Bataille in Theory: Afterimages (Lascaux)
Author(s): Suzanne Guerlac
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Diacritics, Vol. 26, No. 2, Georges Bataille: An Occasion for Misunderstanding
(Summer, 1996), pp. 6-17
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1566293 .
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BATAILLE
IN
THEORY
AFTERIMAGES(LASCAUX)
SUZANNEGUERLAC
If there is a single term poststructuralismcould not live without-at least within the
intellectualcircles associatedwith the review Tel quel-it is "transgression,"inherited
from Bataille. "God-meaning,"PhilippeSollers writes in an early essay, ".. . is a figure
of linguistic interdictionwhereas writing-which is metaphoricityitself (Derrida)transgresses... the hierarchicorderof discourseandof the worldassociatedwithit" ["La
science de Lautr6amont"808, my emphasis]. In their Dictionnaire des sciences du
langage Ducrot and Todorov declare grandly that text "has always functioned as a
transgressive field with respect to the system according to which we organize our
perception,ourgrammar,ourmetaphysicsandeven ourscience"[443-44, my emphasis].
as a "Copernicanrevolution,"andit became
Theydescribetheadventof poststructuralism
customaryto characterizethe before and after of this break by referringto Bataille's
distinctionbetween "restrained"and "general"economies.
An influential essay by Foucault, "Pr6facea la transgression"(1963), might be
consideredthe openingmove in whatwouldbecome Telquel's appropriationof Bataille.
Foucault'sessay examinesBataille'sL'drotisme(1955), a studythattheorizedtransgression in a complex elaborationwhich articulatedphilosophicaldiscourse(Hegel/Kojeve)
with a "sociological"discourse of the sacred (Caillois). Foucault's readingof the text
removes the transgressionof eroticismfromboththese discursivehorizonsandmoves it
towardlate Heidegger(an ontology of the limit) andNietzsche. If one of Bataille's most
radicalgestureswas to insertthe ethnographicdistinctionsacred/profaneinto philosophical discussion, Foucault'sanalysisreinscribestransgressionwithinthe intertextualfield
of philosophy, radicalized,of course, throughthe inclusion of the "marginal"figure,
Nietzsche, and the philosopher who announced the end of philosophy, Heidegger.
Foucault'srewritingof Bataillemayreadphilosophyagainstitself, may even proposethe
transgressionof philosophy;nevertheless,it is structuredby the vicissitudes of philosophicaldiscourse.Batailleon the otherhandhadconfrontedphilosophywith something
autre.
radicallyother-tout
'
In "Pr6face la transgression,"Foucaultdefinedtransgressionas "agestureconcerning the limit." He presentedit as a flash of lightning, an image that not only figures
transgressionbut also emblematizesthe move into what will become the philosophical
It tracesa line, a line thatfiguresthe Heideggerianontology
registerof poststructuralism.
of limitation,the coming into being (or appearance)of beings on the horizonof Being; it
suggests the limit of the ontologicaldifferencebetween Being and beings.
Anticipating Derrida through Heidegger, Foucault analyzed transgressionas an
eventof difference,alludingto Blanchot's"principede contestation"andto a Nietzschean
notionof affirmation."Mightnotthe instantaneousplay of the limit andtransgressionbe
today the essential test of a thinkingof 'origin' which Nietzsche bequeathedto us... a
thinkingthatwouldbe absolutely,andin the samemovement,a CritiqueandanOntology,
a thinkingthatwould thinkfinitudeandbeing?"[Foucault759]. Transgressionbecomes
identifiedwith a "philosophyof eroticism"(which plays on Sade's "philosophiedans le
boudoir"),a gesturethattransvaluesphilosophyfrom the realm of cognitive or rational
activityto "anexperienceof finitudeandof being, of the limit andof transgression."The
6
diacritics 26.2: 6-17
"philosophy"of eroticism is thus a "test/ordeal[Vpreuve}of the limit," one that "no
dialectical movement, no analysis of fundamentallaws [constitutions] and of their
transcendentalfoundation[leur sol]" can help us think. Foucaultthen asks a rhetorical
questionthatcould be saidto structuremuchof the discourseof theoryin the next decade:
"Wouldit be an exaggeration,to say," he asks, ".. . thatit would be necessaryto find a
languagefor the transgressivethatwould be whatdialectic has been for contradiction?"
[759].
In this way Foucaultestablishedtransgressionas an alternativeto the machine of
dialectical contradiction.Attunedto the recent discoveries of structuralism,which had
begun to reverse the conventionalunderstandingof relations between the subject and
language(the subjectis no longerconsideredmasterof his or herlanguagebut structured
by it), Foucaultannouncedthat "thegestureof transgressionreplacesthe movement of
contradictionby plunging the philosophicalexperience into language" [767]. Here is
where the paradoxof the transgressionof philosophy comes in. For if Foucault poses
transgression(or eroticism)as a philosophy,the position of the philosopher(and to this
extent philosophyitself) is said to be transgressedby the limitlessness of language:the
philosopher,Foucaultwrites, finds "notoutside language,but in it... the transgression
of his philosophicalbeing"[767]. Fromthis pointon, theoristswill look to transgression
as a way of getting beyond the constraintsof Hegelian dialectic. Taking their cue from
Foucault,they will begin to identifytransgressionwith language.Foucault'sinterpretation of transgressionanticipates-we could even say programs-the role Bataille will be
theory.Itpreparestheway fortheappropriation
assignedin thecontextof poststructuralist
of Bataille-librarian, writer,editor,militant,"madman"-as theorist.
