Story of the Eye [Paperback]

Georges Bataille (Author), Dovid Bergelson (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2001

In 1928, Georges Bataille published this first novel under a pseudonym, a legendary shocker that uncovers the dark side of the erotic by means of forbidden obsessive fantasies of excess and sexual extremes. A classic of pornographic literature, Story of the Eye finds the parallels in Sade and Nietzsche and in the investigations of contemporary psychology; it also forecasts Bataille's own theories of ecstasy, death and transgression which he developed in later work.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Only Georges Bataille could write, of an eyeball removed from a corpse, that "the caress of the eye over the skin is so utterly, so extraordinarily gentle, and the sensation is so bizarre that it has something of a rooster's horrible crowing." Bataille has been called a "metaphysician of evil," specializing in blasphemy, profanation, and horror. Story of the Eye, written in 1928, is his best-known work; it is unashamedly surrealistic, both disgusting and fascinating, and packed with seemingly endless violations. It's something of an underground classic, rediscovered by each new generation. Most recently, the Icelandic pop singer Björk Guðdmundsdóttir cites Story of the Eye as a major inspiration: she made a music video that alludes to Bataille's erotic uses of eggs, and she plans to read an excerpt for an album. Warning: Story of the Eye is graphically sexual, and is only for adults who are not easily offended.

Language Notes

Text: English, French (translation)

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Product Details

• Paperback: 103 pages
• Publisher: City Lights Publishers; First City Lights Edition edition (January 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872862097
• ISBN-13: 978-0872862098
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Georges Bataille was born in Billom, France, in 1897. He was a librarian by profession. Also a philosopher, novelist, and critic he was founder of the College of Sociology. Bataille died in 1962.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 87 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Succeeds in Its Aims April 14, 2001

By Farffleblex Plaffington

Format:Paperback

Georges Bataille's Story of the Eye (a novella that actually clocks in closer to a short story; you should be able to read it within a couple hours, at most) is thoroughly successful in realizing Bataille's goal--the creation of an intentionally disturbing mix of eroticism, insanity, wanton violence, surrealism, adventure, and even an occasional touch of comedy.

The author's note that appears at the end of the City Lights Books edition, translated by Joachim Neugroschel (based on the original 1928 version of the book, by the way; in later editions, Bataille revised the text so that it "differs so thoroughly in all details that one can justifiably speak of two distinct books" per Neugroschel), states the psychological sources of the material in a fairly straightforward way. Bataille's father was blind and had "huge, ever gaping" eyes. He was also paralyzed and would frequently relieve himself in front of Georges, sometimes accidentally. As if that wasn't tragic enough, he also went mad towards the end of his life, shouting out obscenities that shocked the strictly-raised Bataille. Shortly after this, Bataille's mother had a temporary mental breakdown, as well. The incident at the "haunted castle" actually happened, in part, and so on.

But although knowing the source material is informative, it's not necessary to enjoy the book, and Bataille extrapolates far beyond his experiences, strongly emphasizing the surrealist aspects (you can even interpret a fair amount of the book as a novelization of a handful of Dali paintings, imagined by a psychopath), and delivering the result in a beautifully terse prose--often bridging over to poetry--that owes as much to Steinbeck and Hemingway as it does to a more shocking Kafka.

If you're easily offended, this book will more than do the trick. I'm not up on my banned book trivia at the moment, but Story of the Eye is undoubtedly on quite a few of those lists.

Many have said that this book has no redeeming value, or indeed no artistic value. That's only true if you have a very narrow view of the scope of literature--one so narrow, that most important works of fiction from the twentieth century and beyond are probably unintelligible to you. Story of the Eye has had more than its share of influence, in everything from fiction to painting to film, and provides a gripping, if upsetting read.

39 of 41 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Odd little gem of perversion and eros. May 6, 2000

By William Errickson Jr.

Format:Paperback

Georges Bataille often falls between the cracks of literary identificaton because his work straddles so many uncomfortable realms. A sometime-Surrealist who had a falling out with Andre Breton, Bataille's books are often compared to the Marquis de Sade's. Reading "Story of the Eye" it's not hard to see why: two teenage lovers experiment with their bodies and with foreign objects; eventually their erotic adventures include madness, torture, murder and the death of a bullfighter.

This is strange, heady stuff--fortunately the book is barely 100 pages long. This is underground literature at its finest, mocking the pretensions of culture, of decency, morality, and healthy sexuality. Bataille's style can be obtuse but can also illuminate dark, forbidden corners of humanity. If you're into de Sade, Wm. Burroughs, Surrealism, Clive Barker, the psychology of fetishism, or just want something to read that is light years from the crappy bestseller lists, read "The Story of the Eye" and introduce yourself to the unholy world of Georges Bataille.

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting erotica; written from a place of rebellion July 13, 2001

By Bart Tare

Format:Paperback

I wasn't sure what to make of The Story of an Eye when I first read it as an undergraduate in college twelve years ago. Recently rereading the book, I now have a clearer interpretation. I think the most interesting aspect of this book comes in Bataille's linking of his own "sexual perversions" to his childhood experiences with his father's eyes, urination, and the whole association of these experiences with eggs. It is facinating that Bataille apparently wrote this novella without the knowledge that he was dealing with parts of his childhood, but that all of this psychological material came through anyway. It made me contemplate my own childhood experiences and associations they have with my conceptions of sexuality as an adult. Another interpretation I have of this novella is that it is just a better-written version of de Sade. The Story of an Eye seeks to shock and offend in way that breaks down the repression of shame-based morality. In many respects, The Story of an Eye is just a listing of morally crude/violent sexual experiences. It's giving the finger to perceived patriarchal institutions such as the Catholic Church, mental hospitals, the government, parents, etc. by means of graphically describing perceived sexual "aberrations" in the eyes (no pun intended) of these institutions. The problem I have with this "sexual extremism = destruction of patriachy" philosophy is that this type of rebellion only creates the same type of violence and shame that it seeks to liberate people from. In my mind, the characters in The Story of the Eye become that which they rebel against. Still, this novella is well worth a read if you're a fan of rebellious sexual literature in the de Sade vein. It's also funny to think that The Story of the Eye was written around the same time of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises.