Francis Marmande's 'Le pur bonheur' Maps Georges Bataille's Intellectual Universe

Francis Marmande's 'Le pur bonheur' assembles fictions, articles, essays, aphorisms, and poems by Georges Bataille, offering a fragmented intellectual biography. The title echoes Bataille's deferred project of an anthology. Bataille, a chartist, librarian, and journal director, resisted a philosophical career, publishing little under his own name and exploring topics like the formless, economy, art, philosophy, eroticism, and anthropology. His journal 'Documents' covered doctrines, archaeology, fine arts, and ethnography. The collection spans from ancient medals to the Pieds Nickelés comic strip and Manet, revealing an inner conflict leading to Bataille's statement: 'Poetry opens the void to the excess of desire.' Marmande recalls that 'Le Monde' once ran an article on a namesake, 'Georges Bataille, king of the hydraulic shovel.' The book presents Bataille as a provocation to delve deeper into humanity, eroticism, and the sacred—a search for pure happiness.