Fromhereit is buta shortstepto the identificationof transgressionandtext. Phillippe
Sollers takes this step four years laterin "Letoit: Essai de lecturesyst6matique"(1967),
anessay thatupdatesFoucault'sanalysisof Bataillefroma perspectiveinformedby more
recent developmentsin poststructuralistthought,since Derrida'sDe la grammatologie
had appearedin the interim.Sollers follows the basic lines of Foucault'sinterpretation,
but he adds an importantelement by interpretinginterdictionas a discursive constraint
uponlanguage."Theworldof discourse,"he writes,"is the mode of being of interdiction
.. interdictionis the signifier itself (in the world of discourse)"["Le toit" 29]. This
interpretation,implicit in the Foucault essay, is not unjustified,but Bataille does not
restrictthe meaningof interdictionin this way. In L'drotisme,for example, interdiction
is said to open up the worldof a rationalandorderedcivilizationwhich it marksoff from
the animalworldof nature,butit is also characterizedas an affectiveexperienceof horror
before the sacred.It is precisely the othernessof the sacredwhich resists the conceptual
unity of philosophy.In L'drotisme,interdictionis not so simple. It belongs to the profane
world it opens, but also to the world of the sacred. Sollers insists on an exclusively
linguistic interpretationof interdiction,while at the same time retaining the broad
philosophical(or ontological)claims Foucaulthad made for eroticism.The net effect is
an inflationof the claims made for transgressionin the textualor poetic register,claims
thatthen informpoststructuralisttheory of writingand text.
Once interdiction is isolated from what Bataille had referred to as the "dual
andonce it is interpretedas discursiveconstraint,
operation"of interdiction/transgression,
the nextstepis to articulatewhatFoucaulthadbaptizedthe "philosophyof eroticism"with
psychoanalysis, the discourse that theorizes eroticism. Interdictionis identified with
repression,whichrevealsits operationsthroughlinguisticparapraxis.It is thenassociated
with languagein the mode of representationand opposed to transgression,now characterized as "a space of organic effervescence of language" by analogy with various
practicesof avant-gardepoetics.A playof thesignifierresiststhe constraintsthatstructure
meaning in the ordinarycourse of useful communication:this is the meaning given to
transgressionin the formula"eroticismis the antimatterof realism"["Letoit" 36].
diacritics / summer 1996
7
When transgressionis analyzedin exclusively linguisticterms,thatis, in relationto
the "fundamentalscandal of the arbitrarinessof the sign," it becomes writing (in the
emerging poststructuralistsense), as Sollers announcesbluntly at the end of his essay.
"'Eroticismrepresentsa reversal,'" Sollers writes, citing Bataille. He then adds this
programmaticcommentary:"writingtakeschargeof this reversalfrom this point on...
it then has the same statusandultimatelythe same meaningas eroticism."With Sollers,
then, as he statescategorically,"writingfinally takesover fromtransgression"["Letoit"
41].
Construedas writing, transgression(or the now-theoreticalterm "eroticism")is
inscribedwithinthe polemicaloppositionthatpits writing,as whatSollerscalls "l'envers
de la litt6rature,"against"literature."The subversionof "literature"by theory, charged
with energiesof culturalrevolt,remainedat the heartof Telquel's agenda.Not only does
the polemical edge, discerniblein Foucault,become morepronouncedin this context;in
"Le toit" Sollers stages an epic polemos within eroticism itself, a "dialectic of war"
between transgressionand interdiction.
In L'6rotisme, Bataille insists that the two moments of the dual operation of
eroticismare so intimatelyboundup with one anotheras to be all but indistinguishable.
The terms"interdiction"and "transgression"
become meaningfulonly subjectively,that
is, as affective experiencesof attractionandrepulsion,which distinguishthe two realms
of the sacredandthe profane.Bataillepresentsthis as a dance,a ronde,for the experience
of seductionthatmoves us towardthe sacredobject and the feeling of horrorthatrepels
us from it are closely interrelated.When Sollers stages the relationbetween interdiction
and transgressionas conflict, it becomes a matterof choosing sides; in spite of his
disclaimer to the contrary,"Le toit" becomes an apology for transgression.Once a
dialecticof warreplacesBataille'sintimatedance(ronde),andtransgressionis set against
interdiction, other binary oppositions are pulled into the argument. On the side of
interdiction,"literature"comes to standnot only for representationaldiscourse but also
for bourgeoisoppression;writing,which is transgressive,belongs with poetry,madness,
excess, and revolution-or at least a "revolutionof poetic language."When "Le toit"
transposesBataille's notionsof eroticismandtransgressioninto the registerof language,
writing,andtext, the signifierreplacesthe womanas eroticobjectandlanguageprovides
a field of theory-or what Sollers will call, looking back on it "thedreamof theory"where linguistics, psychoanalysis,deconstructivephilosophy(Heidegger,Derrida),and
a certainmarxisminteract.I
Transgressionis thus reformulatedas text, and text (consideredin relation to the
productivityof signifiance) is analyzedon a model of modernpoetrythatdevolves from
Mallarm6.In the context of poststructuralisttheory,poetryis construedas action, in an
unusualdisplacementof Val6ryandSartre.In philosophicalterms(Hegel) actionimplies
negativity (see, for example, Kristeva's"Po6sieet negativit6"[1968]) and is endowed
withtheforce of criticalnegativity,whichAdornotheorizedin his analysesof modernart.
