I pulled this from my shelf as I was dusting, having read it some 15 years ago. 15 years ago! I liked it then, and I still like it. Bataille critiques traditional economy and examines what he calls the 'general economy', an economy not wholly based on production (as Marx would have it), but excess and expenditure, or non-productive surplus. On a philosophical level, it defines self-consciousness or a liberated subjectivity as 'prestige'--an economy of gift exchange that runs on endless consumption and annihilation of riches. This is different from the traditional economy which sees riches as something to be accumulated, hoarded. Not so, says Bataille. Riches are there to perish, and with it, the annihilation of unified 'self'--a consciousness' most valued possession. Economics meets psychoanalysis. Reverie over. Placed it back on the shelf. ( )

100 BAT 6