Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Leslie Anne Boldt-Irons

Critical Essay by Leslie Anne Boldt-Irons

SOURCE: Boldt-Irons, Leslie Anne. “Sacrifice and Violence in Bataille's Erotic Fiction: Reflections from/upon the mise en abîme.” In Bataille: Writing the Sacred, edited by Carolyn Bailey Gill, pp. 91-104. New York: Routledge, 1995.

In the following essay, Boldt-Irons examines Bataille's notion of sacrifice as it appears in his erotic fiction, notably the element of loss as experienced by the reader and the witness.

The sacrifice that we consummate is distinguished from others in this way: the one who sacrifices is himself affected by the blow which he strikes—he succumbs and loses himself with his victim.

(L'expérience intérieure)

In both L'expérience intérieure and L'érotisme Bataille declares that his view of sacrifice is to be distinguished from that of others: his view entails the loss of the sacrificer and witness along with the victim, whereas, traditionally, the former are not lost along with the victim, for they profit from the latter's loss...
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