Theory,in the context of Tel quel, radicalizesthe modernistmomentwe find in Adorno,
pressing it towarda certainavant-gardism,and it does so with the help of Bataille. The
negativityKristevaascribesto writingis double.In additionto theHegeliannegativityof
consciousness and of action that Blanchot had brought to bear on language in "La
litt6ratureet le droit t la mort,"Kristevaaffirmsthatanother"irrecuperable"
negativity
is at play on the level of genotext,or of signifiance proper.In "HowDoes One Speak to
Literature?"she writes:
Writingestablishesa differentlegality.., it bringstogetherin a heteronomous
space thenamingofphenomena(theirentryintosymboliclaw) and thenegation
1. SeeSollers'sprefaceto thereeditionofTheoried'ensemble(1980).
8
of these names (phonetic,semanticand syntacticshattering).Thissupplementarynegation(derivativenegation,negationof thehomonomicnegation)leaves
the homogeneous space of meaning (of naming or, if one prefers, of the
"symbolic")and moves, without "imaginary"intermediary... towardswhat
cannot be symbolized(one mightsay towardthe "real"). [ 111, my emphasis]
This is Kristeva's passage to the sacred (via psychoanalysis), for this account of the
legality of writingrepeatsthe movementof Bataille's accountof interdiction/transgression in L'6rotisme and,even moreexplicitly,in anearlierversionof thattext subsequently
publishedas "L'histoirede l'6rotisme."Here interdictionis presentedas a negation of
nature(le donne)which foundsculture,markingthe emergenceof manfromanimal.This
negationthen announcesanother("unmouvement... de contrecoup"),a negationof the
orderset up by the firstnegation.The firststepcorrespondsto interdictionandthe second
to transgressionin this (almost)narrativeversionof the "dualoperation"of interdiction/
transgression.This is the movement Bataille calls a "renversementdes alliances," to
which we shall return,momentarily,in relationto the miracle of Lascaux.2 Kristeva's
"negationof the homonomicnegation"repeatsthe second-ordermovementof transgressive negation. In theory, this becomes the law of writing.
As Foucaulthadanticipatedin 1963, then,transgressiondidbecome theparadigmfor
a "nondialecticalthinking,"one characterizedby the "irrecuperable
negativity"Kristeva
theorizesfirst in connectionwith the rejetand then with the abject.3 In orderto obtaina
"poststructuralist"
(some would say "postmodern")Bataille, however, it was necessary
to subjecthim to readingsthatevacuatedfrom his writingnot only the dimensionof the
sacred,butalso everytraceof theconstellationof termsassociatedwithwhatBataillecalls
the fictive-the image, the figure, representation,dramatization,and so forth.4 When he
is portrayedas a dialecticalopposite-a kindof "antimatter"-toBreton(whose fascination with the image is well known),he can be identifiedwiththelaw of writing.So intense
was the resistanceto realism-and the distastefor Surrealism-that all modes of image
and figuration became suspect. It was necessary to subject Bataille to what I call
"modernist"readings,where "modernist"is understoodin the sense of Adorno and also
in the sense of "modernart,"as this termwas deployed by the artcritic ClementGreenberg and by those who called themselves "new critics"in the literarydomain.
When French theory migrated to the United States, it was received within this
modernistatmosphere.InBlindnessandInsight(1971) Paulde Mananalyzedthe contact
between American literary criticism and French structuralism,an amalgamationhe
labeled "new new criticism." As he points out, both new criticism and stucturalism
2. Bataille, "L'histoire de l'drotisme" [66-67]. After presenting the "renversementdes
alliances" narratively(sequentially),Bataille qualifiesthisgesture: "Iwant.., to insist on thefact
thatthisdoublemovementdoes not even implydistinctphases. For clarityofexposition,I can speak
of two moments[deux temps]. But it is a question of an ensemble [ensemble solidaire] and one
cannot truthfully[en v6rit6] speak of the one without indicating the other" ["L'histoire de
l'rotisme" 67]. The "ensemblesolidaire" is presentedin L'6rotismeby the metaphorof la ronde.
3. InLar6volution
dulangagepo6tiqueandin Pouvoirsde l'horreur,
Theterm
respectively.
rejet is invokedby Bataille in "L'histoirede l'rotisme" (in connection with the negation of the
donn6associated with the movementof interdiction)[66].
