Story of the Eye

by Georges Bataille

To others, the universe seems decent because decent people have gelded eyes. That is why they fear lewdness.

how impossible it was for us to understand what was happening, and of course, it is no more understandable today than it was then.

the contradictory impulses overtaking us in this circumstance neutralized one another, leaving us blind

what pornography is really about, ultimately, isn’t sex but death.

pleasure depends on “perspective,” or giving oneself to a state of “open being”, open to death as well as to joy. Most people try to outwit their own feelings; they want to be receptive to pleasure but keep “horror” at a distance.

I mean the traumatic failure of modern capitalist society to provide authentic outlets for the perennial human flair for high-temperature visionary obsessions, to satisfy the appetite for exalted self-transcending modes of concentration and seriousness.