A philosopher, essayist, novelist, pornographer and fervent Catholic who came to
regard the brothels of Paris as his true 'churches', Georges Bataille ranks amo
ng the boldest and most disturbing of twentieth-century thinkers. In this influe
ntial study he links the underlying sexual basis of religion to death, offering
a dazzling array of insights into incest, prostitution, marriage, murder, sadism
, sacrifice and violence, as well as including comments on Freud, Sade and Saint
Theresa. Everywhere, "Eroticism" argues, sex is surrounded by taboos, which we
must continually transgress in order to overcome the sense of isolation that fac
es us all.
