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Georges Bataille
Georges Bataille was arguably the greatest influence on the poststructuralist revolution in twentieth-century thought and literature, yet few truly understand his work and legacy. Stuart Kendall now translates the work and life of this renowned French writer, anthropologist, and philosopher into a concise yet informative biography that reveals fascinating facets of this intellectual giant.
Until his death in 1962, Bataille was an instrumental force in philosophical debate, acting as a foil for both Surrealism and Existentialism and advocating radical views that spanned the entire spectrum of political thought. Georges Bataille chronicles these aspects of his intellectual development, as well as tracing out his pivotal role in the creation of the College of Sociology and how his writings in aesthetics and art history laid the groundwork for visual culture studies. Kendall positions Bataille at the heart of a prodigous community of thinkers, including André Breton, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jacques Lacan.
A compelling account, Georges Bataille will be invaluable for all thinkers who have benefited from Bataille’s lasting contributions.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 18, 2023
3.5
A life spent in pursuit of pure experience; everything oriented towards a flight from the discursive. Therefore, every word, every book, every thought was rendered in this spinebreaking pursuit of thought's ruination. Bataille, a man torn between a hankering for purity and his faith's inability to satiate his person's violent longing. Bataille, a man after my own heart.
A life spent in pursuit of pure experience; everything oriented towards a flight from the discursive. Therefore, every word, every book, every thought was rendered in this spinebreaking pursuit of thought's ruination. Bataille, a man torn between a hankering for purity and his faith's inability to satiate his person's violent longing. Bataille, a man after my own heart.
September 8, 2007
Excellent little biography by Stuart Kendall on one of the more 'interesting' writers of the 20th Century. Georges Bataille is basically a 'thinker' who is obsessed with the nature of violence, sex, and rituals. This mild bookworm is no stranger to the thrills of orgies and secret meetings in the French forest.
An extra notice should go to the press itself. Reaktion Books has been putting out amazing titles through out the last two years. Mostly cultural subjects leaning towards the avant-garde. They have an imprint called 'Critical Lives" that focuses on individuals who really made the difference. So far in the series there have been books on Jean Genet, Guy Debord, Marcel Duchamp, and Michel Foucault. I am looking forward to the Erik Satie book.
An extra notice should go to the press itself. Reaktion Books has been putting out amazing titles through out the last two years. Mostly cultural subjects leaning towards the avant-garde. They have an imprint called 'Critical Lives" that focuses on individuals who really made the difference. So far in the series there have been books on Jean Genet, Guy Debord, Marcel Duchamp, and Michel Foucault. I am looking forward to the Erik Satie book.
July 25, 2015
Despite the brevity of this critical biography, Kendall captures the major shifts and trends in Bataille’s thought with a familiarity that makes this a swift and informative read. Writing a biography on Bataille is a challenge in itself since his thought is amorphous in that it communicates through different avenues of thinking at different times, challenging what it encounters, whether it is Surrealism or Existentialism, yet remains a consistent theoretical body of work. Each chapter integrates events with writings revealing the inception of such original ideas like that of sovereignty and unemployed negativity. After the last page, we find a man who was neither a philosopher nor professional, but a provocative thinker who left a massive collection of essays, poems, and books that deal with philosophy and psychoanalysis. Kendall's biography of Bataille is essential for any inquiry into his life.
May 1, 2015
This is a great book. This is a great biography of Bataille. A ton of information about what books he was reading when, and who he was influenced by and what he was doing when and with whom. No other book besides the classic Surya title (translated as Georges Bataille: an Intellectual Portrait) comes close to the level of detail and incidental material in Bataille's life.
I have read a LOT about Bataille and each page there were numerous details I did not know about. An outstanding book on Bataille that is very readable and a pefect next step for anyone who has read a bit about him or finished the usual entrance into Bataille's work, Story of the Eye.
I have read a LOT about Bataille and each page there were numerous details I did not know about. An outstanding book on Bataille that is very readable and a pefect next step for anyone who has read a bit about him or finished the usual entrance into Bataille's work, Story of the Eye.
February 24, 2025
Really great introduction to a real, real weird guy. I got into Bataille because I was curious about his theory of religion & the accursed share, but wanted to understand him and the reasons he had his theories of religion. This book did not disappoint as an interesting and critical introduction.
It is interesting that Bataille, obsessed with pure experience and transgression, did and wrote about all sorts of things I’d never do, but he lived through both World Wars. It’s so interesting to me that someone fascinated with the occult and the horrific margins of human experience lived at the same time as both world wars. Even with all his debautched, secret meetings in the forests, and so on he lived an infinitely more virtuous life than so many of his time with their devotion to God and order and civility.
