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Product Description
Bataille’s first novel, published under the pseudonym ‘Lord Auch’, is still his most notorious work. In this explicit pornographic fantasy, the young male narrator and his lovers Simone and Marcelle embark on a sexual quest involving sadism, torture, orgies, madness and defilement, culminating in a final act of transgression. Shocking and sacreligious, Story of the Eye is the fullest expression of Bataille’s obsession with the closeness of sex, violence and death. Yet it is also hallucinogenic in its power, and is one of the erotic classics of the twentieth century.
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First Sentence
I grew up very much alone, and as far back as I recall I was frightened of anything sexual. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
I grew up very much alone, and as far back as I recall I was frightened of anything sexual. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
"The Story of the Eye" is the finest book ever written about the idea that one can take pleasure from acts like sitting down in a puddle of milk, placing a plucked eyeball in one's most intimate anatomical area, and inserting a hard-boiled egg into one's rectum. Experimental, arrogant, and sexually insatiable, the novel's two young lovers embark on a carnal odyssey (involving, among other things, suicide and some blasphemous debauchery in a confessional) that is, simply put, not for the faint of heart.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you're thinking plot and characterization, you're missing the point. This is modernism all the way: vignettes with their own individual logic which do thread together, but not in the way of an epic which builds and smooths out contradictions. It works perfectly as an erotic text because it illuminates the way desire catches on the tiniest of details, magnifying each beyond the reach of rational discourse. It moves skilfully, evading the capture of novelistic conventions, denying a too easy satisfaction. It's precisely these qualities which make it great erotic writing; it allows the reader to engage their own desires in the gaps which a lesser novel would be tempted to fill in. It's not there to be understood, it's to be revelled in!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Bored Me To Death
I did not get it. Bored me to death.
I know it has an intellectual commentary by Susan Sontag, et al. And is published by Penguin classics. Read more
I know it has an intellectual commentary by Susan Sontag, et al. And is published by Penguin classics. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Helen
The Story of the Eye
Excellent. A book I have wanted to read for 30+ years and it is now in my collection.
Published on 12 July 2009 by Arthur S. Underwood
A captivating and enjoyable read
I found the book to be highly captivating, largely due to the writing style, which is fast and informative, making it very hard to lose attention! Read more
Published on 28 Jan 2009 by Tom
Thought provoking
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... Read more
Published on 4 Nov 2006 by Room For A View
fun and educational
Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. Read more
Published on 11 Feb 2006
Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this
'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". Read more
Published on 19 May 2003 by R Howard
Fascinating and disgusting about naive sexuality
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. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2002
Seriously lacking in something.
I bought this book after reading other reviews, and have to say that it is really one of the worst books I have ever read. Read more
Published on 2 May 2001
Violent, morbid and disturbing; a masterpiece of pornography
"Story of the Eye" is a visit to the extremes of Bataille's consciousness; blessed are those who return intact from this horrific journey. Read more
Published on 15 Jun 1999
brilliant
Batille's "Story of the Eye" is a brilliantly distrubing tale of a twisted coming of age.
a quick read, and a must read.
Published on 24 Oct 1998
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