The thirst for annihilation : Georges Bataille and virulent nihilism : an essay in atheistic religion

An important literary and philosophical figure, Georges Bataille has had a significant influence on other French writers, such as Foucault, Derrida and Baudrillard. The Thirst for Annihilation is the first book in English to respond to Bataille's writings. In no way, though, is Nick Land's book an attempt to appropriate Bataille's writings to a secular intelligibility or to compromise with the aridity of academic discourse - rather, it is written as a communion. Theoretical issues in philosophy, sociology, psychodynamics, politics and poetry are discussed, but only as stepping stones into the deep water of textual sacrifice where words pass over into the broken voice of death. Cultural modernity is diagnosed down to its Kantian bedrock with its transcendental philosophy of the object, but Bataille's writings cut violently across this tightly disciplined reading to reveal the strong underlying currents that bear us towards chaos and dissolution - the violent impulse to escape, the thirst for annihilation. A sociologist, philosopher, literary theorist and fiction writer, who referred to himself as "a saint, perhaps a madman," Georges Bataille made a habit of exploding the categories which we use to order our business of everyday life. This strange yet lucidly written book is not so much an interpretation of his style of thought and ideas, but rather, a no-holds barred attempt to pursue Bataille's ideas to their conclusion. The result is an analysis of Bataille through the application of his style of thought and ideas rather than through more conventional methods of academic argument. Addressing such deviance, political and legal theory, the history of religion or poetry, Land proves that to write discursively about Bataille it is sufficient to be a scholar, but to spread the virulent horror of his writings, it is necessary to be an uncompromising devotee of Bataille's thought. -- Publisher description Contents 8 Reference codes 10 Preface 12 1. 'The death of sound philosophy' 24 2. The curse of the sun 50 3. Transgression 81 4. Easter 98 5. Dead God 103 6. The rage of jealous time 115 7. Fanged noumenon (passion of the cyclone) 128 8. Fluent bodies (a digression on Miller) 144 9. Aborting the human race 156 10. The labyrinth 183 11. Inconclusive communication 207 Notes 234 Bibliography 238 Name index 241 Subject index 243 An impassionate and fearless study of Georges Bataille which goes beyond analysis and criticism to actually engage with him.