Jean-Luc, The Inoperative Community (Minneapolis & Oxford: University of Minnesota Press, 1991).
• Joseph Nechvatal, Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux, Technonoetic Arts 3, no3. 2005
• Noys, Benjamin, Georges Bataille: a critical introduction (London: Pluto, 2000).
• Perniola, Mario, L'instant étérnel. 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).
• Sollers, Philippe, Writing and the Experience of Limits (Columbia University Press, 1982).
• Stoekl, Allan (ed.), On Bataille: Yale French Studies 78 (1990). Includes: Bataille, "Hegel, Death and Sacrifice"; Bataille, "Letter to René Char on the Incompatibilities of the Writer"; Jean-Luc Nancy, "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).

References

1. ^ Bataille, Georges. "Nietzsche and Fascists", in the January 1937 issue of Acéphale
2. ^ Surya, Michel. Georges Bataille: An Intellectual Biography, p.474.
3. ^ Oeuvres Completes III, pg. 491

External links

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• S A U N A L A H T I › Säästöä joka minuutti, Overview of Bataille
• Biography Project, George Bataille biography
• Supervert, Georges Bataille Electronic Library
• 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 feature on 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