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Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-39 (Theory & History of Literature) by Georges Bataille  (1)  £11.88

The Gift (Routledge Classics): Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies (Routledge Classics) by Marcel Mauss  (2)  £9.49

Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord  (9)  £6.64

Erotism: Death and Sensuality by Georges Bataille  (1)  £7.70

Eroticism by Georges Bataille  (1)  £8.49

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Synopsis
The three volumes of "The Accursed Share" address what Georges Bataille sees as the paradox of utility: namely, if being useful means serving a further end, then the ultimate end of utility can only be uselessness. The first volume, the only one published before Bataille's death, treated this paradox in economic terms, showing that "it is not necessity but its contrary, luxury, that presents living matter and mankind with their fundamental problems." In the second and third volumes, "The History of Eroticism" and "Sovereignty", Bataille explores the same paradox of utility from an anthropological and an ethical perspective, respectively. "The History of Eroticism" analyzes the fears and fascination, the prohibitions and transgressions attached to the realm of eroticism as so many expressions of the "uselessness" of erotic life. In the third volume, Bataille raises the ethical problems of sovereignty, of "the independence of man relative to useful ends."

Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927-39 (Theory & History of Literature) by Georges Bataille  (1)  £11.88

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Encyclopaedia Acephalica: Writers Associated with George Bataille and the Acephale Group (Atlas Arkhive: Documents of the Avant-Garde) by Georges Bataille  (1)  £14.99

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews   13 of 14 people found the following review helpful: A thought provoking work connecting religion and economics., 6 Mar 1998 By A Customer This review is from: The Accursed Share: Volume 1 (Paperback) In this book, Georges Bataille explores the connection between man's religious and economic pursuits. By focusing in on such divergent practices as human sacrifice and ritualized warfare in Aztec society, the practice of "potlach" in native American tribes of the Pacific Northwest, Tibetan Lamaism, and the conflagrations of our most recent World Wars, the author seeks to overturn classical models of economics. Instead of economics being driven by individuals seeking to satisfy their personal needs, Bataille proposes that economics is actually a social process that seeks to destroy, excrete, and expend excess goods and services. His unique perspective centers around the idea that the systematic destruction and loss of goods and services is intimately connected to our age old struggle to attain the Beyond. The French philosopher Michel Foucault once stated that Bataille said what had never been said before. After reading this first volume of Bataille's three volume work "The Accursed Share", you can begin to understand why Foucault believed as he did.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews