Violence as an Expression of Energy

ABSTRACT

The literary oeuvre of Marquis de Sade (1740–1814) has attracted a great deal of interest over the past 200 years, not only from writers, but also from numerous leading philosophers. Among them is Georges Bataille, who particularly emphasizes the apathetic character of the Sadean libertines, meaning that they feel nothing at all. More specifically, the French philosopher focuses on their apathetic enjoyment that goes hand in hand with the abuse of victims. The goal of this article is to clarify that peculiar pleasure by comparing it, among other things, with stoicism and mysticism. It will be shown that in the Sadean universe not moral transgression is central, but rather the transgression of a metaphysical boundary, i.e. the boundary between the human and non-human.

KEYWORDS:

• Bataille
• Sade
• energy
• apathy
• transgression

Notes

1 One year later, this text was published as “Sade et la morale” in La profondeur et le rythme. Troisième volume des Cahiers du Collège Philosophique. See also Bataille, “Le mal dans le platonisme et dans le sadisme”, 365–80 and Bataille, “Sade et la morale”, 445–52.

2 Bataille, “Le secret de Sade”, 147–60 and Bataille, “Le secret de Sade (II)”, 304–12.

3 Bataille, “Sade”, 120–48. See also “Sade” in Œuvres complètes. This text was based upon “Le secret de Sade (II)”.

4 Bataille, “Le bonheur, l’érotisme et la littérature”, 401–11.

5 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 183–96. See also “L’homme souverain de Sade” in Œuvres complètes. That text was based upon “Le bonheur, l’érotisme et la littérature”.

6 Bataille, “Sade et l’homme normal”, 197–218. See also “Sade et l’homme normal” in Œuvres complètes. That article was first published as a foreword in Justine ou les malheurs de la vertu.

7 See, for example, Roche, “Black Sun: Bataille on Sade”, 157–80. One exception, however, is Marty, Pourquoi le XXe siècle a-t-il pris Sade au sérieux?

8 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 167–68.

9 De Sade, Juliette, of de voorspoed van de ondeugd, 281; my translation.

10 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 174.

11 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 168–72.

12 See also Stoekl, Bataille’s Peak. Energy, Religion, and Postsustainability, 3–31.

13 These lines are based on Bataille, “Théorie de la religion”, 281–345 and Bataille, “L’érotisme”, 33–145.

14 Bataille, “Théorie de la religion”, 295; my translation.

15 This is based upon Bataille, “L’économie à la mesure de l’univers”, 9–16; Bataille, “La part maudite”, 179; and Bataille, “La limite de l’utile”, 185–280. For a comprehensive discussion, see Hochroth, “The Scientific Imperative: Improductive Expenditure and Energeticism”, 47–77.

16 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 171. In this context, Bataille quotes from Blanchot’s Sade study (Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 171–72). For the passage that Bataille quotes, see Blanchot, “La raison de Sade”, 58–60.

17 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 169–70. See also Bataille, “Le secret de Sade (II)”, 308–09.

18 See also Bataille, “L’érotisme”, 90–109.

19 Bataille, “Le secret de Sade (II)”, 308.

20 Bataille, “Le bonheur, l’érotisme et la littérature (II)”, 407. See also Bataille, “L’érotisme”, 18.

21 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 170.

22 Bataille, “Le secret de Sade”, 159.

23 Bataille, “Le secret de Sade (II)”, 307.

24 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 172.

25 Bataille, “L’Histoire de l’érotisme”, 97.

26 Bataille, “L’Histoire de l’érotisme”, 173.

27 In “Kant with Sade’ and his seminar on the ethics of psychoanalysis, Lacan also focuses on the endless repetition of the sadist’s killing. However, while Bataille holds that the repetition is an effect of freed excessive energy, Lacan argues that the endless killing is due to the power of what he calls “the symbolic order”.

28 De Sade, Juliette, of de voorspoed van de ondeugd, 14; my translation.

29 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 173.

30 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 173; Bataille, “Le secret de Sade (II)”, 307.

31 Bataille, “Sade et la morale”, 449–51.

32 Bataille, L’érotisme, 13.

33 See also Direk, “Erotic experience and sexual difference in Bataille”, 110, and Guerlac, “‘Recognition’ by a Woman! A Reading of Bataille’s L’érotisme”, 90–2.

34 Bataille, “L’homme souverain de Sade”, 174; Bataille, “Sade et l’homme normal”, 194–95.

35 From what we have seen above, it appears that Bataille emphasizes the fact that the sadist exceeds a certain kind of boundary. In his Sade studies, he does not focus on, for example, the question of how the transgression and the boundary relate to each other. The latter is discussed elsewhere (see, for example, Bataille, L’érotisme, 66–72) and is rethought by Foucault later on in his text on Bataille titled “Préface à la transgression”.