Georges Bataille – Oeuvres complètes and other French collections; English translations

BatailleThis page is an attempt to provide a list of English translations of works in George Bataille’s Oeuvres complètes and other French collections of his work.

Some preliminary notes and explanations:-

    • Many of the works in the Oeuvres are also available in different editions, including from Gallimard and Éditions Lignes. As far as I can tell, these only include texts that are in Oeuvres, with the exception of correspondence, listed below.
    • All texts included in The Bataille Reader (edited by Fred Botting and Scott Wilson, Oxford: Blackwell, 1997) are available elsewhere in English – it seems like just a compilation from existing translations.
    • Essential Writings is largely made up of short excerpts from other translations, but also includes some texts not translated elsewhere. I’ve tried to indicate the latter, but only a few of the former.
    • I am sure I have missed translations in other places, especially in journals. Those journal articles listed generally require subscription.

I hope what is here is helpful. I’d welcome corrections, additions and comments.

Update: May 2023 references to Critical Essays 1; May 2023 references to the parts of Vol VII in The Limit of the Useful, translated by Cory Knutson and Thomas Elliott – MIT Press, February 2023. Two other volumes of essays from Critique are forthcoming.

Abbreviations

AM      The Absence of Myth: Writings on Surrealism, edited and translated by Michael Richardson, London: Verso, 1994.

CE        Critical Essays 1: 1944-1948trans. Chris Turner, eds. Alberto Toscano and Benjamin Noys, Seagull Books, 2023.

CH       The Cradle of Humanity: Prehistoric Art and Culture, edited by Stuart Kendall, translated by Michelle Kendall and Stuart Kendall, New York: Zone, 2005.

CS        The College of Sociology, 1937-39, edited by Denis Hollier, translated by Betsy Wing, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988; translation of Le Collège de sociologie 1937-1939, edited by Denis Hollier, Paris: Gallimard, 1979 with some new and updated material. There is a more recent edition in French: Paris: Gallimard, 1995, with some more new and updated material.

EA        Encyclopædia Acephalica, comprising the Critical Dictionary & Related Texts edited by Georges Bataille and the Encyclopædia Da Costa edited by Robert Lebel and Isabelle Waldberg, edited by Alastair Brotchie, translated by Iain White and others, London: Atlas Press, 1995.

EW       Essential Writings, edited by Michael Richardson, London: Sage, 1998.

LU        The Limit of the Useful, translated by Cory Knutson and Thomas Elliott, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2023.

OGB     October: Georges Bataille, Writings on Laughter, Sacrifice, Nietzsche, Un-Knowing, translated by Annette Michelson, October 36, Spring 1986.

PGB     The Poetry of Georges Bataille, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2018.

PV        “The Place of Violence: Selected Writings”, translated by Bruce Belay, Parallax 6 (2), 2010, 81-91.

SC        The Sacred Conspiracy: The Internal Papers of the Secret Society of Acéphale and Lectures to the College of Sociology, edited and introduced by Marina Galletti and Alastair Brochie, London: Atlas Press, 2017.

USNK   The Unfinished System of Nonknowledge, edited by Stuart Kendall, translated by Michelle Kendall and Stuart Kendall, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.

VE        Visions of Excess: Selected Writings 1927-1939, edited by Allan Stoekl, translated by Allan Stoekl with Carl R. Lovitt and Donald M. Leslie Jr., Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.

