| The Accursed Share, Volume I Revised Edition Contributor(s): Bataille, Georges (Author), Hurley, Robert (Translator) |
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ISBN: 0942299116 ISBN-13: 9780942299113 Publisher: Zone Books OUR PRICE: $22.46 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 1991 Annotation: Most Anglo-American readers know Bataille as a novelist. The "Accursed Share "provides an excellent introduction to Bataille the philosopher. Here he uses his unique economic theory as the basis for an incisive inquiry into the very nature of civilization. Unlike conventional economic models based on notions of scarcity, Bataille's theory develops the concept of excess: a civilization, he argues, reveals its order most clearly in the treatment of its surplus energy. The result is a brilliant blend of ethics, aesthetics, and cultural anthropology that challenges both mainstream economics and ethnology. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Business & Economics | Economics - General - Philosophy | History & Surveys - Modern |
| Dewey: 330 |
| LCCN: 87034072 |
| Series: Zone Books |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 6" W x 9" (0.70 lbs) 200 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In this important work, Georges Bataille uses his novel economic theory as the basis for an incisive inquiry into the very nature of civilization. He introduces here his concept of the accursed share, the surplus energy that any system, natural or cultural, must expend; it is this expenditure, according to Bataille, that most clearly defines a society. His examples include sacrifice among the Aztecs, potlatch among the Northwest Coast Indians, military conquest in Islam, and Buddhist monasticism in Tibet. In this way, Bataille proposes a theory of a "general economy" based on excess and exuberance that radically revises conventional economic models of scarcity and utility. A brilliant blend of economics and aesthetics, ethics and anthropology, The Accursed Share provides an excellent introduction to Bataille's philosophic work. It will be of particular interest not only to readers of his fiction and essays but also to cultural theorists, anthropologists, and economists of all schools. |
Contributor Bio(s): Bataille, Georges: - Georges Bataille (1897-1962) was a French writer, essayist, and philosopher whose works include The Story of the Eye, The Blue of Noon, The Accursed Share, and Theory of Religion. |