Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille

Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille 10 September 1897 – 9 July 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.

Founder of several journals and literary groups, Bataille is the author of a large and diverse body of work: readings, poems, essays on innumerable subjects (on the mysticism of economy, 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 journal Tel Quel [Just as it is].

His influence is felt most explicitly in the phenomenological work of Jean-Luc Nancy, but is also significant for the work of Jean Baudrillard, the psychoanalytic theories of Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva, and recent anthropological work from the likes of Michael Taussig.

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 which included several other 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.

Bibliography

1. Georges Bataille, Œuvres complètes (Paris: Gallimard):
2. Volume 1: Premiers écrits, 1922–1940: Histoire de l'œil - L'Anus solaire - Sacrifices - Articles
3. Volume 2: Écrits posthumes, 1922–1940
4. 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
5. Volume 4: Œuvres littéraires posthumes: Poèmes - Le Mort - Julie - La Maison brûlée - La Tombe de Louis XXX - Divinus Deus - Ébauches
6. Volume 5: La Somme athéologique I: L'Expérience intérieure - Méthode de méditation - Post-scriptum 1953 - Le Coupable - L'Alleluiah
7. Volume 6: La Somme athéologique II: Sur Nietzsche - Mémorandum - Annexes
8. 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
9. Volume 8: L'Histoire de l'érotisme - Le surréalisme au jour le jour - Conférences 1951-1953 - La Souveraineté - Annexes
10. Volume 9: Lascaux, ou La naissance de l’art - Manet - La littérature et le mal - Annexes
11. Volume 10: L’érotisme - Le procès de Gilles de Rais - Les larmes d’Eros
12. Volume 11: Articles I, 1944–1949
13. Volume 12: Articles II, 1950–1961
14. Georges Bataille: Une liberté souveraine: Textes et entretiens, 2004 (articles, book reviews and interviews not included in Oeuvres Complètes, Michel Surya Ed.)
15. Works published in French
16. Histoire de l'oeil, 1928 (Story of the Eye) (under pseudonym of Lord Auch)
17. L'Anus solaire, 1931 (The Solar Anus)
18. The Notion of Expenditure, 1933
19. L'Amitié, 1940 (Friendship) (under pseudonym of Dianus; early version of Part One of Le Coupable)
20. Madame Edwarda, 1941 (under pseudonym of Pierre Angélique, fictitiously dated 1937; 2nd Edition: 1945; 3rd Edition: 1956 published with preface in Bataille's name)[5]
21. Le Petit, 1943 (under pseudonym of Louis Trente; fictitious publication date of 1934)
22. L'expérience intérieure, 1943 (Inner Experience)
23. L'Archangélique, 1944 (The Archangelical)
24. Le Coupable, 1944 (Guilty)
25. Sur Nietzsche, 1945 (On Nietzsche)
26. Dirty, 1945
27. L'Orestie, 1945 (The Oresteia)
28. Histoire de rats, 1947 (A Story of Rats)
29. L'Alleluiah, 1947 (Alleluia: The Catechism of Dianus)
30. Méthode de méditation, 1947 (Method of Meditation)
31. La Haine de la Poésie, 1947 (The Hatred of Poetry; reissued in 1962 as The Impossible)
32. La Scissiparité, 1949 (The Scission)
33. La Part maudite, 1949 (The Accursed Share)
34. L'Abbé C, 1950
35. L'expérience intérieure, 1954 (second edition of Inner Experience, followed by Method of Meditation and Post-scriptum 1953)
36. L'Être indifférence n'est rien, 1954 (Undifferentiated Being is Nothing)
37. Lascaux, ou la Naissance de l'Art, 1955
38. Manet, 1955
39. Le Bleu du ciel, 1957 (written 1935–36) (Blue of Noon)
40. La littérature et le Mal, 1957 (Literature and Evil)
41. L'Erotisme, 1957 (Erotism)
42. Le Coupable, 1961 (Guilty, second, revised edition, followed by Alleluia: The Catechism of Dianus)
43. Les larmes d'Éros, 1961 (The Tears of Eros)
44. L'Impossible : Histoire de rats suivi de Dianus et de L'Orestie, 1962 (The Impossible)
45. Posthumous works
46. Ma Mère, 1966 (My Mother)
47. Le Mort, 1967 (The Dead Man)
48. Théorie de la Religion, 1973 (Theory of Religion)
49. Translated works
50. Lascaux; or, the Birth of Art, the Prehistoric Paintings, Austryn Wainhouse, 1955, Lausanne: Skira.
51. Manet, Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons, 1955, Editions d'Art Albert Skira.
52. Literature and Evil, Alastair Hamilton, 1973, Calder & Boyars Ltd.
53. Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939, Allan Stoekl, Carl R. Lovitt, and Donald M. Leslie, Jr., 1985, University of Minnesota Press.
54. Erotism: Death and Sensuality, Mary Dalwood, 1986, City Lights Books.
55. Story of the Eye, Joachim Neugroschel, 1987, City Lights Books.
56. The Accursed Share: An Essay On General Economy. Volume I: Consumption, Robert Hurley, 1988, Zone Books.
57. The College of Sociology, 1937–39 (Bataille et al.), Betsy Wing, 1988, University of Minnesota Press.
58. Guilty, Bruce Boone, 1988, The Lapis Press.
59. Inner Experience, Leslie Anne Boldt, 1988, State University of New York.
60. My Mother, Madame Edwarda, The Dead Man, Austryn Wainhouse, with essays by Yukio Mishima and Ken Hollings, 1989, Marion Boyars Publishers.
61. The Tears of Eros, Peter Connor, 1989, City Lights Books.
62. Theory of Religion, Robert Hurley, 1989, Zone Books.
63. The Accursed Share: Volumes II and III, Robert Hurley, 1991, Zone Books.
64. The Impossible, Robert Hurley, 1991, City Lights Books.
65. The Trial of Gilles de Rais, Richard Robinson, 1991, Amok Press.
66. On Nietzsche, Bruce Boone, 1992, Paragon House.
67. The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, Michael Richardson, 1994, Verso.
68. Encyclopaedia Acephalica (Bataille et al.), Iain White et al., 1995, Atlas Press.
69. L'Abbé C, Philip A Facey, 2001, Marion Boyars Publishers.
70. Blue of Noon, Harry Mathews, 2002, Marion Boyars Publishers.
71. The Unfinished System of Nonknowledge, Stuart Kendall and Michelle Kendall, 2004, University of Minnesota Press.
72. The Cradle of Humanity: Prehistoric Art and Culture, Stuart Kendall, Michelle Kendall, 2009, Zone Books.
73. Divine Filth: Lost Scatology and Erotica, Mark Spitzer, 2009, Solar Books.
74. W.C., (fragmented) novel by Georges Bataille and Antonio Contiero; edited by Transeuropa Edizioni (Massa, 9/2011), ISBN 978-88-7580-150-2; accompanied with music by Alessandra Celletti and Jaan Patterson (Bubutz Records).
75. Collected Poems of Georges Bataille, Mark Spitzer, 1998, 1999, Dufour Editions. Hardback is titled Collected Poetry of Georges Bataille, 1998.

in french http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Bataille