Pornography history

Author: (French) Georges Bataille / Liu Hui
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-03-01
Features: This book is one of the important works of the renowned French scholar Georges Bataille. The author attempts to seek a supreme meaning in socially excluded erotic activities, believing that eroticism is a form of spiritual satisfaction that complements the intellectual world. He advocates for a self-awareness that does not shy away from everything (including disgust and shame) and pushes the exploration of possibilities to its limits. The humble and uncivilized possess an experience of possibilities, even of the totality (totalité), in depth and breadth, akin to that of great mystics. This requires only some energy. Energy is not rare, especially when one is at the height of their power, but this breadth and depth have an equivalent in the foolish, mediocre—even cowardly—judgments they make about the possibilities they can reach. These judgments lead to the ultimate failure of an activity, as the activity loses its meaning. Nothing is more common than this: a person stumbles upon an unparalleled glory, their senses are all-encompassing, but they do not know how to express it. Simultaneously, a series of vague thoughts arise in their mind,ing fleeting conversations. If it involves erotic life, many of us are content with common notions. Its dirty appearance is a trap few avoid. This appearance becomes a justification for casually dismissing erotic life. Or they deny this repulsive, shifting from disdain to vulgarity: they claim that nothing dirty exists in nature. We desperately replace the apex of the heavens with empty thoughts, those moments when it seems to open for us. I want to organize a thought in this book that is detached from the scientific concept of linking the object with incompatible modes of existence but is strict, impossibly strict, as required by the consistency of a thought system that can exhaust all possibilities. Human thought cannot be disconnected from its closely related objects without distinction. We need a thought that does not crumble in the face of disgust, a self-awareness that does not shy away from itself when pursuing the exploration of possibilities to its end. My intention is not merely to eliminate the avoidance of the true and the shame that arises from this avoidance. This second volume embodies an effort to critique certain thoughts that subordinate human activity to other purposes rather than the useless consumption (consumation inutile) of energy. Here, we must eliminate certain ways of looking at problems that foster servility. I once believed that the lack of independence in thought, its subordination to useful purposes, and, in general, the dissolution of thought are truly horrifying. After all, contemporary political and technological thought has reached a deformed development, leading us toward useful purposes themselves that yield insignificant results. There should be no concealment: this ultimately means human failure. This failure has indeed not touched the entire human race. Only the servile are involved, their gaze fixed on useless things, on things that bring no utility. But the servile now hold power in all aspects. If they do not truly impose their principles on the entire human race, at least it can be said with certainty that no one speaks out against this servility, explaining what leads to this inevitable failure. This may be difficult, after all, because two things have been proven equally true: no one opposes the right of the servile to hold power—so their failure is truly horrifying! The powerlessness of those who are indignant at the miserable situation is not as surprising as it seems on the surface. If the servile are defeated, if the outcome is terrifying, it is equally certain that the principles opposed by practical thought have long since lost their vitality. If these principles survive, even in name, they will ultimately lead those who overcome them to failure. But in this regard, it is merely a tiresome repetition of regrets. I sought in past experiences, not established principles, but unknown laws, which guide people; if we do not understand these laws, we will stray down a path of misfortune. The past, free from servitude, disappears in crooked paths, constantly losing itself and resorting to deception. We have lost ourselves in fear in the opposite direction. We have engaged in frantic activities and shameful deception in fear. But humanity, wounded by harmful memories, has no other path than the past, which will not (and cannot) walk these paths with a certain coherence. Everything once served the interests of a few, and finally we decided that everything should serve the interests of all. We see that the harmful system is the second when applied, because it is not as imperfect. This does not mean returning to . But—unless we take consumption (consumation) as the sovereign principle of action, we will not be able to resist these terrible disorders, without which we do not know how to consume the energy we possess. My contradictory stance requires me to point out the absurdity of a system in which everything is useful and nothing is autonomous. I cannot do this unless I show that a world with nothing autonomous is unadvantageous: but in general, we need autonomous values, because having useless values is useful. This makes it difficult to support the principles I put forward in this book’s volume, where I discussed the relationship between production and consumption [and non-productive consumption (consommation in productive)]. Of course, I pointed out that production is no more important than consumption, but I cannot correspondingly show that there is something useful in consumption (even ultimately useful for production!). This second volume is very different; it describes the utility of the consumption of energy, usually considered worthless, in the human spirit. No one can thus move from the autonomous characteristics of eroticism to its utility. Sex is at least beneficial for something. But this time, eroticism refers to an autonomous form that has no use. To derive an answer to autonomous behavior from a socially excluded, usually shame-related activity may seem somewhat inappropriate. I should defend myself by saying that no one acts for usefulness if they do not know that usefulness is their purpose, and those who engage in usefulness first meet the requirements of eroticism. Therefore, from any perspective, we will see an unchanging form of conscious autonomy, or we will persist in understanding the energy pressure that constrains our decisions and actions at various stages. Nothing is more interesting to us than grasping the secret of eroticism. Thus, this book focuses on the dual characteristics of my research: I want to conclude in the epilogue from the consistent system of human energy consumption (dépense), in which eroticism plays an important role. Of course, I believe that we cannot touch the deep meaning of political issues without considering the relationship between labor and eroticism, and eroticism and war, although disgust always dominates in political issues. I will demonstrate that these entirely different forms of human activity draw on the same energy resources, thereby creating a necessity: either to provide a correct solution to economic, military, and demographic issues, or to abandon the hope of maintaining the current civilization. I am not unaware that my chances of being understood are slim. This is not because the volume of The Accursed has not been truly accepted, but precisely because of the environment I wish to address. After all, my ideas are too new. Regarding the professional response, I first see that such reactions are attractive and striking, but too quick, requiring a long time to digest. This is not because I see misunderstandings that need to be eliminated in others’ refutations, but because I intend to replace their habitual expressions with new ones, and the gap between them is very large. However, I am afraid that what I have done so far is not entirely insufficient to reassure those interested in my book. My determination to question the whole of humanity—the concrete, real whole—was astonishing when I stepped into the cursed domain. Now, I do not want to eliminate the troubles I have sought for myself. I believe this trouble is necessary. Measure the abyss that opens before humanity with its gaping jaws! Can those who have always been ready to retreat in fear of it solve the problems of our time? Especially this cursed era? In any case, I want to preempt a misunderstanding caused by my attitude. My book may be seen as a defense of eroticism, but I only intend to describe an infinitely rich overall response. However, the reactions I describe are fundamentally contradictory. May people follow me with one heart: human existence determines the fear of all desires; this fear itself determines the value of erotic temptation. If my view has a certain defensive tone, this defense is not of eroticism but of humanity in general. It is admirable to constantly maintain all reactions that have an unattainable precision, firm and uncompromising: nothing can match it! But conversely, laziness and lack of pressure, the weakness of unbridled indulgence, do not recognize human vitality; because if humanity no longer remains true to itself, no longer full of sharp contrasts, it would not exist.