Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-1939 Volume 14
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Book Overview
Since the publication of Visions of Excess in 1985, there has been an explosion of interest in the work of Georges Bataille. The French surrealist continues to be important for his groundbreaking focus on the visceral, the erotic, and the relation of society to the primeval. This collection of prewar writings remains the volume in which Batailles's positions are most clearly, forcefully, and obsessively put forward.This book challenges the notion of a "closed economy" predicated on utility, production, and rational consumption, and develops an alternative theory that takes into account the human tendency to lose, destroy, and waste. This collection is indispensible for an understanding of the future as well as the past of current critical theory.Georges Bataille (1897-1962), a librarian by profession, was founder of the French review Critique. He is the author of several books, including Story of the Eye, The Accused Share, Erotism, and The Absence of Myth.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:B0092JBZT0
ISBN13:9780816612833
Release Date:June 1985
Publisher:University of Minnesota Press
Length:304 Pages
Weight:0.94 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
reductionism in a more poetic form
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
in reponse to stevie, i'd say that andre breton has left us infinitely more to 'go on' than the far too reductionist bataille. unlike bataille, breton was not living in the shadow of his idols (bataille:sade) but trying to generate something new. bataille's assessment of nietzsche and the surrealists as romantic icaruses also seems a self assessment; bataille could never rise above his 'need to go below'. he was guilty of precisely the same things he accused the surrealists of.
Brilliant
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 26 years ago
Im so impresed with this mans work I am obsessed. He is a rare breed of intelligence. He has a piece in this called 'Mouth" which refers tothe position our heads take well being thrown back in a scream as that of an extension to our spines, inother words that we assume an animal architecture to our bones in the most extreme pains. Batailles constant opinions detailed here in wonderful totaly controlled short pieces , is for me, the only truly awful reading I have ever done. A music piece I often play also has this effect. It is genuis to have the power of horror in works not involving the 'supernatural". I am in awe of this odd,dead man.
Disturbing and beautiful!
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 27 years ago
Bataille was French surrealist who wrote like an alien trapped on a hostile planet. In searing essays like "the Solar Anus," he almost convinces you that the end is not just near, but here. Disturbing and beautiful, this book is highly recommended.
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