Georges Bataille

Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (1897–1962) was a French intellectual and literary figure working in literature, anthropology, philosophy, economy, sociology and history of art. Eroticism, sovereignty, and transgression are at the core of his writings. He edited Documents, Acéphale and Critique magazines.

Works

(in French unless noted)

Edited volumes

• Documents: doctrines, archéologie, beaux-arts, ethnographie, 15 issues, Paris, 1929-31.
• Acéphale: religion, sociologie, philosophie, 4 issues, Paris, 1936-39.

Monographs

• La Part maudite, Minuit, 1949; new ed., 1967.
  • The Accursed Share: An Essay On General Economy, 2 vols., trans. Robert Hurley, Zone Books, 1988 & 1991, 197 + 460 pp. (English)

• Manet. Études biographique et critique, Genève: Skira, 1955.
  • Manet: Biographical and Critical Study, trans. Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons, Genève: Skira, 1955, 135 pp. (English)

• L'Erotisme, Minuit, 1957.
  • El erotismo, trans. María Luisa Bastos, 1960. (Spanish)
  • Death and Sensuality. A Study of Eroticism and the Taboo, trans. Mary Dalwood, New York: Walker and Company, 1962; repr. as Erotism: Death and Sensuality, San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1986, 280 pp. (English)
  • L’erotismo, trans. Adriana dell’Orto, 1962. (Italian)
  • O erotismo, trans. Antonio Carlos Viana, 1987. (Portuguese)

Collected writings

• Œuvres complètes, 12 vols., Paris: Gallimard, 1970-88.
• October 36: "George Bataille. Writings on Laughter, Sacrifice, Nietzsche, Un-Knowing", trans. Annette Michelson, New York: MIT Press, Spring 1986, 154 pp. With texts by Rosalind Krauss, Annette Michelson, and Allen S. Weiss. (English)
• Bataille, Leiris, Griaule, Einstein, Desnos, et al., Encyclopædia Acephalica, ed. & intro. Alastair Brotchie, trans. Iain White, et al., London: Atlas Press, 1995, 176 pp. (English)
• The Bataille Reader, ed. Fred Botting and Scott Wilson, Wiley, 1997, 368 pp. (English)
• Une liberté souveraine: Textes et entretiens, ed. Michel Surya, 2004.
• Undercover Surrealism: Georges Bataille and DOCUMENTS, eds. Dawn Ades and Simon Baker, London: Hayward Gallery, and MIT Press, 2006, 272 pp.

Literature

• Semiotext(e) 2(2): "Bataille", ed. Sylvère Lotringer, New York: Semiotext(e), 1976. (English)
• Denis Hollier, La prise de la Concorde, Paris: Gallimard, 1974.
  • Against Architecture: The Writings of Georges Bataille, trans. Betsy Wing, MIT Press, 1989. (English)
• Benjamin Noys, Georges Bataille: A Critical Introduction, Pluto Press, 2000. (English)

Documentary

• Georges Bataille - À perte de vue, dir. André S. Labarthe, 1997, 48 min. (EN subs)

Links

• Bataille at Wikipedia