Thought provoking
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I was led to this work by my interest in the history of the Surrealist movement, particularly, the exploration of pornographic literature and how its manifestations has influenced Art in the 20th century. Needless to say the content of this book and others (Sade's late 18th century works provide the basis for any significant discussion) provides an uncomfortable analysis into the brutalisation of sexual behaviour, criminality and dark subconscious desires. For me Bataille deforms the emotional and physical forces of sexual pleasure into a fictionalised account of Freudian dimensions that monstrously perverts the `normal' view of sex held by most enlightened members of educated societies. In doing so the tale's protagonists appear to inhabit a dreamscape of metaphorical imagery (predominately the shape and texture of the eye), performing sexual acts that are aesthetically antithetical and which cannot be accepted (by me at least) as rational or sexually stimulating. Indeed I feel that Bataille is deliberately challenging the reader's imagination to such an extent that the poetry of the narrative itself becomes a means of transgression that can only exist in the unconscious mind albeit recognisable in dreams. Furthermore the sexual perversions and surreal fetishes of these characters should be seen as a form of madness of anarchic proportions that dismisses recognisable moral constructs and leads to despair and death. As Art this is in my view an important work and should not be ignored by those interested in the complexity of human thought and the power of imagination. I would recommend reading Sontag's excellent essay prior to the tales. Unfortunately I found Roland Barthes' article demanding because of my very limited understanding of linguistics.
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fun and educational
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Bataille's novel is a book about which one can argue endlessly whether it is pornographic or art or both. This is the point. It is easy to see how one can dismiss the novel as smut. However, in order to really understand the metaphorical language and the connection of themes within the novel one must dwell in Sontag's and Barthes' essays (incorporated within the book) that may change one's perspective about the graphic but beautifully written content of the book. In fact, the essays form an integral piece to understand contemporary French writing. To push it to the extreme, talking about it is philosophising. The story of the eye offers to both camps: those that want to have a quick mesmerising read and those who are interested in understanding a modern continental perspective on a philosophy of art.
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Definately worth a read
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Story of the Eye is not so much an erotic text, as an exploration on what it is that drives every human- desire. Desire to live, breath eat, make love, our lives revolve around it, and if there was no desire we would not be alive.It is a mistake to have Batailles novella down as an erotic fiction- it is so much more than that. He exorcises his demons through eroticism at its highest level, in order to find a release, or death, of that wanting, which can never be resolved. It is an important read, and whatever it is you take away from it, it will be something important.
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dirty literary masterpiece
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If you're thinking plot and characterization, you're missing the point. This is modernism all the way: vignettes with their own individual logic which do thread together, but not in the way of an epic which builds and smooths out contradictions. It works perfectly as an erotic text because it illuminates the way desire catches on the tiniest of details, magnifying each beyond the reach of rational discourse. It moves skilfully, evading the capture of novelistic conventions, denying a too easy satisfaction. It's precisely these qualities which make it great erotic writing; it allows the reader to engage their own desires in the gaps which a lesser novel would be tempted to fill in. It's not there to be understood, it's to be revelled in!
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Your hard-earned money doesn't deserve to be spent on this
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'Story of the Eye' is, summarily, wholly disappointing, more so when read under the mantle of "greatest erotic masterpiece of the century". This is an especially ludicrous claim given the book's modest length, and the absurdly disjointed plot which Bataille lazily attempts to cram into it. The characters are shallow and forgettable, seemingly ill-disguised personifications of Bataille's own childish and under-developed fantasies. The book reads like a hasty and excited first draft, with proportionally huge passages coming across as sparse, drivelling babble. The erotica, while undoubtedly imaginative and original for its time (at least in terms of being published), is cold, uncaptivating and largely rather boring. What little of it that shows potential is either completely smothered in immaturity by the tone of the writing, or left horribly isolated by the sloppy plot, leaving genuinely erotic moments few and far between. If you plan to buy this book as a lover of literature, you are likely to take nothing more from it than profound embarrassment and a lesson in how not to write fiction, erotic or otherwise. If you plan to buy it as a lover of erotica, you'll be left disappointed, cold and ultimately confused as to why it has drawn such critical acclaim.
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