{"product_id":"the-limit-of-the-useful-georges-bataille-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 \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn the decade prior to the publication of \u003ci\u003eInner Experience\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eL'exp駻ience int駻ieure\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as Bataille had planned to title the work, illuminates the philosopher's later corpus, yet it remained unfinished and unpublished in his lifetime, and untranslated until now. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Georges Bataille\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262047330\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262047333\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/07\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 416\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.19lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.11h x 5.43w x 1.42d","brand":"Georges Bataille","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44070627934463,"sku":"9780262047333","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e9120700-392e-430a-9f80-dfe3bdacae2d.jpg?v=1685431425","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-limit-of-the-useful-georges-bataille-9780262047333","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}