The Obsessions of Georges Bataille: Community and Communication

SUNY Series in Contemporary French Thought

by Andrew J. Mitchell (Editor), Jason Kemp Winfree (Editor)

Considers Bataille’s work from an explicitly philosophical perspective.

Featuring a new translation of Jean-Luc Nancy’s “Confronted Community” and three essays by Bataille on community and communication available here in English for the first time, The Obsessions of Georges Bataille offers an indispensable account of Bataille’s work. Despite the influence of Bataille on French continental thought, his ideas remain famously obscure. This volume clarifies them by approaching Bataille’s thought through the themes of community and communication. Taking up the dialogue of Nancy and Maurice Blanchot on Bataille’s ideas about community, the essays engage the many perspectives from which he approaches encouraging greater community, expressing concern with community, and addressing the connections between community and one’s inner experience. Communication is brought out not as a singular activity, but as a collective natural state—a medium for human expression and relations.

“This impressive array of essays adds significantly to the conversation on Bataille’s work and voice for contemporary political questions and longstanding philosophical queries.” — Shannon Winnubst, editor of Reading Bataille Now

Genres: Philosophy

216 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

Reviews

[Stephanie McGarrah]

Georges Bataille is very inaccessible. I think his thoughts are crucial to anarchists, but he doesn't carry much weight in anarchist theory. The religiosity of his thoughts also prevent him from being talked about much in anarchist circles, thanks to rationalists knee-jerk reaction against anything esoteric and spiritual. Its not something you'll be able to sell to the workers or the public, but that's exactly where the beauty of Bataille lies. I have found him difficult to read, but his thoughts have fascinated me so I keep going back and this book opened him up to me and seriously changed my way of thinking about human interaction and the meaning of community that is inoperable. Of Bataille, one essay describes it this way: if Nietzsche's nihilism was life affirming, Bataille courted with death.

[Alyosha]

A mixed bag of essays in terms of value (as most edited collections as this tend to be). The majority of the essays that make up this volume are worth reading, with only a couple that are sub-par. The translations of 3 short pieces by Bataille are of interest, especially the review of Blanchot's Au moment voulu, on silence and literature.

[Lisa]

The Obsessions of Georges Bataille: Community and Communication (SUNY series in Contemporary French Thought) by Andrew J. Mitchell (2009)