Reviews
This book will contribute to the study of ethics by opening up a new field of writing, Bataille's mystical writings, for study.
Peter Tracey Connor's Georges Bataille and the Mysticism of Sin is three books in one: a sure-footed analysis of Bataille's notion of 'inner experience' and its distinction from experiences of mystical transport, an equally astute appraisal of a central conception of language, morality, and politics for contemporary critical thought, and a vivid implied history of the reasons why literary theory is practiced and resisted today... an elegant and concise book... indispensable for a wide range of scholars in the fields of religious studies, French studies, and art history.
Georges Bataille and the Mysticism of Sin does a commendable job of demonstrating the extent to which Bataille's Sadean corpus remains indebted to Christian mystics such as Meister Eckert and Jakob Boehme.
A careful study of Bataillean 'inner experience' and a sensitive analysis of the ways in which the ecstatic experiences Bataille describes inflect the author's style, his political engagements, and his ethical convictions.
In its clarity of exposition, in its eloquence, and in its awareness of the larger sweep of literature and philosophy, Connor's book is clearly one of the best on Bataille. In its careful isolation of problems and extremely rigorous and systematic elaboration of themes, it is in a class by itself. It will be a standard reference on Bataille.