Negative Ecstasies: Georges Bataille and the Study of Religion

Despite Georges Bataille's acknowledged influence on major poststructuralist thinkers-including Foucault, Derrida, Kristeva, Lacan, Baudrillard, and Barthes-and his prominence in literary, cultural, and social theory, rarely has he been taken up by scholars of religion, even as issues of the sacred were central to his thinking. Bringing together established scholars and emerging voices, Negative Ecstasies engages Bataille from the perspective of religious studies and theology, forging links with feminist and queer theory, economics, secularism, psychoanalysis, fat studies, and ethics. As these essays demonstrate, Bataille's work bears significance to contemporary questions in the academy and vital issues in the world. We continue to ignore him at our peril.


Author: Jeremy Biles
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Published: 08/03/2015
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.27lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780823265190

About the Author

Jeremy Biles is the author of Ecce Monstrum: Georges Bataille and the Sacrifice of Form (Fordham).

Kent L. Brintnall is the Bonnie E. Cone Early-Career Professor in Teaching at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive Figure.