Description
Book SynopsisThe work of Georges Bataille (1897-1962) has often been reduced to his outrageous, erotic, and libertine fiction and essays. This book presents contemporary interpretations that situate Bataille in French and European intellectual traditions, and brings forward key concepts to understand the challenges posed by his important work and philosophy.
Trade Review"Winnubst (Southwestern Univ.) has assembled a fine collection of 12 essays by a range of scholars in the humanities who have managed to bring important and new perspectives to the work of the French philosopher and writer Georges Bataille.... This is an important collection of essays, and one usefully compared to others such as L. A. Boldt-Irons's On Bataille (1995). This book will have massive appeal for scholars and students in the humanities, especially philosophy and literature, but also for those in the social sciences, including political theory.... Highly recommended." —Choice
Table of ContentsContents
Foreword: Why Bataille Now? Alphonso Lingis
Introduction Shannon Winnubst
Part 1. Situating Bataille
1. Dare to Know, Dare to Sacrifice: Georges Bataille and the Crisis of the Left Jesse Goldhammer
2. Sovereign Consumption as a Species of Communist Theory: Reconceptualizing Energy Amy E. Wendling
3. The Use Value of G.A.M.V. Bataille Pierre Lamarche
Part 2. Pleasures and the Myth of Transgression
4. Bataille's Queer Pleasures: The Universe as Spider or Spit Shannon Winnubst
5. Erotic Experience and Sexual Difference in Bataille Zeynep Direk
6. Malvolio's Revenge Alison Leigh Brown
Part 3. Bodies and Animality
7. The Private Life of Birds: From a Restrictive to a General Economy of Reason Ladelle McWhorter
8. S/laughter and Anima-lethe Lucio Angelo Privitello
9. Bodies at Play: A General Economy of Performance Dorothy Holland
Part 4. Sovereign Politics
10. The Accursed Share and The Merchant of Venice Andrew Cutrofello
11. Politics and the Thing: Excess as the Matter of Politics Richard A. Lee Jr.
12. Excess and Depletion: Bataille's Surprisingly Ethical Model of Expenditure Allan Stoekl
List of Contributors
Index