Oeuvres complètes I: Premiers écrits 1922-1940

  • Présentation de Michel Foucault
  • Histoire de l’oeil; translated as Story of the Eye, translated by Joachim Neugroschal, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1982.
  • L’Anus solaire; “The Solar Anus”, in VE 5-9.
  • Sacrifices; “Sacrifices”, in VE 130-36; part in EW 8-9.
  • Articles
    • Les monnaies des grands Mogols au Cabinet des Médailles
    • Jean Babelon
    • Notes sur la numismatique des Koushans et des Koushan-shahs sassanides
    • Marcel Jungfleisch
    • La collection Le Hardeley du Cabinet des Médailles
    • Catalogue of the coins in the Indian Museum
    • L’Amérique disparue; “Extinct America”, OGB 3-9.
    • Le cheval académique; “The Academic Horse”, translated by Krzysztof Fijalkowski and Michael Richardson, Undercover Surrealism: Georges Bataille and Documents, edited by Dawn Ades and Simon Baker, London: The Hayward Gallery, 2006, 236-43.
    • L’Apocalyse de Saint-Sever
    • Architecture; “Architecture”, translated by Dominic Faccini, October 60, 1992, 25-26, reprinted in EA 35-36; ER 37-38.
    • Le langage des fleurs; “The Language of Flowers”, VE 10-14.
    • Matérialisme; “Materialism”, VE 15-16; “Materialism”, EA 58.
    • Figure humaine; “Human Face”, OGB 17-20; “Human Face”, EA 99-106.
    • Black birds; “Black Birds”, EA 36-37.
    • Œil; “Eye”, VE 17-19; “Eye”, EA 43-49.
    • Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours
    • Chamaeu; “Camel”, EA 37-38.
    • Malheur; “Misfortune”, EA 61-62.
    • Poussière; “Dust”, EA 42-43
    • Lieux de pèlerinage: Hollywood
    • Le gros orteil; “The Big Toe”, VE 20-23; “Big Toe” EA 87-93.
    • Abattoir; “Slaughterhouse”, OGB 11-14; “Slaughterhouse”, EA 72-74.
    • Cheminée d’usine; “Smokestack”, OGB 15-16; reprinted as “Factory Chimney”, EA 51.
    • Métamorphose; “Metamorphosis”, OGB 23-24 [only one section]; reprinted with translation of other sections as “Metamorphosis”, EA 58-60.
    • Le ‘Jeu lugubre’; “The ‘Lugubrious Game‘”, VE 24-30.
    • Informe; “Formless”, VE 31; “Formless”, translated by Dominic Faccini, October 60, 1992, 27; reprinted in EA 51-52.
    • Le lion châtré; “The Castrated Lion”, AM 28-29.
    • Le bas matérialisme et la gnose; “Base Materialism and Gnosticism”, VE 45-52.
    • Espace; “Space”, EA 75-79.
    • Les écarts de la nature; “The Deviations of Nature”, VE 53-56.
    • Soleil pourri; “Rotten Sun”, VE 57-58.
    • Les Pieds Nickelés
    • Esthète; “Aesthete”, EA 32.
    • Bouche; “Mouth”, VE 59-60; “Mouth”, EA 62-64.
    • Musée; “Museum”, OGB 25-26; “Museum”, EA 64-65.
    • Emmanuel Berl
    • Kálî; “Kali”, EA 54-55.
    • Les trouvailles du Louristan
    • Pascal Pia
    • L’art primitif; “Primitive Art”, CH 35-44.
    • Joan Miró: peintures récentes
    • X marks the spot
    • La mutilation sacrificielle et l’oreille coupée de Van Gogh; “Sacrificial Mutilation and the Severed Ear of Vincent Van Gogh”, VE 61-72.
    • L’esprit modern et le jeu des transpositions
    • von Krafft-Ebing
    • La critique des fondaments de la dialectique hégélienne; “The Critique of the Foundations of the Hegelian Dialectic”, VE 105-15.
    • A propos de Krafft-Ebing
    • Pinard de la Boullaye
    • André Mater
    • Gérarad Servèze
    • Revue philosophique
    • La notion de dépense; “The Notion of Expenditure”, VE 116-29; part in EW 69-72.
    • Louis-Ferdinand Céline
    • André Breton, Tristan Tzara, Paul Éluard
    • René Crevel
    • Stefan Zweig
    • André Roujou
    • Pierre-Jean
    • Le problème de l’État
    • Minotaure
    • “La structure psychologique du fascisme”, “The Psychological Structure of Fascism”, translated by Carl R. Lovitt, New German Critique 16, 1979, 64-87; reprinted in VE 137-60.
    • André Malraux
    • Jules Claraz
    • J. Heering
    • ‘Contre-Attaque’: Union de lutte des intellectuels révolutionnaires
    • Les cahiers de ‘Contre-Attaque’
    • ‘Contre-Attaque’: La patrie et la famille
    • Les 200 familles
    • Les fascists lynchent Léon Blum
    • ‘Contre-Attaque’: Appel à l’action; “Counterattack: Call to Action”, OGB 26-27.
    • ‘Contre-Attaque’: Sous le feu des canons français…
    • A ceux qui n’ont pas oublié la guerre du droit et de la liberté
    • Les cahiers de ‘Contre-Attaque’: Front Populaire dans la rue; “Popular Front on the Street”, VE 161-68.
    • Vers la revolution réelle; “Toward Real Revolution”, OGB 32-41.
    • Notes additionnelles sur la guerre; “Additional Notes on the War OGB 29-31.
    • Le labyrinthe; “The Labyrinth”, VE 171-77.
    • La conjuration sacrée; “The Sacred Conspiracy”, VE 178-81; “The Sacred Conspiracy”, SC 123-26.
    • Nietzsche et les fascistes; “Nietzsche and the Fascists”, VE 182-96.
    • Héraclite (texte de Nietzsche), “Heraclitus: A Text by Nietzsche”, SC 133-36.
    • Propositions; “Propositions”, VE 197-201.
    • Karl Jaspers
    • Chronique nietzschéenne; “Nietzschean Chronicles”, VE 202-212.
    • Note sur la foundation d’un Collège de Sociologie; “Note on the Foundation of a College of Sociology”, CS 3-5.
    • La Mère-Tragédie; “The Primal Tragedy”, PV 88.
    • Chevelures; “Hair”, PV 89.
    • Van Gogh Prométhée; “Van Gogh as Prometheus”, OGB 58-60.
    • L’obélisque; “The Obelisk”, VE 213-22.
    • Corps célestes; “Celestial Bodies”, OGB 75-78.
    • Le paysage; translated by Patrick ffrench as “Landscape”, artcornwall.org
    • L’apprenti sorcier; “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, VE 223-34; “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, CS 12-23; “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”, SC 290-305.
    • Déclaration du Collège de Sociologie sur la crise internationale; “Declaration of the College of Sociology on the International Crisis”, CS 43-46; “Declaration on the International Crisis”, SC 340-42.
    • La chance
    • La folie de Nietzsche; “Nietzsche’s Madness”, OGB 42-45; “The Madness of Nietzsche”, SC 423-28.
    • La menace de guerre; “The Threat of War”, OGB 28; “The Threat of War”, SC 429-30.
    • La pratique de la joie devant la mort; “The Practice of Joy Before Death”, VE 235-39; “The Practice of Joy in the Face of Death”, SC 431-37.
    • Le sacré; “The Sacred”, VE 240-45.
    • Les mangeurs d’étoiles
  • Appendice – Histoire de l’œil (Nouvelle version)
  • Addendum 1973
    • Notre-Dame de Rheims
    • Raoux 1677 à 1734
    • Catalogue de l’oeuvre de Raoux

Oeuvres complètes II: Écrits posthumes, 1922-1940

I.

  • [Rêve]; “Dream”, VE 3-4.

II: Dossier de l’Œil Pinéal

  • Le Jésuve; “The Jesuve”, VE 73-78.
  • L’œil pineal (1); “The Pineal Eye”, VE 79-90.
  • L’œil pineal (2)
  • L’œil pineal (3)
  • L’œil pineal (4)

III: Dossier de la polémique avec André Breton

  • [Lettre à André Breton (1)]
  • [Lettre à André Breton (2)]
  • La valeur d’usage de D.A.F. de Sade (1); “The Use Value of D.A.F. de Sade (An Open Letter to My Current Comrades”, VE 91-102.
  • La valeur d’usage de D.A.F. de Sade (2)
  • Les propositions continues ici…
  • Ces propositions étant énoncées…
  • Cet énoncé étant terminée…
  • Quelle que soit ma resolution…
  • Arrive ici…
  • Je sais trop bien…
  • Faisant allusion…
  • «Dans l’histoire comme dans la nature…»
  • La «vielle taupe» et le préfixe sur dans les mots surhomme et surréalste; “The ‘Old Mole’ and the Prefix Sur in the words Surhomme and Surrealist”, VE 32-44.

