Gifts Without Presents: Economies of "Experience" in Bataille and Heidegger

Author(s): Rebecca Comay

Source: Yale French Studies, No. 78, On Bataille (1990), pp. 66-89
Published by: Yale University Press
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 REBECCA COMAY

GiftswithoutPresents:Economies
of "Experience"in Bataille and
Heidegger*

Whatwouldit take (andwhatwouldit give)to thinkthelogicofthe

giftin its mostrigorousform?To thinka givingso "pure"it would
tolerateno return-no payment,no feedback,no profit, howeverse-
cret-a giving which would exceed circuit
every ofcompensation and
challengeeverymeasureof exchange?A giftso generousit would
shatterthe circleofadequationon whichreasonitselfdepends?
Hegel,Nietzsche,Marxhadall insisted,inthisregard, on a certain
modicumofsuspicion.The kickbackscouldbe subtle,no less potent
forbeing,at times,"symbolic,"no less realforbeingdeferred. Hegel
had demonstrated zealously,in thePhenomenology, howveryeasily
themostinnocentseeminggestureofrenunciation slidesintogran-
diosityand self-reward. Did not almost everyfiniteshape of con-
sciousness-the unhappyconsciousness,theobsequiousnobleman,

*I wouldlike to thankJulianPatrickforhis carefulreadingofan earlierversion,

and H6leneComayforhergeneroushelpwithsomedifficult translations.
All referencesto Bataille'stext,exceptwhereindicated,arenotedin thetextby
volumeandpageoftheOeuvresCompltes, 12 volumes(Paris:Gallimard,1970-89).
The following abbreviations to thetextsofHeideggerwill be used:
EM: Einfiihrung in die Metaphysik(Tfibingen:Meyer,1966).
G: Gelassenheit(Pfullingen: Neske, 1959).
N: Nietzsche,2 volumes(Pfullingen: Neske, 1961).
SZ: Sein und Zeit (Tubingen:Niemeyer,1979).
SU: Die Selbstbehauptung der deutschenUniversitit(Frankfurt:Kloster-
mann,1983).
US: Unterwegs zur Sprache(Pfullingen: Neske, 1959).
WHD: WasHeisstDenken?(Tubingen:Niemeyer,1954).
ZSD: Zur Sache des Denkens(Tiibingen: Niemeyer,1969).
AndforSartre,thefollowing abbreviation:
NM: "Un nouveaumystique,"Situations1 (Paris:Gallimard,1947).
YFS 78, On Bataille,ed. Allan Stoekl,C 1990byYale University.

66

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 REBECCA COMAY 67
thesuperstitious thebeautifulsoul (tonameonlythemost
sacrificer,
glaringexamples)-expose its own immaturity preciselyby its in-
abilityto letgo?Did it notstealthilyaggrandizeitselfwitheveryloss,
snatcha victoryfromeveryfall?Wasit nottheveryfateofan imma-
ture consciousnessto remain attachedto the calculus of equiv-
alence-ultimately the shopkeeper'sscales of justice-the binary
logic of Verstand?In the Genealogy,Nietzsche had linkedsuch a
recuperativelogic to the resentfulphantasmsof the servilecon-
sciousness.Avaricious,anal,unableto "be done"withthings,it was
theslavewhoquietlystockpiledhis disadvantages tosecurecompen-
sationin a futureheaven.He tooksecretpayoffs forhis pettysacri-
fices,surreptitiouslyprofitedfromeverypain.Unlikethenoblecon-
sciousness-wasteful,extravagant, Zarathustra's"squanderer witha
thousandhands"-the slave waited,counted,plottedthe advantage
in everysetback,took the measureofeveryloss. Abstractthinking
was the method;constipation, theprice;Christianity,theresult.
Capitalism,the finalproduct.Marx was to inscribethis entire
structureof restitutionwithinthe politicaleconomyof the day.If
everyclass societyis markedbytheprivateaccumulationofsurplus
value, capitalismdistinguishesitselfby its officialideologyofjust
exchange.Forifcapitalistaccumulationrequireseverysurplusto be
reinvestedin the systemas the investmentof a surplusvalue, it
wouldsimultaneously coverthefactbyinsistingontheappearanceof
a freeexchange.
Adornoonceremarked thatitis a symptomofclass society(andin
particular own society,the societyofsurpluswhichcreatesthe
our
verypossibilityofsurplus"theory")thattheabilityto givehas been
eroded. Gift-giving-whathad been the paradigmof "everyun-
distortedrelationship,"'thepromiseoftheconciliationofand with
natureitself-becomes constrictedinto the contractualexchange
betweenpartners.What such a societycannotthink(the logic of
identityexcludesit) is the possibilityof an encounterthatwould
upsettheregulatedequilibriumofaccounts.Forthegiftwouldmarka
pointofincommensurability whichwouldchallengetheideologyof
adequation and reciprocityon which capitalismmust depend.It
wouldupsetthehomeostaticorderofrestitution andexchange,intro-
ducinga measurebeyondcalculation,exposingthe prevailingide-

