Section III (1936-1939) Summary and Analysis

In this group of ten writings created from 1936 to 1939, Bataille addresses several ideas that are significant to his time. "The Labyrinth" presents a model of unified community organization. Men express their "being" through constant struggle for unreachable satisfaction. Other beings express "beingness" unequally. For example a dog's being is different from a sponge and an important man expresses being more significantly than a wanderer. By acting in specialized or narrowed areas, a man's being is impoverished from the "multicolored immensity of human lives." Being is undefined if projected beyond itself. For example, a knife with blade and handle replaced indefinitely is not the same and a sponge pounded into dust of cells is no longer a single being. Similarly a man who knows his neighbors as part of society is a particle connected by instability to an...