IV: Dossier de «Documents»

  • Dali hurle avec Sade; “Dali screams with Sade”, PV 83-84.
  • L’exposition Frobenius à la salle Pleyel; “The Frobenius Exhibit at the Salle Pleyel”, CH 45-46.
  • Œuvres indo-hellénistiques
  • L’usine à Folies aux Folies-Bergère
  • Arts des nomads de l’Asie centrale
  • Deuxième groupe de photographes
  • Exposition Oskar Kokoschka

V.

  • Je ne crois pas pouvoir… (1)
  • Je ne crois pas pouvoir… (2)
  • [Note sur le système actuel de repression]; “On the Current System of Repression”, PV 86-87.
  • Lorsque M. Meyerson
  • Le nécessité d’éblouir…
  • Les raisons d’écrire un livre…; “The Reasons for Writing a Book”, translated by Elizabeth Rottenberg, Yale French Studies, No 79, 1991, 11.

VI. Textes se rattachent à «La notion de dépense»

  • [Le paradoxe de l’utilité absolue]
  • [La notion de dépense]
  • [Le rationalisme]
  • La recherche des modes de dépense
  • En ce qui concerne cette dernière forme d’activité…

VII: Textes se rattachent à «La structure psychologique du fascisme»

  • Cet aspect religieux manifeste…
  • En effet la vie humaine…

VIII: Dossier «Hétérologie»

  • La polarité humaine…
  • [Table des matières]
  • [Formules hétérologiques]
  • [Zusatz]
  • Véritables rapports de la magie et de la science
  • [Maîtres ou esclaves?]
  • [Sur l’État]
  • Ni Dieu ni maîtres…
  • Cette critique…
  • [Tableaux hétérologiques]

IX: Essais de sociologie

  • [Le fascisme en France]
  • Essai de definition du fascisme
  • L’abjection et les formes misérables
  • Le royauté de l’Europe classique
  • L’armée mystique
  • Le sacrifice
  • La joie devant la mort; “Joy in the Face of Death”, CS 322-28; “Joy in the Face of Death”, SC 438-41.
  • La structure sociale; “The Social Structure”, PV 85.

X: 1934-1935

  • En attendant la grève Générale
  • L’échec du Front Populaire
  • Les Présages

XI: En marge d’«Acéphale»

  • [Programme]; “Program (Relative to Acéphale)”, OGB 79; “Programme”, SC 137-38..
  • Pour mes propres yeux l’existence…; “To my Eyes, my own personal existence…”, SC 139-40.
  • [Instructions pour la «recontre» en forêt; “Instructions for the ‘Encounter’ in the Forest”, SC 178-79.

XII: Société de psychologie collective

  • 17 janvier 1938

XIII: Collège de Sociologie

  • Rapports entre «société», «organisme», «être» (1); “Sacred Sociology and the Relationships between ‘Society’, ‘Organism’, and ‘Being’”, CS 73-82.
  • Rapports entre «société», «organisme», «être» (2); “Sacred Sociology and the Relationships between ‘Society’, ‘Organism’, and ‘Being’”, CS 82-84.
  • 22 janvier 1938; “Attraction and Repulsion I: Tropisms, Sexuality, Laughter and Tears”, CS 103-112.
  • [5 février 1938]; “Attraction and Repulsion II: Social Structure”, CS 113-24 (the text in CS includes material missing from Oeuvres, see Le collège de sociologie, 143-68).
  • 19 février [1938]; Roger Caillois, “Power”, CS 125-136 (Bataille read Caillois’s text).
  • 19 mars 1938; Roger Caillois, “Brotherhood, Orders, Secret Societies, Churches”, CS 145-56 (Bataille read Caillois’s text).
  • 2 avril 1938; “Sacred Sociology of the Contemporary World”, CS 157-58.
  • Le Collège de Sociologie; “The College of Sociology”, VE 246-53; “The College of Sociology”, CS 333-41; “The College of Sociology”, SC 442-50.

XIV: Manuel de l’Anti-chrétien

  • Fragments d’un «Manuel de l’Anti-chrétien»
  • [Christianisme et armée
  • Les onze agressions
  • [Plan]
  • [Aphorismes]; “Ch. V of the Anti-Christian manual”, PV 90.
  • Les guerres sont pour le moment les plus forts stimulants de l’imagination

XV.

  • Le masque
  • Calaveras

Oeuvres complètes III: Oeuvres littéraires

  • Madame Edwarda; The Beast at Heaven’s Gate, translated by Austryn Wainhouse, Paris: Olympia, 1956 [?]; reprinted as “Madame Edwarda” in My Mother, Madame Edwarda, The Dead Man, translated by Austryn Wainhouse, London: Boyars, 1989; reprinted Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2012; also as “Madame Edwarda”, Grand Street 53, 1995, 42-52.
  • Le Petit; “The Little One”, in Louis XXX, translated by Stuart Kendall, London: Equus, 2015.
  • L’Archangélique; “Archangelic” in PGB 35-71.
  • L’Impossible; The Impossible: A Story of Rats followed by Dianus and by the Oresteia, translated by Robert Hurley, San Francisco: City Lights, 1991.
  • La Scissiparité; “Schizogenesis”, translated by Rowan Tepper, [unpublished? on ResearchGate]
  • L’Abbé C.; L’Abbé C, translated by Philip A. Facey, London: Boyars, 1983; reprinted London: Penguin, 2012.
  • L’être indifférencié n’est rien; “Undifferentiated Being Is Nothing”, PGB 141-50.
  • Le Bleu du ciel; translated by Harry Mathews, Blue of Noon, Marion Boyars, 1979; reprinted London: Paladin, 1988; London, Penguin, 2012.