4. Here arejust afew of the manyreferencesto such termsin "Histoirede l'drotisme"alone:
"theprivileged domain of love is fiction" [141]; "Asacrifice is no less fictive than a novel.., it
is not a crime but a representation,a form of play [un jeu]" [92]; "Whatexcites animals directly
... affects men throughsymbolicfigures. This is not a secretion, but a meaningfulelaborated
image" [128]. In this connectionsee also the discussion of the object of erotic desire, in contrast
to the eroticismof the orgy which "hasthe defectof not being clearly limited,of being informeand
of never offering any clear feature [aspect saisissable] to desire" [123]. Concerningthe erotic
object and its dialectic, see Guerlac, "Recognition,by a Woman!"
diacritics / summer 1996
9
refusedauthorialintentionandreferentialityorrepresentation.Forthenew critics,de Man
writes, literary language was "entirely autonomous and without exterior referent."
Criticisminvolved an "anironicreflexion of the [formal]unity it had postulated"[28].
Modernpaintingwas likewise consideredas an autonomousobject,endowednot merely
with aestheticbut also with existentialforce.Modernistcriticismsharedwith Tel quel an
appreciationof Mallarme'spurificationof meaning and of the aesthetics of difficulty
associatedwith it. The two also sharedan aversionto Surrealism.6The common ground,
then, between modem art,new criticism,and Frenchtheorywas a critiqueof representation that implied a refusal of figurationin all its forms. All of this contributedto the
reformulationof transgressionas "antimatterof realism."
Bataille's study of Lascauxpresentstransgressionquitedifferently,thatis, in relationto
a "sacredmoment of figuration"that involves a visual realism.Childrenwere playing,
Bataille writes, near a great tree. A tempest turned this tree-tree of knowledge,
perhaps-upside down, uprootingit, andwherethe rootshadbeen, the entranceto a cave
was suddenlyexposed. "Lascauxou la naissancede l'art"is a parodicmyth of originsthe storyof a miraclethatlinks the originof artto the originof the species, thatis, human
beings as subjectsof transgression.Bataillerewritesthe miracleof Greece, substituting
a primitiveworldfor the classical one, a worldof the sacredfor a worldof reason.We are
carriedback in time to anotherthreshold,that of the archaicand the animal-la bite
humaine.If the miracle of Greece gives us the rationalanimal,the miracle of Lascaux
yields man as "religiousanimal."Lascauxtransfiguresus, Bataillewrites, andit does so
through a force of figuration that transfixes and fascinates, trans-figuresand transfascinates.
Lascaux transfiguresus-and doubly so. First thereis the question of origins, of a
passage from animal to man that opened up our future (and our present). From bite
humaine,we aretransfiguredintoetre humain.But thereis also the questionof ourends,
that is, of our transfigurationinto our properselves, "religiousanimals"-"the man of
work and of technique reduces himself to a means, of which the being who is not
subjugatedby work,the animalbeingwithouttechnique,is the end"["Lascaux"78]. The
defining characteristic[le propre] of the human species is a "desire to be filled with
wonder,"an "anticipationof miracles"[16]. This is the miraclefiguredon the walls and
ceilings of the cave, where, at the same time, this desire and anticipationreceive their
response.
If Lascaux transfiguresus (of course much is at stake in the identity of "us" and
"them"),it also transfiguresanimality,andonce again,this involves a doublegesture.The
paintingsin the cave transfigurethe animalthey figure,giving it not only beautifulform
but also a force of prestige.It is precisely this transfiguration-one thatpasses through
the figure-that transfiguresus. But at the same time, the very seductive force of the
paintedfigures also transfiguresthe artistswho createdthem,transformingthe cavemen
from animal (bate humaine) into man, that is, into someone who "resembles us."
Following in the footsteps of Bataille, moving throughhis text, we enter the ronde, the
circulardance of the animalsset in motion by our movementthroughthe cave.
At the sight of these figureswe areoverwhelmed:"thisincomparablebeautyandthe
sympathyit awakensin us leave us painfullysuspended[suspendu]"[14]. Ourreligious
emotion is doubled,accordingto Bataille, by our sense of the prestigethe images must
haveheld for thosecontemporaryto theircreation.If art"isbornof emotionandaddresses
5. De Man speaks of "Americanformalism" in this context.
6. I am referringto the critical writingsof Greenberg(in practice, artists in New Yorkfelt the
impactof Cubismand of Surrealismmore or less together).
10
itself to emotion"(in a dynamiccircularityfiguredby the animalronde), the sentiment
experiencedby prehistoricman is felt by us to parallelour own; it is a question of the
"sense of the miraculous[sentimentde miracle]"declaredto be the identifying trait[le
propre] of man as opposedto the animal.Whatoverwhelmsus at Lascauxis the "useless
figurationof these signs thatseduce"[13]. The emotionalcommunicationof these figures
requiresthe temporalleap of millenniaandis catastrophicin its effect. It overwhelmsus
(nous renverse)like the tree overturned(renverse)by the tempestat the entranceto the
cave and exposes our roots, leaving us suspended. Our emotional response to the
communicationof these figures-our renversement-is the sign of our transfiguration,
which performsor completes the transfigurationof the other-that of the bete humaine
into etre humain.This circuitof emotion, of emerveillement,is the miracle.Communication,the one thatlinks artandthe sacred,performstheoriginof artandthe originof man
at the same time-it is a veritableorigin of the work of art, in the double sense of the
genitive of the difference.
