Georges Bataille - The Impossible
Georges Bataille - The Impossible, Archeologia i antropologia, Georges Bataille
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Georges Bataille
THE IMPOSSIBLE
A Story of Rats
followed by
Dianus
and by The Oresteia
by
Robert Hurle
y
CITY LIGHTS BOOKS
San Francisco
Translated
©
1991 by City Lights Books
© 1962 by Les Editions de Minuit, Paris
Cover design by Rex Ray
Lib
rary of
Congre
ss Cata
loging-i
n-Public
ation D
ata
CONTENTS
Bataill
e, Georg
es, 189
7-1962.
[Impo
ssible. E
nglish]
T
he impo
ssible
/ by Geo
rges Bat
aille : tr
anslated
from
t
he Frenc
h by Ro
bert Hu
rley.
p.
cm.
Tran
slation
of: L'lm
possibl
e.
ISBN 0
-87286-2
62-3 : $
10.95
I. Ti
tle.
PQ2603. A69514613
848'.91209-dc20
PREFACE
.................................. ·· .. ········· ...... .
9
A STORY OF RATS
.............................. · .. ····
11
DIANUS
.................................... ············ ....... .
83
1991
THE OR
EST ........
.....................
....
EIA
.
...
.....
119
91-21312
CIP
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"His lips kept murmuring 'Jesus!' ... then, 'Catherine!'
As he spoke my name
I
took his head between my hands,
reminding him of the goodness of God and
I
said to him:
'I
wish it!'
"When he was buried, my soul reposed in peace and
quiet and in such a fragrance of blood that
I
could not bear
the idea of washing away that blood which had lowed from
him onto me. "
-Saint Catherine
o
f
Siena
"During this agony, the soul is inundated with inexpress
ible delights."
-Saint Teresa
o
f
Avila
10
-
PREFACE
I irst published this book ifteen years ago, giving it an obscure
title:
The Hatred of Poetry.
It seemed to me that true poetry was
reached only by hatred.Poetry had no poweful meaning except in
the violence of r.Olt. But poetry attains this violence only by
evoking the
impossible.
Almost no one understood the meaning of
the irst title, which is why I prfer inally to speak of
The
Impossible.
It's true that this second title isfa r fr om being clearer.
But it may be one day ...: I perceive the course of a convulsion
that involves the whole movement of beings. This convulsion goes
fr om death's disappearance to that voluptuous rage which, per
haps, is the meaning of the disappearance.
PART ONE
A STORY OF RATS
v
iolent p
leasure
, horro
r, and d
eath-
precisel
y the pe
rspectiv
e of
p
oetry-
and in
the opp
osite d
irection,
that of
science
or the
real
journal of Dianus)
w
orld of
utility.
Only the
useful,
the rea
l, have a
serious
charac
ter.
W
e are n
ever wi
thin ou
r rights
in pre
ferring
seductio
n: trut
h has
r
ights ov
er us.
Indeed,
it has
very r
ight. A
nd yet
we can,
and
in
deed w
e must
, respon
d to so
methin
g which
, not b
eing G
od, is
st
ronger
than v
ery righ
t, that
impo
ssible
to w
hich w
e accede
only
by
fo rget
ting th
e truth
of al
l these
rights,
only b
y acce
pting
di
sappea
rance.
G.B.
Huma
nity is f
a ced w
ith a do
uble pe
rspectiv
e: in on
e direct
ion,
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