Oeuvres complètes IV: Oeuvres littéraires posthumes

  • Poèmes; included in PGB.
  • Le mort; translated as “The Dead Man”, in My Mother, Madame Edwarda, The Dead Man, translated by Austryn Wainhouse, London: Boyars, 1989; reprinted London: Penguin, 2012.
  • Julie
  • La maison brulée
  • La tombe de Louis XXX; “The Tomb of Louis XXX” in Louis XXX, translated by Stuart Kendall, London: Equus, 2015.
  • Divinus deus
    • I. Madama Edwarda [included in Oeuvres complètes III, 7-31; see above]
    • II. Ma mère; My Mother, translated by Austryn Wainhouse, London: Jonathan Cape, 1972; reprinted in My Mother, Madame Edwards, The Dead Man, translated by Austryn Wainhouse, London: Boyars, 1989; reprinted Harmondsworth: Penguin, 2012.
    • III. Charlotte d’Ingerville
    • Appendix: Sainte
  • Èbauches

[Romans et récits, edited by Jean-François Louette et. al. Paris: Gallimard Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 2014 reprints texts from Vols III and IV]

Oeuvres complètes V: La somme Athéologique Tome I

  • L’expérience intérieure; Inner Experience, translated by Leslie Anne Boldt, Albany: SUNY Press, 1988; Inner Experience, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2014.
  • Méthode de meditation; parts as “Method of Meditation”, EW 144-52, 168-69;  “Method of Meditation”, USNK 77-99; “Method of Meditation”, in Inner Experience, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2014, 167-202.
  • Post-scriptum 1953; “Post-Scriptum 1953”, USNK, 206-209; “Post-Scriptum 1953”, in Inner Experience, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2014, 203-7.
  • Le coupable; Guilty, translated by Bruce Boone, Venice, CA: Lapis, 1988; Guilty, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2011. (A short part of this appeared as “The Ascent of Mount Aetna”, OGB 103-105).
  • L’Alleluiah, catéchisme de Dianus; “Alleluia: The Catechism of Dianus” in Guilty, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2011, 131-50.

Oeuvres complètes VI: La somme Athéologique Tome II

  • Sur Nietzsche; preface as “On Nietzsche: The Will to Chance”, OGB 46-57; full book as On Nietzsche, translated by Bruce Boone, New York: Paragon House, 1992, reprinted London: Continuum, 2004; On Nietzsche, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2015 [both full English translations include six short pieces in an Appendix]
  • Mémorandum; “Memorandum” in On Nietzsche, translated by Stuart Kendall, New York: SUNY Press, 2015 [not in Boone]
  • Annexes [not in Kendall or Boone’s translations of On Nietzsche]
  1. Vie de Laure; translated by Jeanine Herman in Laure: The collected writings, City Lights, 1995.
  2. [Collège socratique]; “Socratic College”, USNK, 5-17.
  3. L’amitié
  4. Le rire de Nietzsche; “Nietzsche’s Laughter”, USNK, 18-25.
  5. Discussion sur la péché; “Discussion on Sin”, USNK, 26-74.
  6. [Plans pour la Somme athéologique]

Oeuvres complètes VII:

  • L’économie à la mesure de l’univers; “The Economy to the Proportion of the Universe”, EW 74-79; “Economy at the Scale of the Universe”, LU 137-47.
  • La Part Maudite, I. La consummation; The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy I: Consumption, translated by Robert Hurley, New York: Zone, 1988.
  • La limite de l’utile (Fragments); “The Limit of the Useful”, LU 1-134.
  • Théorie de la religion; Theory of Religion, translated by Robert Hurley, New York: Zone, 1989.
  • Conférences 1947-1948
    • Le mal dans le platonisme et le sadism (12 mai 1947); part-translated in EW 41-43.
    • La religion surréaliste (24 février 1948); “The Surrealist Religion”, AM 71-90.
    • Schéma d’une Histoire des religions (26 et 27 février 1948); part-translated in EW 32-37.
  • Annexes
    • Sade et la morale
    • Les problems du surréalisme; “The Problems of Surrealism”, AM 97-102.
    • Notice autobiographique; “Autobiographical Note”, OGB 107-10.
  • Notes
    • L’économie à la mesure de l’univers; “Preliminary Notes to the Writing of The Accursed Share“, LU 149-57 [OC 465-69]
    • La Part Maudite, I. La Consumation [OC VII, 470-501]
    • La Limite de l’utile; “The Accursed Share, or, The Limit of the Useful”, 159-69 (translates OC VII, 502-7); the notes on LU 317-44 incorporate the material in OC VII, 507-19; “Dossier of Bataille’s Notes and Outlines for The Limit of the Useful), LU 171-311 (translates OC VII, 519-98)
    • Théorie de la religion
    • Conférences 1947-1948
    • Annexes

Oeuvres complètes VIII:

  • L’Histoire de l’éroticisme: La Part Maudite **; The Accursed Share II in The Accursed Share, Volumes II & III, translated by Robert Hurley, New York: Zone, 1992.
  • Le Surréalisme au jour le jour; “Surrealism from Day to Day”, AM 34-47; “Surrealism from Day to Day”, AM 34-47; “Surrealism from Day to Day” in Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris, Correspondence, translated by Liz Heron, London: Seagull, 2008, 41-62.
  • Conférences 1951-1953
    • Le sacré au XXe siècle; EW 46-47.
    • Les consequences du non-savoir (12 janvier 1951); “Un-Knowing and its Consequences”, OGB 80-85; “The Consequences of Nonknowledge”, USNK 111-18.
    • L’enseignement de la mort (8 et 9 mai 1952); “The Teaching of Death”, USNK 119-28.
    • Le non-savoir et la révolte (24 novembre 1952); “Un-Knowing and Rebellion”, OGB 86-88; “Nonknowledge and Rebellion”, USNK 129-32.
    • Non-savoir, rire et larmes (9 février 1953); “Un-Knowing: Laughter and Tears”, OGB 89-102; “Nonknowledge, Laughter, and Tears”, USNK 133-50.
    • L’angoisse du temps present et les devoirs de l’esprit [three conferences] – Notes to these three conferences, on 561-92 appear as “Aphorisms for the ‘System’”, USNK 153-82.
  • La Souveraineté: La Part Maudite **; The Accursed Share III in The Accursed Share, Volumes II & III, translated by Robert Hurley, New York: Zone, 1992.
  • Annexes
  1. Nietzsche et Jésus selon Gide et Jaspers [revised version in La Souveraineté/The Accursed Share III]
  2. Nietsche à la lumière du marxisme [revised version in La Souveraineté/The Accursed Share III]
  3. Nietzsche et Thomas Mann [revised version in La Souveraineté/The Accursed Share III]
  4. L’amour d’un être mortel [revised version in L’Histoire de l’éroticisme/The Accursed Share II]
  5. Le paradoxe de la mort et la pyramide [revised version in La Souveraineté/The Accursed Share III]