All thismeanders,buttheconceptualstartingpointis simple:manis opposedto beast.
The oppositionis performedlinguisticallyin thepronominaldistinctionbetweennous and
il-pronoun "of the nonperson"[see Benv6niste].If the question is, how to pass from
nonpersonto person?the answerwe receive is this:throughan act of figurationreceived
(by Bataille) as an act of address.It is a questionof the originof the species, but here we
are dealing with a quite differentkind of survival-an afterlife of images. Figuration
performsthe "enduringsurvival"of an address,an addressthat crosses time, figuring
acrossdeathwith thekindof posthumousreachthatso movedVictorHugo.WhatBataille
calls "thesacredmomentof figuration"[63] is catastrophicin its effect, accordingto the
specific meaningBataillegives to thistermwhenhe speaksof sacrifice:it collapses linear
time.7The paintedfigurescommunicateto us, transferringintimateemotion,andthrough
this operation the nonperson that was the man-beast comes to resemble us-"nous
pouvons dire qu'il nous ressemblait."The nonperson-il-passes to the discursive
position nous. The imperfect tense of the verb ressemblertraces the trajectoryof the
image, its survivalto the present.It signals the "enduringsurvival"of figuration,which
lets artcommunicate"fromafar"and "throughtime [dans le temps]."
"Everyprofoundspiritneeds a mask,"Nietzsche wrote [BeyondGood and Evil 51].
Aurignacianmanwas sucha spirit-"to designatehimselfhe hadto give himself the mask
of another.., he hid his featuresbeneaththe mask of the animal"[63]. At the same time,
these images of the nonpersongive us the "sensiblesign of our presence."Thus, if part
of the miracleof Lascauxinvolves the survival(durablesurvie) of an address-the fact
that, miraculously,"these paintings have reached us [nous somme parvenues]"-this
arrivalmarksourarrivaltoo. When the animal(bete humaine)passes acrossto resemble
us, this marksthe moment not only of our origin but also of our end. We also come to
resembleit as subjectof transgression,or "animaldivin";this is the "secret"of the cave.
Lascauxinvolves "theparadoxof man adornedwith the prestigeof the beast"[63],
butit also involves a temporalparadox.The cave artists,Bataillewrites,createdwhatthey
represented.The figurationthatsurvivesto arriveatus (nousparvenir)is atthe same time
a return:"Theyreturnedto this world of the savagery[sauvagerie]of the night."Bataille
writes of the cave artists,"theyfiguredit with fervor,in anxiety"[70]. The Aurignacian
man-beastscome to resembleusjust at the momentthatwe find tracesof ourselves-the
sign of oursensible presence-in them,thatis, in theirway of becomingwhatthey areby
7. Thequestionoftime is crucial to Bataille's notionofsacrifice. See "Sacrifices"concerning
timeand catastrophe:"Lacatastrophe-le tempsvecu" [94]. Thediscussionof timehere refersus
to Bergson (as the abruptpassage to the questionof revolutionsuggests Sorel). For an extensive
discussion of Bergson see my LiteraryPolemics: Bataille, Sartre,Val6ry, Breton [forthcoming,
StanfordUP, spring 1997].
diacritics / summer 1996
11
figuringwheretheyhavebeen."Couldwe miss thefactthat,enteringthegrotto,in unusual
conditions,we are,deepin the ground,in some way lost [egares] 'a'la recherchedu temps
perdu?'"[43]. "Lascauxou la naissancede l'art"puts us a la recherchedu tempsperdu
as we enter the marvelous grotto a la recherched'un instant sacre, only to meet our
primitivecounterpartsand to find ourselvesinscribedthroughtheiract of remembrance
and sensible return.Lascauxis a parodyof the miracleof Greece, and of the miracle of
art(Proust).8Itis a question,as Nietzschewrotein Ecce Homo,of "howone becomeswhat
one is" [253]. At Lascaux,this happensthroughfigurativeart,andthe movementoccurs
the human
in two directionsat once, forwardandbacklike the ronde.In "trans-figuring"
throughthe animalacrosstime to us, Aurignacianman se transfigureen nous and at the
same time transfiguresus-transforming us from rationalman into religious animalby
these figures thattransfix.
It is not by chance that Lascaux is the miracle of a double transfiguration-of the
animalandof the humanbeing.Forthe storyBatailleprojectsin thecave presentsthe two
momentsof the renversementdes alliances alreadymentioned,thatis, the dualoperation
of the sacred:interdictionandtransgression,throughwhich it is possible to renewcontact
with the sensible world-retrouver le sensible. In L'6rotisme this movementis figured
metaphorically,as we have seen, by the ronde, a two-step dance of attractionto and
repulsionfromthe sacred,the samedancerefractedby the prismof the cave ("thiscavern
is a prism"[17], Bataille writes, in what could only be called a surrealistimage) and
danced over the millennia.
at Lascaux, then, is linked to transgression.
