![]() ![]() ![]() On the same date, he asked me in re¬ gard to the New Dictionary of Sexology to make sure to include articles on Gilles de Rais, Erzsebet Bathory, the Sacred, Transgression, Fashion, Nudity, Jean Genet, Pierre Klossowski. It was on the 24th of July, 1959, that Bataille decided upon the title of this book: The Tears of Eros (“Pauvert will love it,” he added, not without malice). And also a letter from Henri Parisot, which filled him with joy, accompanying the color photograph of Balthus’ The Guitar Lesson (it was around the time of the Methode de Meditation). And his notes, the foreword (nine manuscript sheets), and the first meticulously corrected proofs. I have also copied, by hand on two fragments of orange paper, the text by Georges Dumas on Pleasure and Pain, which so impressed him. These letters are from Orleans, of course, from Fontenay-le-Conte, from Sables d’Olonne, from Seillans and from Vezelay. I admit it: I am proud to have been at that particular moment at the heart of the personal history of Georges Bataille. This makes it easier for me to open the briefcase in which fiftyseven of his letters (some of them six pages long) still speak of the slow pace of writing, of concern over the illustrations for a thesis on eroticism that has become, through force of time, his last will and testament. It is thus that I see the gentle historian moving across the highly waxed floor of the Bibliotheque d’Orleans, or among the blue and gold bookcases of what used to be the palace of the archbishop of that town. Paul Valery himself deemed it fitting to follow, line by line, image by image, caption by caption, the making of an entire book by this infinitely peaceable author who was so haunted by its destiny. In Bataille there was a man-a very beauti¬ ful and very saintly man-and to have seen him live cannot but scatter sparks of light into the dark¬ ness of his work. The witness proves, however, unexpectedly helpful. Even at the outer edges of intuition I can do no more than cast a glance, in broad daylight, into the night of this new Plato’s cave which Georges Bataille has hollowed out in order to think through the darkness of the unspeakable. Who speaks here? The witness, the critic, the collaborator, the historian, the friend? Each one would need more than a year to sketch out a serious discourse, or to act as a disciple and remain silent. Chinese Torture 205 GEORGES BATAILLE, FROM AFAR. Delacroix, Manet, Degas, Gustave Moreau and the Surrealists III. ![]() Gilles de Rais and Erzsebet Bathory 138 103 7. Libertinage in the Eighteenth Century and the Marquis de Sade 5. The Reappearance of Eroticism in Painting 82 3. From Christian Condemnation to Morbid Exaltation (Or from Christianity to Satanism) 79 2. The God of Transgression and the Feast: Dionysos 8. From Erotic Laughter to Prohibition 66 6. ![]() On the Role of the Lower Classes in the Development of Religious Eroticism 5. Doubly Magical Caves 39 45 Part Two: The End (From Antiquity to the Present Day) I. WORK AND PLAY E Eroticism, Work and the ‘Little Death’ 2. Death at the Bottom of the ‘Pit’ in the Lascaux Cave 34 II. Eroticism Linked to the Awareness of Death 32 4. Prehistoric Man and the Painted Caves 25 3. Lo Duca 1 9 Foreword by Georges Bataille 19 Part One: The Beginning (The Birth of Eros) I. Peters and published at the City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus Avenue, San Lrancisco, CA 94133. CITY LIGHTS BOOKS are edited by Lawrence Lerlinghetti & Nancy J. Lor personal orders and catalogs, please write to City Lights Mail Order: 261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133. LAX 50.Our books are also available through library jobbers and regional distributors. N8217.E6B313 1988 88-16164 704.9'428-dcl9 CIP Printed in Hong Kong City Lights Books are available to bookstores through our primary distributor: Subterranean Company, Box 168, 265 S. 1897-1962 The tears of Eros / by Georges Bataille: translated by Peter Connor, p. © 1989 City Lights Books Cover design: Rex Ray Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bataille, Georges. This first English language translation includes most of the illustrations which appear in the original. The Tears of Eros Georges Bataille Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation THE TEARS OF EROS THE TEARS OF EROS by Georges Bataille Translated by Peter Connor T City Lights Books San Francisco This book was originally published as Les larmes d’Eros, © 1961 by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, Paris The Tears of Eros was published in several versions in France after the original Pauvert edition. ![]()
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