Oeuvres complètes IX:

  • Lascaux ou La Naissance de l’art; Prehistoric Painting: Lascaux or the Birth of Art, translated by Austryn Wainhouse, Geneva: Skira, 1955.
  • Manet; Manet, translated by Austryn Wainhouse and James Emmons, London: Geneva: Éditions d’Art Albert Skira, 1955.
  • La Littérature et le Mal; Literature and Evil, translated by Alastair Hamilton, Marion Boyars, 1976; reprinted London: Penguin, 2012.
  • Dossier de Lascaux
    • [Premier projet de film] “Appendix: Notes for a Film”, CH 179-85.
    • [Esquisse (1)]
    • [Esquisse (2)]
    • [Esquisse (3)]
    • [Scénario]
    • [Conférence à la société d’agriculture] “A Visit to Lascaux”, CH 47-55.
    • [Conférence du 18 janvier 1955] “Lecture, January 18, 1955”, CH 87-104.
    • La vénus de Lesfugue “The Lesfugue Venus”, CH 105-119.
    • Le Berceau de l’humanité: La vallée de la Vézère, “The Cradle of Humanity: The Vezère Valley” CH 143-73.
  • Dossier William Blake
    • [Fragments]
    • [Traductions]
    • [Plan]
    • [Le nom de William Blake…]

Oeuvres complètes X:

  • L’erotisme; translated by Mary Dalwood, Death and Sensuality: A Study of Eroticism and the Taboo, New York: Walker and Company, 1962; reprinted as Eroticism: Death and Sensuality, San Francisco: City Lights, 1986; reprinted as Eroticism, London: Penguin, 2012.
  • Le procès de Gilles de Rais; The Trial of Gilles de Rais: Documents Presented by Georges Bataille, translated by Richard Robinson, Los Angeles: Amok, 1991.
  • Les larmes d’Éros; The Tears of Eros, translated by Peter Connor, San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1988.
  • Dossier de « L’Éroticism »
    • La signification de l’érotisme
    • Addition à L’Éroticism
    • Projet d’une conclusion à L’Érotisme
  • Dossier des « Larmes d’Éros »
    • Introduction
    • Post-scriptum
  • Hors « Les Larmes d’Éros »; “Outside The Tears of Eros”, USNK 257-73.
    • La catastrophe
    • Appendice

Oeuvres complètes XI

Année 1944

  • Nietzsche, est-il fasciste?; part-translated by Stuart Kendall in On Nietzsche, 283-85; “Is Nietzsche Fascist?” CE I, 3-5.
  • La littérature est-elle utile?; “Is Literature Useful?”, CE I, 6-7.

Année 1945

  • La revolution surréaliste; “The Surrealist Revolution”, AM 52-53.
  • La volonté de l’impossible; “The Will of the Impossible”, EW 215-219; “The Will to the Impossible”, CE I, 11-15.
  • Les peintures politiques de Picasso; “Picasso’s Political Paintings”, CE I, 16-17.
  • À propos de «Pour qui sonne le glas?» d’Ernest Hemingway? “On Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls?“, CE I, 18-20.

Année 1946

  • A propos d’assoupissements; “On the Subject of Slumbers”, AM 49-51.
  • Klee; “Klee”, CE I, 23.
  • André Masson; “André Masson”, AM 177-81.
  • La morale de Miller; “Miller’s Morality”, CE I, 24-39.
  • Le sens moral de la sociologie; “The Moral Meaning of Sociology”, AM 103-12.
  • Dionysos Redivivus; “Dionysos Redivivus”, CE I,  40-42.
  • Le surréalisme et sa difference avec l’existentialisme; “Surrealism and how it differs from Existentialism”, AM 57-67.
  • Expérience mystique et littérature; “Mystical Experience and Literature”, CE I, 43-46.
  • De l’âge de pierre à Jacques Prévert; “From the Stone Age to Jacques Prévert”, AM 137-54; part in EW 47-50.
  • L’inculpation d’Henry Miller; “The Indictment of Henry Miller”, CE I, 47-52.
  • Gide – Baranger – Gillette “Gide – Baranger – Gillet”, CE I, 53-55.
  • Le dernier instant; “The Last Instant”, CE I, 56-65.
  • Gide – Nietzsche – Claudel; “Gide – Nietzsche – Claudet”, CE I, 66-69.
  • À prendre ou à laisser; “Take It or Leave It”, AM 96; “Take It or Leave It”, CE I, 70-71.
  • La guerre en Chine; “The War in China”, CE I, 72-85.
  • Cossery – Robert Aron; “Cossery – Robert Aron”, CE I, 86-89.
  • Marcel Proust et la mère profane; “Marcel Proust and the Profaned Mother”, CE I, 90-101.
  • Adamov; “Adamov”, CE I, 102-3.