What Bataille calls "transfiguration"
Bothrequirethe figure-not theresembling(imaginary)one, whereresemblancefollows
the path of addressin a gesture of mirroring-as if, for example, prehistoricman had
spoken directlyto us by sendingus a self-portrait-but the useless one, the image of the
nonperson.It requiresa trans-figuringwhichpasses acrossthe system of enunciationand
throughthethirdperson,"il,"theanimalandthemask-figure inutile.Thesefigurescarry
prestige in the etymological sense of the term, as "illusion,"to be understoodnot as
mimetic representation(in the service of instrumentalreason)but in its derivationfrom
the Latinword for play: ludere.Transgressioninvolves the passage from homofaber to
homo ludens.It is in this sense thatfiguration(along with representation,parody,andthe
fictive) is transgressivein Batailleandthattransgressionfinds its origin(if not its end) in
figurativeart. "Transgression,"Bataille writes, "only exists from the moment art itself
appears[que l'art lui-memese manifeste]"[41].
The figuralandthe fictive have been suppressedin Batailleby readingsthatidentify
transgressionwith writing.If "Lascaux"presentsmoreorless the samestoryof thesacred
thatreturnsin L'Protisme,whatit addsis therelationbetweentransgressionandfigurative
art, an art of the image-even a "naturalismof the marvelous [merveilleux]."For the
reversalof alliances is presentedhere beforeit is theorizedas eroticism,which will then
be transposedinto the registerof text. "Lascauxou la naissancede l'art"revealsthatwhat
became the law of writing for Kristeva-antimatter of realism-emerged more primitively in relation to visual realism. Although various types of signs are present in the
cave-"grotesque" representationsof the human male, "deformed"sculpturesof the
female form,and"abstract"markingson the wall-Bataille identifiestransgressionwith
the iconic sign. Transgressionoccurs in and throughthe "sacredmomentof figuration,"
8. Thefull citation-a veritablepastiche of Proust-reads as follows: "Upon entering the
cave, could we mistake the fact that, in unusual conditions, in the depths of the earth, we are
somehow 'a la recherchedu tempsperdu?'A vain search, it is true:nothingwill ever enable us to
authenticallyrelive thispast whichloses itself in the night.... Whatthese dead have left us would
matterlittle to us, were it notfor the hope we have, evenfor afleeting instant,of being able to make
them live again in us" [43].
12
figurationof the nonpersonin the mode of "divine"animalitywhich is the spiritualtruth
of man-"le divin, dont le caractereinfini s'exprimaitsous forme animale."9
Bataille's interest in the genesis of figurativeart can be tracedback to his article
"L'artprimitif"(1933), which examinedG. H. Luquet'stheoryof primitiveart.Luquet,
whose methodwas to compareprehistoricartto children'sartandmake inferencesfrom
the latter to the former, had introduceda concept of "intellectualrealism" which he
distinguishedfrom"visualrealism."Visualrealismis mimetic;it aimsto show thingsjust
as they appear.Intellectualrealismrepresentsthingsas the mindknows themto be. Since
a humanhead is known to have two eyes, for example, the representationof a human
profile might include both eyes. Intellectualrealism was a way to accountfor primitive
modes of figuration,which are mimetically inexact. For Luquet this concept was the
defining characteristicof prehistoricart.
In his review of Luquet'sbook, Bataille expressesbothhis admirationfor Luquet's
theoryandhis reservationsconcerningmethodsandresults.He is concernedthatLuquet's
analysisnecessarilyneglects prehistoricsculpture,which was not realistat all. He is also
concernedthatLuquet's theorycannotaccountfor the artof the Aurignacians,wherethe
animalimages, for the most part,display visual, not intellectual,realism.If one were to
follow Luquet,Bataille observes wryly, one would be forcedto concludethat"[the]first
men who made what we call a workof art would have known nothingof primitiveart"
[25, originalemphasis].
Inspiredby Luquet,Bataille proposes a revised theory of primitive art and of the
genesis of figurativeart,one thatturnson a notion of alterationadaptedfrom R. Otto's
study of the sacred. This concept, defined as a desire to alter whateveris at hand, can
encompass everythingLuquetgained from the comparisonbetween primitiveman and
children,but it also enables Batailleto find a place for the artof Aurignacianman within
the domainof primitiveart,and to includethe sculpturesneglectedby Luquet.For even
if the animal paintings display a visual realism, the representationsof human beings
(especiallythe "alterationsvolontaires"of thesculpturesof femaleforms)areinformeand
display traces of the process of deformationBataille calls alteration.
This reformulationof Luquet'sthesis leaves Bataille with a new puzzle, however,
namely the fundamentaldifferencebetween representationsof humansand representations of animalsin prehistoricart.In "L'artprimitif"Bataille makes a stab at analyzing
the "categoricalduality"he has broughtto light.He sketchesoutthebasic lines of a theory
of primitive art that enables him to overcome the fundamentalopposition between
figurative representationsand nonfigurative(or informe) ones, though he cannot yet
account for the fact thatthe first representanimalsand the second, humanbeings. The
genesis of figuration,he argues,is an instinctof alteration,a desireto alterwhateveris at
hand---existingobjects,such as toys, in the case of children,or surfacessuch as walls or
paper.Intheprocess,figuresarerecognizedin (orprojectedonto)therandomscribblings,
yielding a virtualobjectof representationwhichis then alteredanddeformedin turn.Art,
Bataille writes "proceedsby successive destructions"[253].10
But it can also take anotherpath, or go in the otherdirection:
another way out is available tofigural representationfrom the momentimagination substitutes a new object for the destroyed support. Instead of treating the
new object in the same manner as the support, it is possible, in the course of
9. In "L'histoire de l'drotisme" Bataille distinguishes betwen "l'animal banal" (before
interdiction)and "l'animaldivin," linkedto transgression.In "Lascaux"the presentationof the
former occurs textually,in Bataille's depictionof the stereotypeof the cavemenas subhuman,as
"classes inhumaines."This descriptionis crucialfor thefigure of divine animalityto emerge.
10. RosalindKraussdiscusses the notionof alteration(and the informe)froma quitedifferent
anglein TheOpticalUnconscious.
diacritics I summer 1996
13
repetition,to submitit to progressive appropriationwith respect to the represented original. In this way one passes quite rapidly to the increasingly
resemblingimage[1'imagede plus en plusconforme]ofan animal,for example.
It is a question then of a real change of meaning at the beginning of the
development[il s'agit alors d'un v6ritablechangementde sens au d6but du
d6veloppement].[253, originalemphasis]
Bataille argues that such a change of meaning occurredfor the Aurignacianman in
relationto representationsof animals,but not to representationsof humanbeings [253].
However,andthisis theimportantpoint,bothin thecase of theimageshe will characterize
as informe(the representationsof the human)and in the case of the images that are "de
plus en plus conforme"(the animalimages), the fiction of a form is presupposed.If the
inhuman images are characterizedas informe, this is not because there never was a
figurativemoment,butbecausethefigureprojectedintothescribblingsthatalterthegiven
material(in a mode reminiscentof what Max Ernstcalls the "Lesson of Leonardo"in
BeyondPainting,andwhichVal6ryhadalludedto muchearlierin his studyof Leonardo)
is subsequentlynegatedor deformedandin this sense renderedinforme.The alternative
gestureis to appropriatethis fictive figure and to develop it until it is with form, thatis,
until it conformsto the virtualor fictive figure.
If we consider this analysis in theoreticalterms, what Bataille appears to have
discoveredin his adaptationof Luquet'stheoryof primitiveartis the basic structureof
the movement he will subsequentlycall "renversementdes alliances"in "L'histoirede
l'6rotisme." Bataille closes his short essay by noting the importanceof considering
"psychologicalmotives"thatmightaccountforthecategoricaldualityconcerningthetwo
modes of representationandtheirmeaning.This is precisely whatBataille will returnto
two decades later in his study of Lascaux, where interdictionand transgressionare
associated with the representationof human beings and of animals, respectively, and
analyzed as "ways of seeing." The "reversalof alliances"provides a "psychological
motive" (in Bataille's sense) for the "changeof meaning"he discernsin the movement
of alterationthatyields thefigurativeimage.Thefirstmodeof alteration,thenegativeone,
opens the world of interdiction;the second opens the world of transgressionas an
appropriationof the image. This correspondsto what Bataille speaks of as renewed
contact with the sensible world in the experienceof religious transgression.
"Lascaux"gives us "theimage of the origin of art"[36] inasmuchas it gives us the
originof artas image.Italso suggestsone originof themeaningof thestoryof interdiction/
transgression,namely Bataille's meditationon the origin of prehistoricfigurative art.
Interdictionand transgressiondo not give us the key to Lascaux. Rather,primitive art
yields the secretof the theoryof alteration-and providesthe interpretationof its "change
of meaning"-through the dual operationof the sacred. "Lascaux"is the story of this
story,thatis, the originof artas originof transgression.It is perhapsin this sense thatwe
are to understandBataille's otherwise puzzling remark:"transgressiondoes not exist
before the momentwhen artitself appears"[41].
The reasonBataillegives a specialplace to thefigurativeimages of the animalsis not
only that they illustratehis theoreticalfiction (especially the hybridfigure of the manbeast)butbecause,when they areinterpretedas a reversalof meaningthroughthe theory
of alteration,they bear witness to the refusal of the human world of work, which
correspondsto the moment of sacred transgression.The visual realism of the animal
figuresgives a meaningof refusalto the informerepresentationsof the human,which are
construed as having been denied the light of appearanceor subjected to "willful
deformation,"since the animalimages attestto the figurativepowers of the prehistoric
artists.The difference implies that the humanwas representedas inhumanand guides
Bataille's interpretationof this gestureas a refusal of the humanworld of work.
14
This all depends,however, on the uselessness of these figures, for it is only as such
that they can inscribe the sacred moment of transgressionin their figuration.Bataille
refuses the conventionalinterpretationof the animalpaintings,which endows them with
magical force in an instrumentalsense, placingthem in the service of a ritualwhose aim
was to enhancehuntingprospects,forexample.He allows thatthecreationof these figures
was a magical operation,but he insulatesthis notion of the magical from any instrumentality.For Bataille,the magicalnatureof artisticcreationimplies thata value of workhas
been supersededby a value of the sacred;it implies a recognitionthatno amountof work
could obtainthe desiredresult,andhence abnegateshumaninstrumentalpowers.Bataille
wants to convince us thatthese paintingswere useless to primitiveman, createdin sheer
exuberanceas a celebrationof the magical per se, the sacred.
What he does not explicitly say, however, is that it is just as importantthat these
imagesremainuseless to us. Otherwisetheywouldlose theirpowerof seductionandcease
to communicate."[O]npouvaitdirequ'il nousressemblait,"Bataillesays of the primitive
artist,bite humaine.But the paintingsdo not operatethis resemblanceby a self-portrait
thatwould allow us to see ourselves in an image of him, and so verify the resemblance.
Insteadit is the inhumanfigure that marksthe passage to the human;we see only the
nonperson.As Bataille wrote in "L'artprimitif":
The reindeer,the bison, or the horse are representedin such perfectly minute
detail thatif we could see equallyscrupulousimages of the men themselves,the
strangestperiod in the metamorphosisof the human[la p6riodela plus 6trange
des avatarshumains]would immediatelycease to be the most inaccessible. But
the drawings and sculptureswhich have been charged with representingthe
Aurignacians are almost all informe and much less human than those that
representthe animals. [251, originalemphasis]
The paintingsdo notgive us theimage ourcuriositydemands:theportraitof thecaveman.
They convey no useful information,yet in theiruselessness they seduce us andenable us
to find our "sensiblepresence"in the cave. It is the mask, the inhuman(all too human)
figure of the animalthatguaranteesthe uselessness of these images-to us. And it is the
figural image that bears witness to transgressionand performsour transfigurationinto
"divineanimal."
We enterthe cave "ala recherched'un instantsacr6"[42]. Once inside, "afeeling of
presence imposes itself [un sentimentde presence s'impose]." A sensible sign of our
presence is given as tempsperdu-not only time past but time lost, lost in uselessness.
This is the sacredmomentof figuration,of lafite, andof sacrifice.Sacrificeliberateslived
time (le tempsvicu) ordinarilylocked in (enferme'),absorbedby useful tasksandsystems
of measurement.Sacrifice opens up a different dimension of time-lost time-for
sacrifice is "thecatastropheof time"as experienceof being, thatis, of time as being, or
being as time-"il y ale temps.""Towardthe very end of his career,Heideggerreaches
a similarconclusion:"timeis a kind of Being" [13]. He writes thatthe futuredimension
of time (as the withholdingof presence)andthe pastdimensionof time (as the refusalof
presence)together"grantand shield presencein a reciprocalrelationship,"and he adds,
"nowhere do we find time as something that is like a thing" [3]. Heidegger's remark can
help us read Bataille's statement concerning art as an expression of religious transgression. "The forms of art have no other origin than laifte de tous les temps" [41], Bataille
writes, and sacrifice is the moment of paroxysm of this carnival. Laifte de tous les temps
is to be understood in terms of sacrifice as catastrophe of time, and thus as a carnival de
11. "Sacrifices"
there,thereis time[il y a le
[96]--"thereis neitherbeingnornothingness
temps]."
diacritics / summer 1996
15
tous les temps-of past,present,andfuturetimes."Beingas presence,"Heideggerwrites,
"is determinedby time"-the catastropheof time, Bataille would say. In "Lascaux,"
transgressionoccurs throughthe figure or the fiction-for Bataille thereis nothingless
like a thingthanthe useless figure.Figurationis necessaryso thattheplay of dissimulation
can occur and inscribe the animal (the nonperson-il--excluded from the structureof
linguistic enunciation)into a second-ordercircuit of addresswhich passes throughthe
image.The figureis necessaryfor anactof addressto communicateacrosstime-to transfigure.It is the fictive figure-figure inutile-that operatesthe reciprocalrelationshipof
future,past, and presenttime in the afterlifeof images.
Tel quel had much to gain by reading Bataille as a kind of (anti)matterto Breton's
"idealism."As transgressionbecame writing,the fictive and the image in Bataille were
suppressed,just as they were within Tel quel itself.12 In his study of Foucault,Deleuze
alludesto "areactionagainstphenomenology"thatresultedin a "aprivilege of the word
over the visible" [58]. In this context, the fictive was consideredon the realistmodel as
a simulacrumof the realandwas thereforeimplicatedin relationto discoursesof truthor
reference.In the world of digital imagery,however, where images no longer guarantee
truth,there is no longer a need to draw back from the visible."3
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Adaptedinpartfromthemanuscript
ofIntimate
bySuzanneGuerlac,forthcomingfrom
StanfordUniversityPress. Materialfrom IntimateMechanicsis used withthepermissionof
withouttheirwrittenpermission.
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StanfordUniversity
diacritics / summer 1996
17