Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

On the High Wire, 02 Oct 2007
The plunging neckline, suspenders through soft fabrics, the four-inch heels that shrink the waist and shape your breasts disguise our deeper desire for children, sex in clean sheets, back straight, knees apart.

By contrast, the erotic is a 'psychological quest' alien to that urge. The erotic is the hidden attraction to bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, the orgy; our predisposition to fantasize on sacrifice, incest and, ultimately, 'assenting to life up to the point of death.'

These are the themes set out and meticulously explored by Georges Bataille in his masterwork Eroticism, a controversial study that first saw the light of day in France in 1957 and is published now in a new edition in English by Marion Boyars Modern Classics with a brisk, no nonsense translation by Mary Dalwood.

Once described as the 'metaphysician of evil,' Georges Bataille (1897 - 1962) is one of the most important French thinkers of his generation. A librarian, pornographer and devout Catholic, he came in later life to regard the brothels of Paris as true churches and wrote, as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, 'about man's condition, not his nature...In him reality is in conflict.'

Bataille is at his most convincing in the way he connects the underlying sexual basis of religion and philosophy to death. Erotic sex, he argues, is surrounded by taboos which we must struggle against in order to overcome the sense of isolation that surrounds us all. The erotic is life on the high wire, liberating, energizing, uniquely human. 'It seems to be assumed,' he writes, 'that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions.'

For anyone who writes, reads, sketches, photographs or enjoys any or indeed all aspect of their erotic life, Eroticism through 276 pages will ease the pain, heighten the pleasure, clear the mind and put you in touch with the you you really are. With references from De Sade, Freud and Saint Theresa, Georges Bataille strips away the veneer of what he sees as an imposed morality to take us into the heart of man's erotic impulse.

Chloë Thurlow's new book Being A Girl is published by Virgin Nexus.

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

On the High Wire, 02 Oct 2007
The plunging neckline, suspenders through soft fabrics, the four-inch heels that shrink the waist and shape your breasts disguise our deeper desire for children, sex in clean sheets, back straight, knees apart.

By contrast, the erotic is a 'psychological quest' alien to that urge. The erotic is the hidden attraction to bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, the orgy; our predisposition to fantasize on sacrifice, incest and, ultimately, 'assenting to life up to the point of death.'

These are the themes set out and meticulously explored by Georges Bataille in his masterwork Eroticism, a controversial study that first saw the light of day in France in 1957 and is published now in a new edition in English by Marion Boyars Modern Classics with a brisk, no nonsense translation by Mary Dalwood.

Once described as the 'metaphysician of evil,' Georges Bataille (1897 - 1962) is one of the most important French thinkers of his generation. A librarian, pornographer and devout Catholic, he came in later life to regard the brothels of Paris as true churches and wrote, as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, 'about man's condition, not his nature...In him reality is in conflict.'

Bataille is at his most convincing in the way he connects the underlying sexual basis of religion and philosophy to death. Erotic sex, he argues, is surrounded by taboos which we must struggle against in order to overcome the sense of isolation that surrounds us all. The erotic is life on the high wire, liberating, energizing, uniquely human. 'It seems to be assumed,' he writes, 'that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions.'

For anyone who writes, reads, sketches, photographs or enjoys any or indeed all aspect of their erotic life, Eroticism through 276 pages will ease the pain, heighten the pleasure, clear the mind and put you in touch with the you you really are. With references from De Sade, Freud and Saint Theresa, Georges Bataille strips away the veneer of what he sees as an imposed morality to take us into the heart of man's erotic impulse.

Chloë Thurlow's new book Being A Girl is published by Virgin Nexus.


L'Abbe C: A-B-C to Bataille's paradoxical philosophy, 24 Aug 1999
This dramatic work, written towards the end of the author's lifetime finaly plots a path through the thinking behind the three pillars of Bataille's work.

Erotic, demented and decadent and yet stifled and airless, L'ABBE C is a work of such dark tenderness that the reader is left, stunned to reverence.

To read this portrayal is to map the workings of a mind of genius and vision

Truly inspiriational....superlatives alone will do.

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

On the High Wire, 02 Oct 2007
The plunging neckline, suspenders through soft fabrics, the four-inch heels that shrink the waist and shape your breasts disguise our deeper desire for children, sex in clean sheets, back straight, knees apart.

By contrast, the erotic is a 'psychological quest' alien to that urge. The erotic is the hidden attraction to bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, the orgy; our predisposition to fantasize on sacrifice, incest and, ultimately, 'assenting to life up to the point of death.'