Année 1947

  • L’amitié de l’homme et de la bête; “The Friendship between Man and Beast”, CE I, 107-11.
  • À propos de récits d’habitants d’Hiroshima; “On Hiroshima”, part-translated by R. Raziel, Politics 4, 1947, 147-50; “Concerning the Accounts Given by the Residents of Hiroshima”, translated by Alan Keenan, American Imago 48 (4), 497-514; reprinted in Cathy Caruth (ed.), Trauma: Explorations in Memory, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995, 221-35.
  • Giraud – Pastoureau – Benda – Du Moulin de Laplante – Govy; part translated as “Henri Pastoreau: Le blessure de l’homme”, AM 127-28; “Giraud – Pastoreau – Benda – Du Moulin de Laplante – Govy”, CE I, 112-21.
  • Du rapport entre le divin et le mal; part-translated in EW 40-41; “On the Relationship between the Divine and Evil”, CE I, 122-31.
  • Pierre Gordon; “Pierre Gordon”, CE I, 132-33.
  • Qu’est-ce que le sexe?; “What is Sex?”, CE I, 134-45.
  • Un nouveau romancier américain; “A New American Novelist”, CE I, 146-49.
  • Sartre; “Sartre”, CE I, 150-52.
  • L’absence de Dieu; “The Absence of God”, USNK 103-104; part in EW 44-45.
  • Postulat initial; “Initial Postulate”, AM 91-95; “Initial Postulate”, USNK 105-108.
  • L’absence de mythe; “The Absence of Myth”, AM 48.
  • La morale du malheur: ‘La Peste’; “A Morality Based on Misfortune: The Plague“, CE I, 153-67.
  • Lettre à M. Merleau-Ponty; “Letter to Merleau-Ponty”, CE I, 168-69.
  • La paix durable est-elle fatale? “Is Lasting Peace Inevitable?” CE I, 170-75.
  • Le surréalisme en 1947; “Surrealism in 1947”, AM 68-70.
  • Réflexions sur le bourreau et la victime; “Reflections on the Executioner and the Victim”, translated by Elizabeth Rottenberg, Yale French Studies, No 79, 1991, 15-19; part in EW 112-14.
  • Conrad – Breton; part-translated as “André Breton: Ode to Charles Fourrier”, AM 155-57; “Joseph Conrad”, CE I, 176-81.
  • Préface à l’exposition Gaston-Louis Roux; “Preface to the Gaston-Louis Roux Exhibition”, CE I, 182-83.
  • De l’existentialisme au primat de l’économie; “From Existentialism to the Primacy of the Economy”, CE I, 184-216.

Année 1948

  • Goya; “Goya”, CE I, 219-21.
  • Le surrealism; “Surrealism”, AM 54-56.
  • La psychanalyse; “Psychoanalysis”, CE I, 222-26.
  • L’ivresse des tavernes et la religion; “Tavern Drunkenness and Religion”, CE I, 227-36.
  • Le mensonge politique; “Political Lying”, CE I, 237-44.
  • La revolution sexuelle et le ‘Rapport Kinsey’; “The Sexual Revolution and the Kinsey Report”, CE I,  245-66.
  • Jean Paulhan – Marc Bloch; “Jean Paulhan – Marc Bloch”, CE I, 267-72.
  • Du sens d’une neutralité morale dans la guerre russo-américaine; “On the Meaning of Moral Neutrality in the Russo-American War”, CE I, 273-80.
  • Le surréalisme et Dieu; “Surrealism and God”, AM 182-85.
  • La divinité d’Isou; “The Divinity of Isou”, CE I, 281-83.
  • Le méchanceté du langage; “The Mischievousness of Language”, CE I, 284-92.
  • Proust; “Marcel Proust”, CE I, 293-97.

Année 1949

  • Bible, ésotérisme, idéalisme du Middle West: Henry Wallace
  • André Breton – Malcolm de Chazal – Albert Camus; part-translated as “Poetry and the Temptation of the End of the World”, AM 123-26.
  • La laideur belle ou la beauté laide dans l’art et la littérature
  • Nietzsche – William Blake
  • La paradoxe du don
  • Le bonheur; “Happiness, Eroticism and Literature”, AM 186-208.
  • La question colonial. D’un caractère sacré des criminels (Genet)
  • Caprice et machineries d’État à Stalingrad
  • L’art, exercise de cruauté; “The Cruel Practice of Art”, CD-ROM BLAM! 1 (1993), reprinted on supervert.com
  • Un roman monstrueux
  • Racine
  • La littérature française du Moyen Âge, la morale chevaleresque et la passion; translated by Laurence Petit as “Medieval French Literature, Chivalric Morals and Passion”, in Bruce Holsinger, The Premodern Condition: Medievalism and the Making of Theory, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
  • La souveraineté de la fête et le roman américain
  • Le roman et la folie
  • L’œuvre théâtrale de René Char
  • La Victoire militaire et la banqueroule de la morale qui maudit
  • L’œuvre de Goya et la lute des classes

Oeuvres complètes XII

Année 1950

  • L’existentialisme
  • Lettre à René Char sur les incompatibilities de l’écrivain; “Letter to René Char on the Incompatibilities of the Writer”, translated by Christopher Carsten, Yale French Studies, No 78, 1990, 31-43
  • Sociologie – Henri Calet – Beatrix Beck
  • Le matérialisme et la fable

Année 1951

  • La guerre et la philosophie du sacré; “War the Philosophy of the Sacred”, AM 113-22; one sentence in EW 40.
  • Le journal jusqu’à la mort
  • Léonard de Vinci (1452-1519)
  • La civilisation et la guerre – Princesse Bibesco – Paul Gegauff – Nietzsche
  • Le silence de Molloy
  • Le racisme; “Racism”, Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris, Correspondence, translated by Liz Heron, London: Seagull, 2008, 70-75.
  • Sommes-nous là pour jouer ou pour être sérieux? part-translated in EW 91, 91-92, 92-93
  • René Char et la force de la poésie; “René Char and the Force of Poetry”, AM 129-33.
  • L’art et les larmes d’André Gide
  • Le temps de la révolte; “The Age of Revolt”, AM 158-76.

Année 1952

  • Silence et littérature
  • Le mysticisme – Emmauel Aegerter – Jacques Masui
  • L’élevage
  • Le souverain; “The Sovereign”, USNK 185-95.
  • L’utilité de l’art;
  • La mystique purement poétique d’un grand écrivain irlandais
  • L’espèce humaine
  • Leclerc
  • L’affaire de ‘L’homme révolté’
  • La littérature française en 1952

Année 1953

  • Hemingway à la lumière de Hegel
  • Le passage de l’animal à l’homme et la naissance de l’art; CH 57-80.
  • Le non-savoir; “Non-Knowledge”, EW 176-85; “Nonknowledge”, USNK 196-205.
  • Au rendez-vous de Lascaux, l’homme civilise se retrouve homme de désir; CH 81-85.
  • Aphorismes; “Aphorisms”, USNK 210-11.
  • Sade, 1740-1814

Année 1954

  • Hors des limites

Année 1955

  • L’au-dèla du sérieux; EW 156-62; “Beyond Seriousness”, USNK 212-18.
  • Le paradoxe de l’érotisme
  • Hegel, la mort et le sacrifice; “Hegel, Death and Sacrifice”, translated by Jonathan Strauss, Yale French Studies, No 78, 1990, 9-28; reprinted in The Bataille Reader, 279-95; part in EW 18-19.