4 (Frankfurt:
1. TheodorAdomo,MinimaMoralia,GesammelteSchriften Suhr-
kamp,1980),46ff.

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68 Yale FrenchStudies
ologyofjust exchangebetweenequals as just themaskwornbythe
systemto coverup thereal inequitiesoftheday.
It is at this point that Bataille and Heidegger-separatelyand
together, at thepointoftheirmostunspokenandprofound entangle-
ment-may offer foodforthought.

I.

I haveonlya breathlessinterestforthephilosophiesoftime...
-Bataille, L'Experience interieure

So I would like to arguefora certain"communication"between

Heideggerand Bataille.This communicationis seeminglyawkward
forthefactthatit never,as such,tookplace,and it is strikingforthe
greatdistanceswhich will have to be traversed.For the exchange
will span morethanthegeo-cultural abysswhichseparatesthelec-
turehalls of Freiburgfromthe literaryhauntsofwartimeParis.It
will span more than the variousinstitutional -abysseswhich sepa-
ratethe philosophicalexplicationofBeingfromthe after-hours re-
searches of an archivistat the BibliothequeNationale. While
Heidegger was studyingthe history of Westernmetaphysics,
Bataille,in his sparetime,conductedanthropological investigations
into human sacrifice,inspectedthe colorfulanuses of orangutans,
engagedin stormy,short-lived collaborationswith the surrealists,
foundedalternativeculturaljournals,suffered rapturously fromtu-
berculosis,joinedleftistgroupusculesin theheadydaysofthePopu-
lar Front,set up (and dissolved)secretsocietiesand a "strangeand
famous"college, offered"mystical"meditationson the death of
God, expoundedWeberian-styled analysesof the rise of Protestant
industry,venturedecological speculationson new laws of ther-
modynamics,analysedSoviet and Americaneconomicpolicies in
theearlydaysofthe Cold War,commentedenergetically on modern
literature-andwas inspiredto writemanya "dirty"novel and to
raise manya disapproving eyebrow.The exchangewill span more,
too,thantheapparentpoliticalabysswhichseparates,in the 1930s,
the notoriousRectorofFreiburg University fromthe antifascistac-
tivistoftheParisianLeft.Andit will spanmorethanthegenealogi-