These are the themes set out and meticulously explored by Georges Bataille in his masterwork Eroticism, a controversial study that first saw the light of day in France in 1957 and is published now in a new edition in English by Marion Boyars Modern Classics with a brisk, no nonsense translation by Mary Dalwood.

Once described as the 'metaphysician of evil,' Georges Bataille (1897 - 1962) is one of the most important French thinkers of his generation. A librarian, pornographer and devout Catholic, he came in later life to regard the brothels of Paris as true churches and wrote, as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, 'about man's condition, not his nature...In him reality is in conflict.'

Bataille is at his most convincing in the way he connects the underlying sexual basis of religion and philosophy to death. Erotic sex, he argues, is surrounded by taboos which we must struggle against in order to overcome the sense of isolation that surrounds us all. The erotic is life on the high wire, liberating, energizing, uniquely human. 'It seems to be assumed,' he writes, 'that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions.'

For anyone who writes, reads, sketches, photographs or enjoys any or indeed all aspect of their erotic life, Eroticism through 276 pages will ease the pain, heighten the pleasure, clear the mind and put you in touch with the you you really are. With references from De Sade, Freud and Saint Theresa, Georges Bataille strips away the veneer of what he sees as an imposed morality to take us into the heart of man's erotic impulse.

Chloë Thurlow's new book Being A Girl is published by Virgin Nexus.


L'Abbe C: A-B-C to Bataille's paradoxical philosophy, 24 Aug 1999
This dramatic work, written towards the end of the author's lifetime finaly plots a path through the thinking behind the three pillars of Bataille's work.

Erotic, demented and decadent and yet stifled and airless, L'ABBE C is a work of such dark tenderness that the reader is left, stunned to reverence.

To read this portrayal is to map the workings of a mind of genius and vision

Truly inspiriational....superlatives alone will do.

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

On the High Wire, 02 Oct 2007
The plunging neckline, suspenders through soft fabrics, the four-inch heels that shrink the waist and shape your breasts disguise our deeper desire for children, sex in clean sheets, back straight, knees apart.

By contrast, the erotic is a 'psychological quest' alien to that urge. The erotic is the hidden attraction to bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, the orgy; our predisposition to fantasize on sacrifice, incest and, ultimately, 'assenting to life up to the point of death.'

These are the themes set out and meticulously explored by Georges Bataille in his masterwork Eroticism, a controversial study that first saw the light of day in France in 1957 and is published now in a new edition in English by Marion Boyars Modern Classics with a brisk, no nonsense translation by Mary Dalwood.

Once described as the 'metaphysician of evil,' Georges Bataille (1897 - 1962) is one of the most important French thinkers of his generation. A librarian, pornographer and devout Catholic, he came in later life to regard the brothels of Paris as true churches and wrote, as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, 'about man's condition, not his nature...In him reality is in conflict.'

Bataille is at his most convincing in the way he connects the underlying sexual basis of religion and philosophy to death. Erotic sex, he argues, is surrounded by taboos which we must struggle against in order to overcome the sense of isolation that surrounds us all. The erotic is life on the high wire, liberating, energizing, uniquely human. 'It seems to be assumed,' he writes, 'that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions.'

For anyone who writes, reads, sketches, photographs or enjoys any or indeed all aspect of their erotic life, Eroticism through 276 pages will ease the pain, heighten the pleasure, clear the mind and put you in touch with the you you really are. With references from De Sade, Freud and Saint Theresa, Georges Bataille strips away the veneer of what he sees as an imposed morality to take us into the heart of man's erotic impulse.

Chloë Thurlow's new book Being A Girl is published by Virgin Nexus.


L'Abbe C: A-B-C to Bataille's paradoxical philosophy, 24 Aug 1999
This dramatic work, written towards the end of the author's lifetime finaly plots a path through the thinking behind the three pillars of Bataille's work.

Erotic, demented and decadent and yet stifled and airless, L'ABBE C is a work of such dark tenderness that the reader is left, stunned to reverence.

To read this portrayal is to map the workings of a mind of genius and vision

Truly inspiriational....superlatives alone will do.

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

L'Abbe C: A-B-C to Bataille's paradoxical philosophy, 24 Aug 1999
This dramatic work, written towards the end of the author's lifetime finaly plots a path through the thinking behind the three pillars of Bataille's work.

Erotic, demented and decadent and yet stifled and airless, L'ABBE C is a work of such dark tenderness that the reader is left, stunned to reverence.

To read this portrayal is to map the workings of a mind of genius and vision

Truly inspiriational....superlatives alone will do.