Année 1956

  • Hegel, l’homme et l’histoire; “Hegel, Mankind and History”, EW 122-136.
  • L’impressionnisme
  • Un livre humaine, un grand livre
  • L’érotisme ou la mise en question de l’être
  • Que’est-ce que l’histoire universelle?
  • L’équivoque de la culture

Année 1957

  • L’affaire Safe (le procès)
  • Ce monde où nous mourons
  • L’érotisme, soutien de la morale

Années 1956-1961

  • La planète encombrée; “The Congested Planet”, USNK 221-23.
  • La pur bonheur; “Pure Happiness”, USNK 224-35.
  • Zarathoustra et l’enchantement du jeu
  • La religion préhistorique; “Prehistoric Religion”, CH 121-42.
  • Terre invivable? “Unliveable Earth?”, CH 175-78.
  • Max Ernst, philosophe! “Max Ernst: Philosopher!”, AM 134-36.
  • Gustave Moreau, ‘l’attardé’ précurseur du surréalisme

Dossier du ‘Pur Bonheur’; “Notebook for ‘Pure Happiness’”, USNK 236-54.

  • Explications de mes écrits
  • Notes et aphorismes
  • L’animalité
  • La consummation
  • Le pur bonheur
  • Exécration
  • Le dé tragique
  • Le jeu

Emprunts de Georges Bataille à la Bibliothèque Nationale (1922-1950)

Articles repris dans les tomes autres que les tomes XI et XII (1944-1962)

Translation by Bataille

Léon Chestov, L’Idée de bien chez Tolstoi et Nietzsche: Philosophie et prédication, translated by Georges Bataille and T. Beresovski-Chestov, Paris: Éditions du Siècle, 1935; reprinted Paris: Vrin, 1949. (In English, this essay is included in Lev Shestov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy And Nietzsche, Columbus: Ohio University Press, 1970.)

Other Collections

Some issues of the journal Documents are available open access on Gallica.

Le Collège de sociologie 1937-1939, edited by Denis Hollier, Paris: Gallimard, 1979; The College of Sociology, 1937-39, translated by Betsy Wing, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988 [with some new and updated material]; Le Collège de sociologie 1937-1939, Paris: Gallimard, 1995 [with some new and updated material].

– contains some texts by Bataille (and others) which are not in the Oeuvres, including “The Structure and Function of the Army”, CS 199-216/137-44 (Hollier’s ‘montage’ of Bataille’s notes, with more in French); “The Structure of Democracies”, CS 448-59/189-98 (Bertrand d’Astorg’s report of Bataille’s paper); “Hitler and the Teutonic Order”, CS 494-501/215-17 (Hollier’s notes on a missing paper).

L’Apprenti sorcier: textes, lettres et documents, 1932-1939, edited by Marina Galletti, Editions de la Différence, 1999.

– Contains a lot of correspondence but also papers relating to Acéphale and Acéphale (that is, both the journal and the secret society). From p. 281 of L’Apprenti sorcier almost all the documents (and some of the letters) are translated in SC.

Une liberté souveraine: Textes et Entretiens, edited by Michel Surya, Tours: Farrago, 2000.

– Includes texts published anonymously in Critique and interviews, not included in Oeuvres.

Romans et récits, edited by Jean-François Louette and others, Paris: Gallimard (Bibliothèque de la Pléiade), 2004.

– includes texts from Oeuvres complètes Vols III and IV.

Correspondence

Choix de lettres, 1917-1962, edited by Michel Surya, Paris: Gallimard, 1997.

Lettres à Roger Caillois: 4 août 1935-4 février 1959, edited by Jean-Pierre le Bouler, Romillé: Folle Avoine, 1987.

Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris, Echanges et correspondances, edited by Louis Yvert, Paris: Gallimard, 2004; Correspondence, translated by Liz Heron, London: Seagull, 2008.

Georges Bataille and André Breton, « Contre-Attaque ». Union de lutte des intellectuels révolutionnaires : « Les Cahiers » et les autres documents, octobre 1935-mai 1936, préface de Michel Surya, Paris, Ypsilon, 2013.

Georges Bataille and Eric Weil, À en-tête de « Critique », Correspondance 1946-1951, edited by Sylvie Patron, Paris: Éditions Lignes, 2014.

“Lettres à Joseph Roche (1921-1922)”, Cahiers Bataille 2, 2014.

“Lettres à Joseph Roche (1919-1921)”, Cahiers Bataille 3, 2016.

Georges Bataille and Georges Ambrosino, L’Expérience à l’épreuve, correspondance et inédits (1943-1960), edited by Claudine Frank, Meurcourt: Éditions les Cahiers, 2018.

Lettres à Marie-Louise Bataille“, Cahiers Bataille 5, 2022.

Essays not in Oeuvres complètes 

“La publication d’«Un Cadavre» (15 janvier 1930)”, Le Pont de l’Épée 41, 1969, 141-45; partially included in the notes to Oeuvres Vol XI, 571-72; full text reprinted in Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris, Echanges et correspondances, edited by Louis Yvert, Paris: Gallimard, 2004, 73-80; translated as “Notes on the Publication of ‘Un Cadavre’”, AM 30-33; and as “The Publication of ‘A Corpse’ (15 January 1930)”, in Georges Bataille and Michel Leiris, Correspondence, translated by Liz Heron, London: Seagull, 2008, 63-69.

Interview in Madeleine Chapsal, Envoyez la petite musique… Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1984, 227-39; “Interview with Madeleine Chapsal”, EW, 220-24 (omits opening biographical sketch, and Chapsel’s reminiscences of Bataille).

L’ambiguïté du plaisir et de jeu”, Les Temps modernes 629, 2005, 7-28; “On the Ambiguity of Pleasure and Play”, edited by Maria Galetti, translated by Couze Venn, Theory, Culture & Society 35 (4-5), 2018, 233-50.

