Simone

Many people know Bataille (Georges Bataille, 1897-1962) as an eccentric. In the vibrant cultural scene of Paris, his approach was unique and distinct from the dominant existentialism of the post-war era, pointing a new path for the next generation like Foucault and Derrida. He was more avant-garde than avant-garde, subverting subjectivity, seeking extreme experiences, and continuously searching for the gaps that transcend boundaries: engaging in sacred anthropology (almost conducting a live human sacrifice), participating in the surrealist movement (but breaking with Breton), creating the theory of "general economy" (transcending the economic ideas of "lack, accumulation"), developing a new reading of Nietzsche (breaking away from the Hegelian system), constructing a history of heterogeneous cultures, and also producing controversial erotic "limit texts." "The Story of the Eye" (L'Histoire de l’œil, 1928) is one of the earliest and most famous, translated into Japanese by Ikeda Kōzaku as "The Ball Eye Tale." The plot is bold, recounting the passion and deviation of the sixteen-year-old protagonists. The narrator states, "I only like those classified as dirty," transcending debauchery, celebrating excess and excessiveness. In the first half, the story includes explicit depictions such as urinating on each other and copulating next to corpses. In the second half, after leaving their coastal hometown and arriving in Spain, the intertwining of love and death intensifies, showcased in the violent bullfighting arena. The female protagonist, Simone, enjoys the thrill of crushing eggs with her buttocks and is fascinated by the testicles of the slaughtered bull, allowing the sounds and meanings of “egg” (oeuf) and “eye” (oeil) to circulate among each other. In Western thought, the eye as a metaphor for the light of reason is also thoroughly subverted. Ultimately, Simone seduces, rapes, and strangles a young priest with her companion, even digging out the dead man's eyes to caress her body, placing them in her mouth and genitals, providing a fierce annotation to Bataille's famous "solar anus" theory. "The Story of the Eye" is short, but its imagery is extremely strong. Its erotic descriptions do not necessarily evoke sensual desire, but rather discomfort, as the dislocation of the "eye in the anus" challenges the limits accepted by civilization and questions the possibility of meaning.