The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism [Paperback]

Nick Land (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 1991 | ISBN-10: 041505608X | ISBN-13: 978-0415056083

An impassionate and fearless study of Georges Bataille which goes beyond analysis and criticism to actually engage with him.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`This is an extraordinary book:genre-busting without being merely interdisciplinary, ferociusly argumentative, laden with polemics (some of which are better than Schopenhauer's) and written in a style that occasionally reaches a pitchof aphoristic beauty comparable with Cioran or Nietzsche ... If you want to hav fun thinking ... then this is a book for you;' - Parallax --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (January 2, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041505608X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415056083
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,090 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This piece of hole for madmen, October 18, 2004

By 

Art-oo - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (Paperback)

I cannot compare reading this book to any other book I have read. It is not a poem. It is not a fiction. Philosophy? No, obviously not. Nick Land curses philosophy and everything about it but its philosophical chapters are sharp, intelligent, rich and mysteriously gloomy. If demons wished to write a book, all together, then you could expect to read this book. Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari once shouted "they are already a crowd". Thirst for Annihilation has been written by a legion. Nick Land deserves to go to hell because of writing a book like this, feit de viande et de sperme fou. I cast my vote with the close-minded reviewer who has given such a book just one star: "Don't read this book." It has not been written for you, human!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the best book yet written on Bataille!, February 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (Paperback)

Land revels in Bataille's perverse methodology, reviving his audacity and confrontational spirit. A dangerous, evil book and a must-read for anyone who cares about French philosophy and its future

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unrateable, November 18, 2004

By 

Jo (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism (Hardcover)

Goodness, what an ... odd book. I picked it up in essay crisis mode (i.e. I grabbed anything in the library with the word Bataille in the title) and that's how I encountered Land's book. I have never read anything odder in my life. If you're after a straightforward Bataille crit, then this is not the book for you - it has about 2 useful pages'-worth of material in it. If you want to feel like you put your head into a tumble-dryer full of acid and leprechauns and things, then give this book a go. Land's approach to Bataille is a two-way process - he engages with Bataille's thought, and his writing is very much an attempt to write in an authentically Bataillean way. Hence the descriptions of drunkenness, of anger, of madness. You certainly couldn't accuse Land of being conventional. And the dedication is hilarious - worth the cover price by itself.

Read this and expand your mental borders a bit.