Publisher's Synopsis
Eroticism is a study of the underlying sexual basis of religion and philosophy, especially in its relationship to death. Bataille's great erudition enables him to range from Freud to Sade and from Saint Theresa to Kinsey. This far-reaching, provocative and often controversial book includes the results of Batialle's own research into the origins of taboo, religious ecstacy and the erotic impulse. The author emphasises throughout the fundamental unity of the human spirit, the relationship between death and eroticism. We are asked to imagine man's existence in terms of man's passion. This important and stuimulating work helps us to understand Bataille's vital influence not only on French writing today, but also on modern existentialist thought.
