Absence of Myth

For Bataille the absence of myth had itself become the myth of the modern age. In a world that had lost the secret of its cohesion Bataille saw surrealism as both a symptom and a beginning of an attempt to address this loss. His writings on this theme are the result of a profound reflection in the wake of World War Two. <p/><i>The Absence of Myth</i> is the most incisive study yet made of surrealism insisting on its importance as a cultural and social phenomenon with far-reaching consequences. Clarifying Bataille's links with the surrealist movement and throwing revealing light on his complex and greatly misunderstood relationship with Andre Breton <i>The Absence of Myth</i> shows Bataille to be a much more radical figure than his postmodernist devotees would have us believe: a man who continually tried to extend Marxist social theory; a pessimistic thinker but one as far removed from nihilism as can be.