The Sunday of the Negative , livre ebook

303

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Écrit par
Christopher M. Gemerchak

Publié par
State University of New York Press

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303

pages

English

Ebooks

2012

Lire un extrait

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne En savoir plus

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

Nombre de lectures

EAN13

9780791487297

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

Although often considered an esoteric figure occupying the dark fringes of twentieth-century thought, Georges Bataille was a pivotal precursor to a generation of poststructuralist and postmodern thinkers—including Baudrillard, Derrida, Foucault, Lacan, and Lyotard. The Sunday of the Negative provides the most extensive English-language investigation of Bataille's critical treatment of the thought of Hegel, focusing on the notions of subjectivity, desire, self-consciousness, knowledge, and the experience of the divine. The book spans all of Bataille's writings, patiently navigating even the most obscure texts. The author explains how Bataille's notion of self-consciousness both derives from, and is an alternative to, that of Hegel. Disclosing the origins of Bataille's most influential concepts, the book moves across philosophy proper to include reflections on anthropology, economics, cultural criticism, poetry, eroticism, mysticism, and religion.

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Behind the Mask
Hegel?

PART ONE

1. Beyond the Serious

1.1. The Inwardizing and the Calvary
1.2. The Sovereignty of Servility
1.3.Work, Death
1.4. Beyond the Serious

2. The End of Utility

2.1. No Free Gifts
2.2. Unholy Alliances
2.3. Taking Sacrifice into Account

PART TWO

3. Logomachy: Through Discourse To Poetic Silence

3.1. A Contradictory Project
3.2. Hegelian Discourse: A "Dog" Eat Dog World
3.3. The Hatred of Poetry

4. Mysticism, Eroticism, and the Sacrificial Ruse

4.1. I Pray to GOD . . .
4.2. Eroticism and Sacrifice: The Body and the Fiction
4.3. Through the Mirror

LaughterIn Place of a Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Voir

Publié par

State University of New York Press

Date de parution

01 février 2012

EAN13

9780791487297

Langue

English

Poids de l'ouvrage

1 Mo

The Sunday of the Negative

SUNY series in Hegelian Studies William Desmond, editor

The Sunday of the Negative

Reading Bataille Reading Hegel

CHRISTOPHER M. GEMERCHAK

S TAT E U N I V ER S I T Y O F N E W YO R K P R E S S

Cover art: Lorenzo Monaco,Cutout Crucifix, circa 1410 (detail), Szèpmüvèszeti Muzeum, Budapest.

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press , Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Kelli Williams Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Gemerchak, Chrostopher M. The Sunday of the negative : reading Bataille, reading Hegel / Christopher M. Gemerchak. p. cm. — (SUNY series in Hegelian studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5631-5 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-7914-5632-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bataille, Georges, 1897–1962. 2. Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831—Influence. I. Title. II. Series.

B2430.B33954 G46 2003 194—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002042647

Acknowledgments

List of Abbreviations

Introduction Behind the Mask Hegel?

Contents

PART ONE

Beyond the Serious 1.1. The Inwardizing and the Calvary 1.2. The Sovereignty of Servility 1.3. Work, Death 1.4. Beyond the Serious

The End of Utility 2.1. No Free Gifts 2.2. Unholy Alliances 2.3. Taking Sacrifice into Account

PART TWO

Logomachy: Through Discourse To Poetic Silence 3.1. A Contradictory Project 3.2. Hegelian Discourse: A “Dog” Eat Dog World 3.3. The Hatred of Poetry

vii

1 9 14

25 28 41 52 60

75 78 90 97

117 120 127 140

Contents

Mysticism, Eroticism, and the Sacrificial Ruse 4.1. I Pray to GOD . . . 4.2. Eroticism and Sacrifice: The Body and the Fiction 4.3. Through the Mirror

Laughter—In Place of a Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

161 169 186 196

209

223

277

287

Acknowledgments

Generous assistance has been offered at every stage of this journey, and I would like to acknowledge my primary debt of gratitude to Rudi Visker, my sole reader. Willing to lay aside what then was his relative indifference to Bataille, his assiduous reading and incisive commentary not only enabled the refinement of the text, but forced me to find answers to questions of which I was not even aware. I would also like to thank William Desmond, without whose encouragement it is unlikely that this work would have reached its penultimate stage. On a more practical level, the contributions from the Katholieke Uni-versiteit Leuven have been substantial. The final year of research was made possible by a grant from the Onderzoeksraad (Research Council) of the K.U.L., for which I am most grateful. I would also like to thank the Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek-Vlaanderen for providing me the oppor-tunity to continue my research through their generous awarding of a post-doctoral fellowship. A long-term project of this sort, while primarily a solitary endeavor, is nevertheless not to be undertaken without the support of those who are will-ing to offer their friendship, knowledge, and understanding. In the years that have passed from the point of conception to that of fruition, I have been for-tunate enough to find individuals rich enough in character to offer their share of each. I am as well privileged to extend my warmest thanks to my families, both here in Belgium and abroad in the United States, to whom this book is dedicated. Their patient enthusiasm has been a beacon through many a dark night. How many times they heard the words, “it’s almost finished,” and com-passionately let me think they believed it, is in itself no small feat of kindness. To each of them I extend my deepest graditude, my warmest friendship.

vii

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AM AS 1 AS 2 AS 3 E G IE LE MM N OC I-OC XII TR VE

Abbreviations

BATAILLE

The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism The Accursed Share,vol. 1,Consumption The Accursed Share,vol. 2,The History of Eroticism The Accursed Share,vol. 3,Sovereignty Eroticism: Death and Sensuality Guilty Inner Experience Literature and Evil Méthode de Méditation On Nietzsche Oeuvres Complètes,vol. 1–12 Theory of Religion Visions of Excess: Selected Writings, 1927–1939

OTHERS

Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the Phenomenology of Spirit— Alexandre Kojève Introduction à la lecture de Hegel, Appendix II, “L’idée de la mort dans la philosophie de Hegel”— Alexandre Kojève Phenomenology of Spirit— Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Voir