It is interesting that Bataille, obsessed with pure experience and transgression, did and wrote about all sorts of things I’d never do, but he lived through both World Wars. It’s so interesting to me that someone fascinated with the occult and the horrific margins of human experience lived at the same time as both world wars. Even with all his debautched, secret meetings in the forests, and so on he lived an infinitely more virtuous life than so many of his time with their devotion to God and order and civility.
May 13, 2019
This biography covers the most important events of Bataille's life, but hardly scratches the surface in the end. Some interpretations of Bataille's thought are ungrounded in anything but biography, which is unhelpful because it is misleading. Bataille was no mere mystic nor was he a proponent of a simple-minded phenomenological/anthropological humanism. After all, 'Inner Experience' by Bataille flatly criticizes mysticism and constantly tries to push beyond inner experience as a mode of representation and dishonest knowledge. What good content there is seems scattered and is all-too condensed.
December 31, 2019
Supposedly there are a few historical errors in the text (surrounding the specific details of certain complex political events), but aside from that this text is a brilliant introduction to both Bataille's life and thought.
As beautifully repulsive as the man himself.
As beautifully repulsive as the man himself.
June 10, 2008
It has to be said that a thorough appreciation for the diversity and depth of Bataille's thought (not to mention his tremendous agility as a writer) can only be gleaned from Bataille's own texts and I shouldn't like to recommend any secondary source as an introduction to this rather eminent figure. Stuart Kendall's biography does however offer a lucid and comprehensive setting for Bataille's work. His intellectual history of France in the 20's and 30's is basic, but usually on point and usually arranged neatly around the political crises of the times.
For a more complex study of the contradictions and difficulties of Bataille's character and a fascinating methodological experiment in biography (one greatly indebted to its subject), one should consult Michel Surya's work, "Georges Bataille, an intellectual biography." But Kendall's much more digestible volume does a fine job of situating Bataille amidst the intellectual circles of twentieth century France: the relationships he formed, the journal's he worked for, the semi-religious cults he founded etc... All it lacks, in this respect, is a chapter on Bataille's posthumous influence, particularly through the writers associated with the Tel Quel journal. And what is more, Kendall has a keen eye for how Bataille used these projects to bounce his ideas around, perform his research, and eventually publish his books.
A number of Kendall's discussions of the works are excellent, particularly regarding "L'Histoire de l'Oeil" and some of the early essays. The book perhaps falls short at the outbreak of WWII, the epoch where, for many readers, Bataille's oeuvre reaches a climax of poignancy. The fact that Bataille developed such a limpid and scientific style in later works such as "La part maudite" and "L'Erotisme" while continuing to publish some of the decades most elusive works of literature ("L'Expérience Intérieur" and "Le Coupable") remains, for me, one of the great curiosities of his career and it was therefore a shame to see Kendall's attention wain while describing during the latter half of his life.
While not recommending this book as an introduction to Bataille, it could serve as a useful companion piece, probably the best I've read for that matter. I would suggest that an anglophone reader new to Bataille read this volume in conjunction with Allan Stoekl's collection of writings, "Visions of Excess."
For a more complex study of the contradictions and difficulties of Bataille's character and a fascinating methodological experiment in biography (one greatly indebted to its subject), one should consult Michel Surya's work, "Georges Bataille, an intellectual biography." But Kendall's much more digestible volume does a fine job of situating Bataille amidst the intellectual circles of twentieth century France: the relationships he formed, the journal's he worked for, the semi-religious cults he founded etc... All it lacks, in this respect, is a chapter on Bataille's posthumous influence, particularly through the writers associated with the Tel Quel journal. And what is more, Kendall has a keen eye for how Bataille used these projects to bounce his ideas around, perform his research, and eventually publish his books.
A number of Kendall's discussions of the works are excellent, particularly regarding "L'Histoire de l'Oeil" and some of the early essays. The book perhaps falls short at the outbreak of WWII, the epoch where, for many readers, Bataille's oeuvre reaches a climax of poignancy. The fact that Bataille developed such a limpid and scientific style in later works such as "La part maudite" and "L'Erotisme" while continuing to publish some of the decades most elusive works of literature ("L'Expérience Intérieur" and "Le Coupable") remains, for me, one of the great curiosities of his career and it was therefore a shame to see Kendall's attention wain while describing during the latter half of his life.
While not recommending this book as an introduction to Bataille, it could serve as a useful companion piece, probably the best I've read for that matter. I would suggest that an anglophone reader new to Bataille read this volume in conjunction with Allan Stoekl's collection of writings, "Visions of Excess."
February 14, 2016
small gem
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews