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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17335 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-26
• Original language: French
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

Customer Reviews

Definately worth a read
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.

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. 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.

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. More 'real life' than Sade, this is an excellent example for Shattuck's formulation of "forbidden knowledge". A must for connoisseurs of pornographic literature.