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 REBECCA COMAY 69
cal abyss which separatesHeideggerand Bataille as, respectively,
gravedigger and heirapparentofNietzsche/Dionysos.
The exchangewill also have to straddlea certainconceptual
abyss.ForifBatailleand Heideggerat timesseem close in theirde-
scriptionsofEnlightenment modernity-theabstractruleofreason,
the congealingof subjectivity, the technical exploitationof the
earth-theirdiagnosesofthesourceofthe "problem"divergesharp-
ly,as do theirprognosesregarding the directionof a possiblecure.
Heideggerand Bataille sketchparallelaccountsof the develop-
mentofmodernity as theprogressive technologization ofexperience.
Bothpresenta kind of counterhistory to the Hegeliannarrativeof
emancipation.Forboththinkers-as forHorkheimer andAdorno,in
the twistedwake of Marx,Nietzsche and Weber-the progressof
enlightenment bringsnewand seeminglyirreversible formsofdomi-
nation:the reification ofexperienceand theintroduction ofthe ab-
stractmeasureofutility;thereductionofqualitativedifference tothe
quantifiableidentitiesof the market;the increasingcentralityof
productive laboras thedeterminant ofthoughtandaction;theexpul-
sion ofthe mundanesacredand its replacement by an otherworldly
deity;and,last butnotleast,the(Newtonian)determination oftime
of
as an inertcontinuum exchangeablenow-points (whatBenjamin,
in 1940, called "homogeneous,emptytime,"and likened to the
numbing"rosary"ofsequentialhistory). Forboththinkers, thepro-
cess will culminatein thetechnologicalvicissitudesofthepresent-
thereductionoftheearthto a standing"stockpile"ofresources,the
reductionoftimeto an accumulationofemptyinstants,thereduc-
tionofexperienceto theprivateself-possession ofa transparent sub-
ject.By the 1950s,forbetterorworse,Batailleand Heidegger(along
withso manyothers)will havecome to equate "Russia"and "Amer-
ica" as the complementary flipsidesof an apparatusof pure ac-
its
cumulation-maximizing efficiency, reinvesting all its surpluses
to feedthe expandingmeans ofproduction,capturingall existence
withinthe circleofinstrumentality and exchange.
But while the two storiesmayin broadoutlinecoincide,there-
spectiveetiologieswouldseemto differ. Heideggerwill attribute this
tendencyto the "mountingforgetfulness" ofa hiddenBeing:theon-
tologicalreductionofBeingtoanotherentity(however supreme)tobe
graspedand plundered,the temporalreductionofan elusive "pres-
ence"toa manageable"present"tobe truckedandtraded.Bataille,on
theotherhand,will attribute theprocessto man'sviolentexpulsion

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70 Yale FrenchStudies
ofheterogeneous"matter":the defensivesplittingof an "original"
ambivalence(maleficand beneficent, attractionand repulsion,sa-
credand mundane)intothemoreefficient conceptualbifurcations of
moralityandreason(goodorbad,heavenorearth,desireorrepulsion).
Heidegger'saccount is ontological,Bataille's seeminglyanthropo-
logical. Heideggerwill groundthe processofrationalizationin the
self-occluding structureofBeing,Bataillein the functionalexigen-
cies of human self-preservation. ForHeidegger,it is the essence of
Being to dissembleitselfin the variousguises of Westernmeta-
physics-eidos, ousia, substantia,actualitas,perceptio,Geist,Will
to Power-a seriesofhypostatizations andreductionsbywhichman
comes to take,and thusbecome,themeasureofall existencein his
obfuscation ofBeing'sunmasterable temporality. ForBatailleitis the
humanneedtoworkwhichcreatesthelimitedor "restricted" econo-
my of instrumentality and exchange:anthropocentric avaricere-
placesthecosmicprodigality ofa solareconomyfreelyexpending its
resourceswithoutreturn.
ForHeidegger,Nietzschestandsat the apex ofthe metaphysical
systemof retention.The Will to Powerdisplayspreciselythe ava-
riciousstructure oftheclassicalsubject:recursive, self-aggrandizing,
constantly(likecapital)needingto expand,to become "more"than
itselfin ordertostaythe"same"as itself,securingitsenvironment as
a constantreserveofstablevalues,efficiently returning toitselfin the
staticrecurrenceofthe same. Did Nietzschehimselfnot explicitly
determine"life"as thehyperretentive movementofself-production,
underwritten by thatmost "subterranean" of all values,the Erhal-
tungswerte? "To have and to want to have more-growth,in one
word-that is lifeitself"(Willto Power? 125).LeadingHeideggerto
ask,withoutasking,whethertheovermanwouldnotindeedbe closer
tohis human,all-toohumancounterpart-theslavishhoarderofthe
Genealogy-than his extravagant gestureswould suggest.Bataille,
conversely(readingNietzscheagainstthefascists,againstHeidegger,
andat timesagainstNietzschehimself), willreadNietzscheas fellow
profligate and ecstatic.The avaricious"more"of metaphysicalac-
cumulationand control(stillpresent,accordingto Bataille,in 1929,
in thattelltalelittleprefixofidealization,sur-homme[2, 93-112])
givesway,forthe sur-Nietzscheof Sur Nietzsche,to the excessive
expenditureof a "hyper-will" committedno longerto the ruses of
accumulativepowerbut to the abyssalluresofchance.
Heideggerwill offeras a countermemory to thetradition a repeti-

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 REBECCA COMAY 71
tionoftheGreek"experience"ofBeingas (absent)presence.Having
exhausteditselfin the spiralofunleashedtechnology, metaphysics
exposesa secretopeningtoitsotherin thosemomentary glimmersof
an experiencebeyondthe reachof calculation.Such an experience
recapitulates withoutrestoring theearlyGreekreflection on Beingas
thewithdrawing giftofa timebeyondthe cumulativeflowofindif-
ferent now-points. Batailleproposesas countermovements totheava-
riciousgripof reasonthe unaccountable"experiences"of laughter,
tears,dreams,games,art,"perverse sexualactivity"(1,305),"medita-
tion"andthedazzlingthrustof"joyin thefaceofdeath."ForHeideg-
ger,thehomogenizing thrustofmetaphysics is subvertedwhen "dif-
ference"reveals itself as the finite of
transcendence Being in its
distinction frompresentbeings.ForBataille,"heterogeneity" appears
in theecstaticgesturesofhumanself-abandon. ForHeidegger,appar-
ently,Beingdisposes.ForBataille,apparently, man proposes.
It is, then,an unlikelyenoughexchange.The two participants
themselvesdid littleto facilitateit-the one,typically, notreading,
the other,moreor less, misreading-a curiousscene ofmisprision
and denial whose "economic"implicationsdeservesome scrutiny.
Heidegger, in his usual fashion,remainedstubbornly immuredfrom
the"bohemian"sceneofprewarParis,whileBataille'sappreciation of
the Freiburgphilosopherremainedseverelylimited by local re-
strictionson foreigncurrency.Heideggerseems not to have read
Bataille. Bataille read Heideggerfitfully, and, by his own account,
onlyin translation(4, 365). By 1937,the onlyFrenchtranslationof
Heidegger's workwas thelittleanthology byHenriCorbin-a fateful,
at timesfatal,translationwhichwas to set the mood and tenorof
French"existentialism" fora gooddecadestillto come.
Bataillewas reluctantto perceivein Heideggera fellowtraveller.
His mostexplicitremarks(thoughtheyarerare)typically pegHeideg-
geras one more"philosopher":snugin his academiccommitments,
weddedto thevalues ofworkand science,soberin theproductionof
discourse."Not a lifedominatedby an unjustifiablepassion" (1,
285).Fundamental ontologysubordinates "experience" totheluresof
If
"knowledge"(5, 19). Heidegger himselfmayhavehad an inklingof
"innerexperience,"he manhandlesit in his haste to masterit; he
cannot communicateit withoutbetrayal."Contestation"in his
hands becomes conformism, anotherjob forthe professoriate.The
"scientificcommunity"invokedin Wasist Metaphysik"is the ser-
vile workers'commune:hunched,dwarfish, bent by the spiritof

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72 Yale French Studies
gravity:"a rathernasty,deformed gnome-too polishedto be a mon-
ster,embarrassed, ifnot ashamedofbeingso" (5, 431). IfHeidegger
perceivesthe abyssal glissement of existentstowardsthe "noth-
ingness"oftheunknown,his reactionremainsforlorn anddefensive.
He wouldretainhis gripon certainty. He cannothandleloss.Whythe
fearand trembling? (Philosophersdo notlaugh."I am nota philoso-
pher but a saint, maybea madman" [5, 218].) Heideggerean"an-
goisse" is stillcringing, avaricious,clingingto whatescapesit. (An-
guish,explainsBataille elsewhere,is still weddedto "the fearof
losing"(5, 169); it is caughtin thecircleofself-preservation
(7,311),
markedby the "greedy" concernwith consequences(5, 321): it is
individuated,reactive,an evasion of chance as such.) The melan-
cholia of "existentialist" Angst shouldyield,thus,to the incandes-
cent"ecstasy"ofabandon(11,304).Laughter, drunkenness, thetugof
eroticeffervescence-conspicuously missingin Heidegger-would
supplythe missingaffirmation.
I start
from not,as didHeidegger
laughter, inWasistMetaphysik?,
fromangoisse. . . (angoisseis a sovereign
moment,butstillin flight
fromitself,stillnegative);his publishedwork,as faras I can see, is
morea manufactured articlethana glass ofalcohol.... It is a pro-
fessorialwork,its methodremainsglued [colle]eto results:what
countsforme, rather,is the momentof unglueing[decollement],
whatI teach. .. is a kindofdrunkenness, not a philosophy... [5,
217ff.]
By Bataille's own estimate, a general economics would begin pre-
cisely where fundamentalontologyleaves off-at the frayededges of
Heidegger'ssystem,in the silencesofhis thought."Evenmorethan
thetextofVolume1 ofSein und Zeit ... it is Heidegger's
inabilityto
writeVolume2 whichbringsme close to Heidegger.... WhatI final-
ly manage to say is represented,in Heidegger,only by a silence . ..
(5, 217n and 474).
Withthese last words,Bataille speaks perhapsmore truthfully
thanhe could have known.

II.

He didnotknowtowhatextent
hewasright-
-BatailleonHegel,quotedbyDerrida

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 REBECCA COMAY 73
Bataille could not have knownthe extentto which he was right.
Restricted bythatrather"determined unknowledge"2 whichwas the
stateofHeideggerstudiesin Franceduringthewaryears,Batailleno
doubthad a limitedperspectiveon the matter.The fewHeidegger
textsat his disposal(thoughhe showssignsofhavinglookedonlyat
Whatis Metaphysics?)are markedbythegeneralpresuppositions of
fundamental ontology-assumptions(tosimplify quickly)regarding
theintegrity andself-consistency ofa solitaryDasein projectingitself
resolutelyintotheabyssofitsownor "proper"possibilities;assump-
tions regarding the privilegeof workand "equipmentality" as the
centralcategoryofhumanexistence;assumptions,too (Husserlian
ones),regarding the necessityand possibilityof "securing"thenew
Wissenschaft vomSeinwithall themooringsofa rigorousscience-
presuppositions whichcould arguablyappear,on balance,to mobi-
lize the most classical termsofmetaphysics, bringing"existential"
Dasein farcloser,forall its abyssaltendencies,to thefundamentum
inconcussumof the traditionalsubject than Heidegger'saverrals
wouldhaveit.Forifit is truethatHeidegger, in Beingand Time,will
attemptto wrestDasein fromthesnaresofsubstance-ontology (Da-
sein is not a subjectum,the "ekstatic"exteriority ofEk-sistenzre-
placesthebuttressing stabilityofSub-stanz,etc.),it remainsequally
truethatthe "position"ofDasein remainsresolutelyerectand ver-
ticalthroughout Heidegger'searlywritings. As does theposition(for
theseareno doubtinseparable)oftheinvestigating scientific
subject.
Withall theMiindigkeitofthe "enlightened" agent,authenticDa-
sein picks up its losses and stands up straight.Phenomenology,
meanwhile,establishesits owncredentialsas thephilosophicalpro-
ject of self-recovery.Far fromthe vertiginoushorizontality of the
acephalicvictim.Farfromtheabandonedfreefall ofan unconditional
depense.
In Sein undZeit it is onlydas Man-the dizzyanddistracted non-
selfofinauthenticexistence-whichseemsproneto loss. Selbstver-
lorenheit,self-loss,is the essentialmarkof an evasiveimmaturity
(thoughadmittedlyHeideggerwould refrainfrommoralizing[SZ,
167, 176])by whichDasein misses its stationand plungesontothe
slipperyslopeoftheeveryday. Das man has thedrunkenlurchofone
who cannotstandup straight.It skidswitheverystep-the move-
2. Jacques Derrida, "De 1'6conomierestreintea 1'6conomieg6nerale: un
hegelianismesans reserve,"in L'Ecritureet la difference
(Paris:Seuil, 1967),405r.

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74 Yale FrenchStudies
mentis described,variously, as a whirling,a groundlessness,an up-
rootedness,an entanglement, a falling,a distraction,
a floating,a
plunging-and lacks entirelythe steadfastness, Selbstindigkeitto
standon its own twofeet.Its failureto standbyitself(Unselbstdn-
digkeit)is reallyjust its pathologicaladherenceto thenonself(Un-
selbst-standigkeit) (SZ, 117,322). Even its deathis not its own: it
wouldreferthat"ownmostpossibility"to another-vicariously"ex-
periencing" deathas something for"them"togothrough, relinquish-
ingphenomenological propriety in favoroftheErsatzthemaof "the
other'sdeath"(SZ, 237-41).
AuthenticDasein-immured againstthiswobblystateofaffairs
by no more than a "thinwall" (SZ, 278) and forno more than a
"moment"-pulls itselftogetherfromthisscatteredconfusionand
reclaimsits "own" selfin thefirmgrip[Ergreifen] ofresolution(SZ,
278). Self-possessed, steadfast,"finding"itselfin the fundamental
"mood" of anxiety,authenticDasein faces its own death as the
"mineness"[Jemeinigkeit] ofpurepossibility, recoveringits selfas
theproperty lost in thedispersalsof Verlassenheit. Ifonlyfora mo-
ment,it standslike a man.
As will science,art,andthenationstatein theyearsimmediately
to follow.The phallicDasein ofBeingand Timetranslateseasily,in
Whatis Metaphysics?(1929),into the erect"station"of authentic
research:metaphysicalquestioningis to reversethedisciplinary dis-
persaloftheuprootedregionalsciences(theinstitutional versionof
das Man), re-collecting itselffromits distracted"lostness"in the
onticthrougha returnto the foundingground.In the Originofthe
Artwork(1935/36),it is the artworkwhichadoptstheuprightpos-
ture. Self-subsistent [Insichstehen]and autonomous,the artwork
(stilla work)carvesouta verticalplaceofdisclosure:"settingup" the
world, "settingforth"the earth,allowingthe entityto come to
"stand"[zum Stehen]in the "steadiness"[Stindige]of its shining.
Art'sfeatureshereareresolutelyApollinian.Forall Heidegger's nods
tochthonichiddenness, itis a classicalsolartopographywhichdomi-
nates:Heideggergazes at a Greektemple,whileBatailleburrowsin
thecaves ofAurignac;HeideggerturnsVanGogh'sshoesintosturdy
walkingboots,3while Bataille contemplatesthe painter'sscorched
sunflowers and his mutilatedear.
3. On some of the repercussions of thisrestitution
to the uprightposture,see
de la verit6en pointure,"
Derrida,"Restitutions: in La Writeenpeinture(Paris:Flam-
marion,1978).

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 REBECCA COMAY 75
Andin 1933,it was theGermannationthattookthestand.If,for
reasonsofhis own,Bataillewill assiduouslyrefrain
fromechoingthe
politicalchargesthatwerebeinglevelledagainstHeideggerby the
war'send,he could not have been obliviousto theessentialfactsat
hand. It was more than a "pardonnableerror"(11, 573n) that led
Heideggerto the Rector'spodium.By 1933,fundamentalontology
had unmistakablypoliticizeditselfaccordingto theideologyofthe
day:authenticDasein was to collectitselffromitsdispersalintothe
unifiedorderof state "service" [Dienst] (distributedPlatonically
along the tripleaxes of science,labour,military);Mitsein,under-
determinedin Beingand Time,had becomeoverdetermined as the
vdlkischcollectivityof the Germannation; and authenticity had
become the hypercephalic movementof self-assertion or,literally,
self-(be)heading[Selbst-be-hauptung]-affirming one's hegemony
through an attachment to a head or Fiihrer,
combattingacephalic
anarchythroughthe centralizing swayofthestate.(Itis a question,
indeed,of"whetherwe standinhistoryofsimplystagger"(EM,154].)
The stateerectsitselffirmly as thestandingorderoftheday."Alles
Grosse steht im Sturm. . ." (SU, 19).

III.

Here again, a German word would renderBataille's thoughtbetter.

