This short introduction to Georges Bataille’s work examines his philosophy and literature by identifying the central theories of transgression, sovereignty and/or subjectivity, sacrifice, art and/or aesthetic radicalism, general and restricted economies, as well as the profane and the sacred by way of eroticism and ecstasy. Bataille remains a singular and complex figure, an Outsider in poststructuralist, continental philosophy, and the complexities of his interdisciplinary approach to literature and theory compels this introduction to explore and explain his innovative and often controversial work as an impossible philosopher, as well as a philosopher of the Impossible.

This short introduction to Georges Bataille’s work examines his philosophy and literature by identifying the central theories of transgression, sovereignty and/or subjectivity, sacrifice, art and/or aesthetic radicalism, general and restricted economies, as well as the profane and the sacred by way of eroticism and ecstasy. Bataille remains a singular and complex figure, an Outsider in poststructuralist, continental philosophy, and the complexities of his interdisciplinary approach to literature and theory compels this introduction to explore and explain his innovative and often controversial work as an impossible philosopher, as well as a philosopher of the Impossible.