November 05, 2003
Philosophy and Literature
Gary, I'm not particularly interested in sticking to the disciplines myself. Among other things, I am interested in Bataille because of his contribution to the liberation of (particularly) written language. From the perspectives of the disciplines of philosophy and literature this is equally important. Bataille's own writings are, of course, pretty difficult to fit snugly into established disciplines.
Bataille isn't merely after a way of discussing the things that are excluded by philosophy. He also wants to go beyond literature---the stuff read in literature departments and also the gear you can only read out on the balcony, the parapet, the veranda. One of Bukowski's books of poems is called 'Screams From The Balcony'.
This makes his writing a little more like philosophy.
For example, in Madame Edwarda (ME) there is an attempt to abandon all literary style, and by this I guess I mean seductive style, writing that aims to get you in.
An honours student objected to various critics who have suggested that ME was the best novella of the twentieth century because the style was so bloody awful, he thought, so flat, so lacking in style. Bataille would have been pleased to have heard his work described thus. That was what he was after--- straight unadorned, and simple, description---the best way of getting to sovereignty.
The problem is the same for philosophy. Wittgenstein pointed out that some things cannot be said but can only be shown. The last pages of the Tractatus deal with this region. (e-text here).Where philosophy cannot go there is mysticism. [scroll down to the last line on the last page--Gary] For Bataille as for Wittgenstein. What should we call the area where literature cannot go? Bataille calls it 'sovereignty'.
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