Scan barcode
A review by jessicaminster
Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille
5.0
For the first half I was merely performing shock. It wasn't anything I've never read/watched before for the most part, though some of it was certainly unique and all of it was indeed quite "icky". It was only in the second half in which the book truly became one of the most shocking pieces of art I've ever experienced. And then the second segment of the book, which only takes up the last ten or so pages, happened. Spoilers?: Georges Bataille gives the reader an interesting cross-section of the story, where he analyses why he wrote it, both from an artistic perspective (to an extent), and from a psychological perspective.
Yes, it can be read as the most dirty, fucked up smut you've ever read. But there's something much more fascinating about it than that. It seems to encapsulate the horror of living to bear witness to terrible things in such a way that it just stuns not only the emotional reactive part of the brain, but also the intellectual part. It's as if Bataille was in his own way channelling the sorrow and terror of everyone into one story. And the outline of the second story did not surprise me at all, it really makes sense as a reaction to one of the most horrible parts of human history.
Despite saying all this, I still feel like my reaction will be one that I scoff at in years to come for being so short-winded. As I am now, though, I have nothing else to say. This is one of the most powerfully emotional and intellectual books I've ever read.
Recommended to: Jesus Christ I don't even know anymore
Yes, it can be read as the most dirty, fucked up smut you've ever read. But there's something much more fascinating about it than that. It seems to encapsulate the horror of living to bear witness to terrible things in such a way that it just stuns not only the emotional reactive part of the brain, but also the intellectual part. It's as if Bataille was in his own way channelling the sorrow and terror of everyone into one story. And the outline of the second story did not surprise me at all, it really makes sense as a reaction to one of the most horrible parts of human history.
Despite saying all this, I still feel like my reaction will be one that I scoff at in years to come for being so short-winded. As I am now, though, I have nothing else to say. This is one of the most powerfully emotional and intellectual books I've ever read.
Recommended to: Jesus Christ I don't even know anymore