Synopses & Reviews
In Georges Bataille and the Mysticism of Sin, Peter Connor argues that literary scholars, eager to represent Bataille as a philosopher or as an early deconstructionist, have tended to neglect or misunderstand Bataille's interest in mysticism. Through examination of Bataille's writings, Connor shows the surprising connection between Bataille's mysticism and his sense of personal and political ethics. Connor's study gives us a more complete picture of this complex and influential writer.
Review
"This important study of the French thinker Georges Bataille corrects an imbalance in the critical treatment of his thought and writing by shifting the attention from philosophy per se to Bataille's deep investments, intellectual and personal, in mysticism. Particularly good here is Connor's careful investigation of the linkage between mysticism and morality, an important issue for Bataille the atheist. This book will contribute to the study of ethics by opening up a new field of writing, Bataille's mystical writings, for study." Reviewed by Andrew Witmer, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
When Sartre referred to Georges Bataille as a new mystic, he meant the label as an insult. Sartre considered mysticism to be a less rigorous mode of inquiry than philosophy--especially dangerous where the writings of mystics adapt philosophical terminology for different purposes. In Georges Bataille and the Mysticism of Sin, Peter Connor argues that literary scholars, eager to represent Bataille as a philosopher or as an early deconstructionist, have tended to neglect or misunderstand Bataille's interest in mysticism. Connor's study corrects this distorted view of Bataille, giving us a more complete picture of the complex and influential writer.
With careful attention to Bataille's historical and intellectual context, Connor raises many important questions: What drew Bataille to the mystics? How did he conceive of their thought in relation to his own? And what is the connection between mysticism and morality? This last question raises an especially interesting issue for Bataille, an atheist whom readers generally associate with images of transgression and sin. Through examination of Bataille's writings--including Inner Experience and his underappreciated final book, Tears of Eros--Connor shows the surprising connection between Bataille's mysticism and his sense of personal and political ethics. Mysticism, Connor argues, lies at the heart of Bataille's double identity as an intellectual and as a kind of anarchic prophet.
--Allan StoeklPennsylvania State University, author of
Agonies of the Intellectual: Commitment, Subjectivity, and the Performative in the Twentieth-Century French Tradition "Bookforum"