“Définition de l’hétérotologie”, Cahiers Bataille 1, 2011; “Definition of Heterology”, edited by Maria Galetti, translated by Roy Boyne and Couze Venn, Theory, Culture & Society 35 (4-5), 2018, 29-40.

Critique of Heidegger“, translated by Stefanos Geroulanos, October 117, 2006, 25-34 (translation of an unpublished manuscript).

Updates:

15 October 2023 – added Lettres à Marie-Louise Bataille“, Cahiers Bataille 5, 2022

16 May 2023 – added a short translation by Patrick ffrench – “Landscape”, artcornwall.org from OC I

12 May 2023 – now I’ve seen The Limit of the Useful, added precise references to the parts of OC VII translated there (it’s not immediately obvious how they reorganised the notes and variants).

30 January 2023 – added The Limit of the Useful, translated by Cory Knutson and Thomas Elliott – MIT Press, February 2023

24 January 2023 – link to the issues of Documents available open access on Gallica

15 December 2022: The first of three volumes of essays from Critique is forthcoming. Georges Bataille, Critical Essays Volume I: 1944-1948, ed. Alberto Toscano and Benjamin Noys, trans. Chris Turner – Seagull, February 2023, and will translate essays from Vols XI and XII of the Oeuvres]

13 May 2020: noted where the texts in the annexe to Oeuvres Complètes, Vol VIII were revised by Bataille, and translated in The Accursed Share vols II and III.

5 May: listed the three pieces which appear in the Bataille-Leiris correspondence which are also included in whole or in part in the Oeuvres complètes.

1 May: added a couple of translations suggested by Elliott Patsoura in comments.

30 April: Listed the articles in Volumes XI and XII of the Oeuvres complètes, along with their translations. With these two volumes, especially, I am sure there are pieces translated in collections or journals which I’ve missed, but I think I’ve included all the ones in books by Bataille.

24 April: minor editing, including listing the short pieces included in “The Place of Violence: Selected Writings”, translated by Bruce Belay, Parallax 6 (2), 81-91.

23 April: filling in details of pieces in The Cradle of Humanity; and the dossiers at the end of Vol X.

21 April: listing of articles in Vol I; and the pieces in Vol II; addition of ‘Critique of Heidegger‘ (after being alerted by Stefanos Geroulanos)

20 April: page references for the poetry; interview with Madeleine Chapsel

15 April: some links to books, a bit of detail on The College of Sociology and the inclusion of Bataille’s co-translation of Lev Shestov.

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26 Responses to Georges Bataille – Oeuvres complètes and other French collections; English translations

  1. Pingback: Two bibliographical questions about Georges Bataille | Progressive Geographies

  2. Pingback: Georges Bataille – Oeuvres complètes and other French collections, with list of English translations | Progressive Geographies

  3. Pingback: Georges Bataille’s Oeuvres complètes and English translations – list updated and a couple of questions | Progressive Geographies

  4. Pingback: Georges Bataille’s Oeuvres complètes and English translations – addition of Vols I and II to the list | Progressive Geographies

  5. Pingback: Books received – Veyne, Dumézil, Bataille & Leiris, Eliade, Chapsal | Progressive Geographies

  6. Pingback: Georges Bataille’s Oeuvres complètes and English translations – list updated to include all volumes | Progressive Geographies

  7. Pingback: The Early Foucault Update 32: Unable to finish a manuscript during lockdown | Progressive Geographies

  8. Pingback: Most popular posts and pages on Progressive Geographies in 2020 | Progressive Geographies

  9. clrlssn says:

    Thanks for this list.
    “Vie de Laure” is translated by Jeanine Herman in “The collected writings of Laure”

  10. Pingback: Georges Bataille kimdir - Bağımsız Bilgi Platformu

  11. Pingback: Parts of Georges Bataille’s library for sale (and a fascinating downloadable catalogue) | Progressive Geographies

  12. Pingback: Some bibliographical questions about Roland Barthes | Progressive Geographies

  13. Pingback: Georges Bataille, Critical Essays Volume I: 1944-1948, ed. Alberto Toscano and Benjamin Noys, trans. Chris Turner – Seagull, February 2023 | Progressive Geographies

  14. Pingback: Georges Bataille, The Limit of the Useful, translated by Cory Knutson and Thomas Elliott – MIT Press, February 2023 | Progressive Geographies

  15. Pingback: Georges Bataille, The Limit of the Useful – a listing of which French texts it includes | Progressive Geographies

  16. Yev says:

    Hi, I am asking if any Bataille’s works have been translated to Russian language?

  17. Pingback: Georges Bataille, Critical Essays 1 – updating the list of English translations of Oeuvres complètes on this site | Progressive Geographies

  18. Alex S. says:

    Hello, I’m sorry to learn about your recent health issues. I wish you a healthy and full recovery.

    I have a question in case you may be disposed to respond. I’m searching for
    De l’existentialisme au primat de l’économie
    Either in French or preferably in English. You seem to indicate that it appears in the new volume Critical Essays as “From Existentialism to the Primacy of the Economy”, CE I, 184-216. However I’m not able to confirm this, as this piece does not appear in the table of contents as listed by University Of Chicago Press here https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo184789622.html
    Perhaps I am missing something. Any clues as to the discrepancy? Thank you.

    • stuartelden says:

      Now I am back at home I’ve checked Critical Essays 1. My listing is correct – this essay is translated in the place I said. The table of contents online is missing this (and a few other included pieces – 41 in the book; 38 listed online). The essay you are interested in is in the book.

  19. Alex S says:

    Thanks Stuart. Glad to hear you’re back to a normal environment. Meanwhile I had contacted the editors of the volume and they confirmed what you said. Best, Alex

  20. Pingback: Indo-European Thought in Twentieth-Century France update 13: work on Benveniste, Saussure and in UK archives, a seminar on the research, and a brief health update | Progressive Geographies

  21. Isaac Price-Kelly says:

    Cahiers Bataille n°5, from January 2022, has « Lettres à Marie-Louise Bataille », listed here: https://editionslescahiers.fr/portfolio/items/cahiers-bataille-5/

  22. Pingback: Some of my highlights on Progressive Geographies in 2023 | Progressive Geographies

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