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

On the High Wire, 02 Oct 2007
The plunging neckline, suspenders through soft fabrics, the four-inch heels that shrink the waist and shape your breasts disguise our deeper desire for children, sex in clean sheets, back straight, knees apart.

By contrast, the erotic is a 'psychological quest' alien to that urge. The erotic is the hidden attraction to bondage, discipline, sadomasochism, the orgy; our predisposition to fantasize on sacrifice, incest and, ultimately, 'assenting to life up to the point of death.'

These are the themes set out and meticulously explored by Georges Bataille in his masterwork Eroticism, a controversial study that first saw the light of day in France in 1957 and is published now in a new edition in English by Marion Boyars Modern Classics with a brisk, no nonsense translation by Mary Dalwood.

Once described as the 'metaphysician of evil,' Georges Bataille (1897 - 1962) is one of the most important French thinkers of his generation. A librarian, pornographer and devout Catholic, he came in later life to regard the brothels of Paris as true churches and wrote, as Jean-Paul Sartre put it, 'about man's condition, not his nature...In him reality is in conflict.'

Bataille is at his most convincing in the way he connects the underlying sexual basis of religion and philosophy to death. Erotic sex, he argues, is surrounded by taboos which we must struggle against in order to overcome the sense of isolation that surrounds us all. The erotic is life on the high wire, liberating, energizing, uniquely human. 'It seems to be assumed,' he writes, 'that man has his being independently of his passions. I affirm that we must never imagine existence except in terms of these passions.'

For anyone who writes, reads, sketches, photographs or enjoys any or indeed all aspect of their erotic life, Eroticism through 276 pages will ease the pain, heighten the pleasure, clear the mind and put you in touch with the you you really are. With references from De Sade, Freud and Saint Theresa, Georges Bataille strips away the veneer of what he sees as an imposed morality to take us into the heart of man's erotic impulse.

Chloë Thurlow's new book Being A Girl is published by Virgin Nexus.


L'Abbe C: A-B-C to Bataille's paradoxical philosophy, 24 Aug 1999
This dramatic work, written towards the end of the author's lifetime finaly plots a path through the thinking behind the three pillars of Bataille's work.

Erotic, demented and decadent and yet stifled and airless, L'ABBE C is a work of such dark tenderness that the reader is left, stunned to reverence.

To read this portrayal is to map the workings of a mind of genius and vision

Truly inspiriational....superlatives alone will do.

Thought provoking, 04 Nov 2006
I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.

fun and educational, 11 Feb 2006
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising.

The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.

Definately worth a read, 09 Jan 2006
Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.

Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this, 19 May 2003
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies.

The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between.

If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.

Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality, 05 Mar 2002
George Bataille's novel describes, in its good parts, the naive and cruel nature of sexuality. In its less well composed parts, it's an orgie of disgust. If it hadn't been for the utterly precise and fine choice of words, you might have mistaken parts of the book for some teenage scribbling only produced to shock. The book has its fascinating, readworthy chapters, but the composition is less fullended than in, for instance, "The Story of O" by Pauline Reage. If you haven't read that one, I'd urge you leave Bataille and buy Reage first.. (or, of course, buying both is also a good option!)

L'Abbe C: A-B-C to Bataille's paradoxical philosophy, 24 Aug 1999
This dramatic work, written towards the end of the author's lifetime finaly plots a path through the thinking behind the three pillars of Bataille's work.

Erotic, demented and decadent and yet stifled and airless, L'ABBE C is a work of such dark tenderness that the reader is left, stunned to reverence.

To read this portrayal is to map the workings of a mind of genius and vision

Truly inspiriational....superlatives alone will do.

Some things should stay lost, 26 Mar 2005
I'm rather at a loss as to why this book was published. It comprises of two short pieces of prose- Filthy and Divinity, about the sexual relationship between the protagonist and two eponymous women. The rest of the book comprises of a collection of 'poems' and fragments. First, the poems; 'The sky goes poo-poo/ the sky goes doo-doo' being the first two lines in this section bodes ill for the rest. Where is the educated interesting author of Blue of Noon and Story of the Eye? Few of the the other poems rise above this peurility. The fragments are simply that- fragments. There is no resounding theme, no particular impression created by most of them and these make up over half of the book. As Creation books have decided to put each fragment on an individual page, and each fragment is at most three lines of (short) poetry, most of the book is empty. These should have been part of an appendix in a publication of Bataille's more interesting work. Bataille is a fascinating author who extends the barriers of fiction and taste. Havin read all of his 'scatalogical' texts I can say that I could have done without reading this book and not missed anything. I can't even say it is for fans of Bataille because most of it is so unlike his other work as to be unrecognisable. Very disappointing.