Georges Bataille is a famous French philosopher and writer. Openly adhered to leftist beliefs. In his works, he studied the irrational aspects of public life. Many of his works contain descriptions of erotic scenes, sacrilege and temptation by evil, as many critics wrote.
Philosopher's Biography
Georges Bataille was born in French Auvergne in 1897. This is a provincial town in the south of the country. In 1914, he officially became a Catholic, preparing himself for a spiritual career, but soon soon became completely disappointed in religion.
Instead of becoming a priest, in 1918 Georges Bataille enters the National Charter School, which is based in Paris. There he receives higher education.
Begins to work at the National Library as a keeper. At this point, the hero of our article spent many years.
An important stage in his life was his acquaintance and close contact with the Russian existential philosopher Lev Shestov, who emigrated to France after the October Revolution. In the 1920s, Georges Bataille was a member of the Democratic Communist Circle, founded by the French Communist and anti-Stalinist Boris Suvarin.
Search for yourself
Bataille participated in various societies and circles. For example, since 1931, he was a member of the group on the study of the history of religions, which was founded by the French native of Russia Alexander Koyre at the School of Higher Studies.
Throughout the 1930s, the French philosopher and writer Georges Bataille participated in seminars by the nephew of Vasily Kandinsky, the Neo-Hegelian philosopher Alexander Kozheva.
In 1935, Bataille became interested in the research of the psychoanalytic group, which was led by one of the founders of psychoanalysis, the philosopher and psychoanalyst Jean Lacan.
In those same years he took part in the "Counterattack" movement, even was one of its organizers. It united left-wing intellectuals of various creative orientations. Then the hero of our article was even accused of pro-fascist sentiments. The counterattack disintegrated in 1936.
Acephalus
In 1937, Bataille came under the spell of ideas about human sacrifice. It was then that he founded a secret society called Acephalus. The headless person became his symbol.
According to legend, the reliability of which was never established, Bataille, along with other members of the community, voluntarily agreed to sacrifice himself as an inauguration. It was assumed that one of the members of the secret society would become an executioner. Compensation was offered to him, but not one of the members of the Acephalus society agreed to this. Before the outbreak of World War II, society fell apart.
In 1937, Bataille organized the Sociological College. In this he was helped by the writer and ethnologist Michel Leiris and the philosopher and sociologist Roger Kayua. They devoted their research to the development of the sociology of the sacred; they were mainly concerned with the irrational facts of social life.
Personal life
Bataille was twice married. His first chosen one is actress Sylvia Macles. They got married in 1928. After 6 years, they broke up, Mackles by that time was carried away by one of the associates of Bataille Lacan. Interestingly, they officially formalized the divorce only 12 years after the separation. All this time, Makles met with Lacan, and Bataille with Colette Peño, who died in 1938.
In 1946, the hero of our article finally received a divorce from his first wife in order to tie the knot with Princess Diana Kochubey. Two years later, their daughter Julie was born.
Georges Bataille died in Paris in 1962. He was 64 years old.
Creativity Bataille
In his work, Bataille touched on a variety of aspects. This is mysticism, poetry, philosophy, economics, the problems of eros and art. He often published works under pseudonyms, some of which were banned for many years.
It is worth noting that most eminent contemporaries did not pay attention to him, some even despised. For example, Sartre accused of defending mysticism. Later, his work had a significant impact on many philosophers of our time: Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Philippe Sollers. His influence is especially felt in the works of the postmodern philosopher Jean Baudrillard.
In his youth, Bataille was briefly fond of surrealism. He was greatly impressed by the works of Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Marquis de Sade. When writing his books, Georges Bataille used materials collected from various sources. Applied various discourse methods in his work.
A vivid example is the novel written in 1928 by Georges Bataille. The Eye Story was published under the pseudonym God Recalled. Initially, this work is perceived by many as pornographic. Researchers approached the true meaning and significance of this work gradually. Only after a while did they manage to reveal the philosophical and emotional depth contained in the novel, written by Georges Bataille. The Eye Story was deeper than it could have been imagined.
The imaginative series in this work is built on a whole list of metaphors that are addressed to philosophical constructs. This is the eye, the sun, the egg, the organs, the earth.
In 2004, American director Andrew McElhini even filmed Eye History. The film had little in common with the plot of the novel, critics called it an art house with elements of pornography.
"My mother"
Another famous Bataille’s novel is “Blue Sky”. It notes political and necrophilic tendencies. As well as personal and autobiographical overtones.
The novel "My Mother" was published in 1966. In it, the author explores the gloomy, and often repulsive, sides of the deep human psyche, when debauchery is one of the means of religious search. Bataille often turns to a mystical experience.
Also known are his works “Madame Edward”, “Inner Experience”, “The Cursed Part”, “Abbot S.”, “History of Eroticism”, “Literature and Evil”, “Impossible”, “Julia”, “Theory of Religion”.
Found in his work and exclusively philosophical work. Although he himself often refused to consider himself a philosopher. His statements were often on the verge of atheistic mysticism.
During World War II, Bataille, under the influence of Hegel and Nietzsche, wrote The Sum of Atheology. This became an allusion to The Sum of Theology, written by Thomas Aquinas.
One of his most famous post-war works was the novel Cursed Share.