{"product_id":"the-limit-of-the-useful-isbn-9780262047333","title":"The Limit of the Useful","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe first English-language translation of an essential, early work key to understanding the French philosopher's later thought.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the decade prior to the publication of \u003ci\u003eInner Experience\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eL’expérience intérieure\u003c\/i\u003e), the twentieth-century French philosopher Georges Bataille produced a nascent masterwork containing some of his most original and extensive reflections on a range of subjects. With thoughts on ritual sacrifice and military conquest, the nature of laughter, and the mechanisms of capitalism, \u003ci\u003eThe Limit of the Useful\u003c\/i\u003e, as Bataille had planned to title the work, illuminates the philosopher’s later corpus, yet it remained unfinished and unpublished in his lifetime, and untranslated until now. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the first English-language translation of what Cory Austin Knudson and Tomas Elliott argue is one of Bataille’s most structurally consistent works. Paired with draft essays and plans for \u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share\u003c\/i\u003e,\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003ealong with over a hundred pages of appendixes and notes, the volume distinctively elaborates Bataille’s thought. \u003ci\u003eThe Limit of the Useful\u003c\/i\u003e spans a decade of rich intellectual ferment in Bataille’s life as he first formulated his challenge to capitalism, engaging with concepts and ideas in ways not seen in his other published works. The volume bridges the gap between Bataille’s surrealist literary writings and later scientific pretensions, drawing attention to, and filling in, an overlooked lacuna in his oeuvre.Introduction vii\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Limit of the Useful \u003c\/i\u003e1\u003cbr\u003eI The Galaxy, the Sun, and Man 3\u003cbr\u003eII Unproductive Expenditure 25\u003cbr\u003eIII The World of Private Expenditure 51\u003cbr\u003eIV The Gift of Life 79\u003cbr\u003eV Winter and Spring 89\u003cbr\u003eVI War 95\u003cbr\u003eVII Sacrifice 109\u003cbr\u003ePreliminary Essays for \u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share \u003c\/i\u003e135\u003cbr\u003eEconomy at the Scale of the Universe 137\u003cbr\u003ePreliminary Notes to the Writing of \u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share \u003c\/i\u003e149\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share, or The Limit of the Useful: \u003c\/i\u003eDrafts of Tables of Contents and Summary of Manuscripts 159\u003cbr\u003eDossier of Bataille's Notes and Outlines for \u003ci\u003eThe Limit of the Useful \u003c\/i\u003e171\u003cbr\u003eTranslators' and Editors' Notes 313\u003cbr\u003eBibliography 357“Profound and endlessly thought-provoking essays on wealth, waste, sacrifice, science, and war—prescient reading for the twenty-first century.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Allan Stoekl, Professor Emeritus of French and Comparative Literature, Pennsylvania State University; author of \u003ci\u003eBataille’s Peak: Energy, Religion, and Postsustainability \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“\u003ci\u003eThe Limit of the Useful\u003c\/i\u003e is a laboratory where we can see Georges Bataille’s thought of excess in the process of development. Attentive to capitalist speculation, the economics of energy, and the paradoxes of sacrifice, this expertly translated edition allows us to rediscover a Bataille who haunts our present crisis.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Benjamin Noys, Professor of Critical Theory, University of Chichester; author of \u003ci\u003eMalign Velocities \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eThe Persistence of the Negative\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eGeorges Bataille (1897–1962) was a French writer, essayist, and philosopher whose works include \u003ci\u003eThe Story of the Eye\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Blue of Noon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Accursed Share\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eTheory of Religion\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCory Austin Knudson holds a visiting position in Comparative Literature at Eckerd College. His work has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eJournal of Modern Literature\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePostmodern Culture\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eEnvironment, Space, Place\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTomas Elliott is Assistant Professor of English at the New College of the Humanities at Northeastern University London.","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301869277413,"sku":"NP9780262047333","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262047333.jpg?v=1767740245","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/the-limit-of-the-useful-isbn-9780262047333","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}