Reading Bataille Now

Reviled and fetishized, the work of Georges Bataille (1897-1962) has been most often reduced to his outrageous, erotic, and libertine fiction and essays. But increasingly, readers are finding his insights into politics, economics, sexuality, and performance revealing and timely. Focusing on Bataille's most extensive work, The Accursed Share, Shannon Winnubst and the contributors to this volume present contemporary interpretations that read Bataille in a new light. These essays situate Bataille in French and European intellectual traditions, bring forward key concepts for understanding the challenges posed by his important work, and draw out his philosophy. Established voices and younger scholars cover a range of topics and themes, including ethics, politics, economy, psychology, and performance so readers can think with and through Bataille. While focusing attention on Bataille and his provocative work, this book offers a sympathetic, yet critical, reappraisal and rehabilitation.

Contributors are Alison Leigh Brown, Andrew Cutrofello, Zeynep Direk, Jesse Goldhammer, Dorothy Holland, Pierre Lamarche, Richard A. Lee, Jr., Alphonso Lingis, Ladelle McWhorter, Lucio A. Privitello, Allan Stoekl, Amy Wendling, and Shannon Winnubst.

"Winnubst (Southwestern Univ.) has assembled a fine collection of 12 essays by a range of scholars in the humanities who have managed to bring important and new perspectives to the work of the French philosopher and writer Georges Bataille.... This is an important collection of essays, and one usefully compared to others such as L. A. Boldt-Irons's On Bataille (1995). This book will have massive appeal for scholars and students in the humanities, especially philosophy and literature, but also for those in the social sciences, including political theory.... Highly recommended." --Choice Indiana University Press Indiana University Press

A contemporary, critical reappraisal of Bataille's philosophy

Shannon Winnubst is Professor of Philosophy at Southwestern University and author of Queering Freedom (IUP, 2006).

Contents

Foreword: Why Bataille Now? Alphonso Lingis

Introduction Shannon Winnubst

Part 1. Situating Bataille

1. Dare to Know, Dare to Sacrifice: Georges Bataille and the Crisis of the Left Jesse Goldhammer

2. Sovereign Consumption as a Species of Communist Theory: Reconceptualizing Energy Amy E. Wendling

3. The Use Value of G.A.M.V. Bataille Pierre Lamarche

Part 2. Pleasures and the Myth of Transgression

4. Bataille's Queer Pleasures: The Universe as Spider or Spit Shannon Winnubst

5. Erotic Experience and Sexual Difference in Bataille Zeynep Direk

6. Malvolio's Revenge Alison Leigh Brown

Part 3. Bodies and Animality

7. The Private Life of Birds: From a Restrictive to a General Economy of Reason Ladelle McWhorter

8. S/laughter and Anima-lethe Lucio Angelo Privitello

9. Bodies at Play: A General Economy of Performance Dorothy Holland

Part 4. Sovereign Politics

10. The Accursed Share and The Merchant of Venice Andrew Cutrofello

11. Politics and the Thing: Excess as the Matter of Politics Richard A. Lee Jr.

12. Excess and Depletion: Bataille's Surprisingly Ethical Model of Expenditure Allan Stoekl

List of Contributors

Index