/lit/ - Literature

>>20058487
/lit/ will become a Bataillean board

>>20058487
if you have not read "the solar anus", take the 5 minutes or listen to the audiobook version

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/georges-bataille-the-solar-anus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNSVABP6310&t=180s

I’ve read all three volumes of the accursed share, AMA

>>20058540
Can you explain it to me? I’m planning on reading and watched a video about it in preparation because I’ve heard it can be difficult and I didn’t understand much. Basically, from what I understand, Bataille proposes there are two aspects of the economy. The first aspect is the restricted economy, which deals with scarcity and production. This is the aspect of the economy that traditional economists and political philosophers like Smith and Marx discuss. The second aspect is the general economy, which deals with excess. This is the part I don’t understand. The only evidence he seems to propose for its existence is that other things, like the sun and human bodies, give off excess so the economy must too. And how exactly are we supposed to deal with the excess in modern society? He says so called primitive civilizations dealt with it through sacrifice of goods, animals, and humans. But how exactly does the occasional sacrifice contribute so massively to the economy?

>>20058570
>The second aspect is the general economy, which deals with excess. This is the part I don’t understand.
The difference between the restricted and general economy is one of subject matter- a restricted economy thinks in terms of a scarcity of (material) resources, while a general economy thinks in terms of a surplus of energy. The stuff about solar energy is confusing but you don’t have to interpret it as literally as he may have meant it, it’s just a way of showing how the earth as an enclosed system is shot through with more energy than it could possibly put to use.

Basically there are two outcomes for that excess energy; once the system reaches a terminal point of saturation, either it goes towards the expansion of the system itself, or the excess has to be decadently wasted. For Bataille this manifests in all sorts of ways throughout history: offerings to the gods, human sacrifice, war, art, etc… for him, the pivotal example for modern life is eroticism that is completely detached from a reproductive function, leading to his claim that “the sexual act is in time what the tiger is in space”. A world that has such excess energy (leading to population boom) has inevitably produced a vicious predator (anti-reproductive eroticism) in order to lay waste that excess.

>>20058622
Thank you for the explanation. One last question: did he think the decadent waste of excess was a good thing and did he think non-reproductive eroticism was a good form of decadent waste?

>>20058646
> did he think the decadent waste of excess was a good thing and did he think non-reproductive eroticism was a good form of decadent waste?
Define “good”. My guess is he saw it as necessary or inevitable dependent on the degree of saturation in the system; ethical dimensions of good and bad don’t really come into it. Also it ties in with his aristocratic tendencies: the way that Aztec rulers would slaughter their own slaves or give generously to other rulers in order to demonstrate their power over them. The more you are willing to waste, the greater your power must be compared with your rivals.

>>20058665
Okay, thank you again for the explanation