Literature and Evil
1957
First Published
3.96
Average Rating
205
Number of Pages
”Literature is not innocent,” Bataille declares in the preface to this unique collection of literary profiles. “It is guilty and should admit itself so.” The word, the flesh, and the devil are explored by this extraordinary intellect in the work of eight outstanding authors: Emily Bronte, Baudelaire, Blake, Michelet, Kafka, Proust, Genet and De Sade. Born in France in 1897, Georges Bataille was a radical philosopher, novelist, and critic whose writings continue to exert a vital influence on today's literature and thought.
Avg Rating
3.96
Number of Ratings
1,453
5 STARS
32%
4 STARS
40%
3 STARS
23%
2 STARS
4%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
Georges Bataille
Author · 41 books
French essayist, philosophical theorist, and novelist, often called the "metaphysician of evil." Bataille was interested in sex, death, degradation, and the power and potential of the obscene. He rejected traditional literature and considered that the ultimate aim of all intellectual, artistic, or religious activity should be the annihilation of the rational individual in a violent, transcendental act of communion. Roland Barthes, Julia Kristeva, and Philippe Sollers have all written enthusiastically about his work.