This is Unselbstdndigkeit."
-Sartre, "Un nouveau mystique"

No doubtthereis muchin "innerexperience"thatHeideggermight

have been temptedto label "inauthentic."Sartregoes throughthe
curiousmentalexerciseof translating L'Experienceinterieureinto
Germanin ordertomakesenseofit,andendsup,in effect, suggesting
that this "bonnepetiteextase pantheistique"(NM, 184) could be
betterunderstoodas thepuerilefalloutofa phenomenological misad-
venture.That is to say,as a kindoffalling.Translatedbackintothe
nativetongueofphilosophy, thewholething,bySartre'simplication,
appearsto be a kindofinvertedHeideggereanism-Bataille positing
self-losswhereHeideggerspeaks ofself-possession, endorsingslip-
pingwhereHeideggerspeaksofstanding,looking("scientistically")

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76 Yale FrenchStudies
to "the others"whereHeideggerlooks to the solitudeofthe "own-
most" self,livingdeathvicariouslythroughthe "imposture"ofthe
otherswhereHeideggerwouldprotecttheirreplaceable uniqueness
ofone's "proper"death,wallowingin the "instant"whereHeidegger
surgesforwardto a future"project"-an evasion,in short,of the
demands of "existential"authenticityand thus a revisionto the
moilsofthe "they."ObserveSartre'stranslation/gloss: whenBataille
stigmatizes"projet,"he is speakingof the HeideggereanEntwurf;
whenhe challengesthefinality of"ipseite,"itis reallyCorbin'strans-
lation of Selbstheit he has in mind; when he champions"insuffi-
sance,"it is the evasivestateof Unselbstandigkeit whichis meant.
Andwhenhe promotes"communication," he is onlyvulgarizing the
sense ofMitsein.4But (since "hell is others")such a febrilecollec-
tivitycould onlybe a spuriousone: theinteriority ofexperiencehas
alreadybeen "infected"(NM, 161) throughthe objectivisticgaze of
the Others."Communication"would reducethe autonomoussub-
ject to the exteriority of the "social fact"-a la Durkheim,Levy-
Bruhl,and all Bataille'scroniesat that"strangeand famouscollege"
(NM, 165ff.)-andthe once steady-footed Dasein would go sliding,
fool-like,into the giddylaughterof the crowd.(A laughterwhose
sinceritySartrewill, in any case, cast some doubtson, findingthe
whole scene less than funny-the "fall" simply a bad case of
slapstick-and thehilaritysomewhatforced."He does notmakeus
laugh. . ." [NM, 170].)In short:the whole thingreeksofinauthen-
ticity- "une mauvaise foi passionnelle"(NM, 187). Sartrerecom-
mends that Bataille go see a good psychoanalyst(Daseinsanalyse
presumablynot yethavingbeen imported)(NM, 188).
At whichpointBataillewill protesthis probitywitha flurry of
indignation-I have no debts,I nevertouchedCorbin,I wrotemine
first,I gotit fromtheman on thestreet,I gotit fromthedictionary,
I'm theone who introducedHeideggerto Franceanyway5-a verita-

word.It's the standardtranslationof one of

4. "'Projet':anotherexistentialist
Heidegger'sterms"(NM,168)."Thewordipse6itis a neologismwhichhehasborrowed
fromCorbin,Heidegger'stranslator. M. Corbinuses it to renderthe Germanterm
whichsignifies
'Selbstheit,' theexistential onthebasisofa project"(NM,
return-to-self
159). "Once more,a Germanwordwould renderBataille'sthoughtbetter.This is
'Unselbstiindigkeit"'(NM, 171n). "This 'communication'-doesit not make one
thinkoftheHeideggerean 'Mitsein'?"(NM,164).
5. "WhenI writeprojet,I'mjustthinking ofa givenprojectorplan(notHeidegger's
Entwurf)-forexample,my plan to writeor to go hunting.The vocabularyof the

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 REBECCA COMAY 77
ble Freudian"kettlelogic" ofan argumentwhichwould surelyob-
scure all the deepestissues. Forif Sartre'scomplaintis somewhat
peevish,his basicpointdeservessomethought.Sartreknewwellthat
the issue is not dependency, not the give and take of influence.It
involvestheverylogicofinversion.Forwhatthechargeofbad faith
amountsto is justthatself-abandon maybe hollowwhereit remains
reactive:underlying thedisintegrative posturingmaybe just theold
longingfortheOne. Hence Sartre'sultimatechargeofusury:self-loss
is just the preludeto a higherrecuperation-wanting to have one's
cake and eat it-the less-is-more complacency, themystic'squi perd
gagne.
Is experience,then,only an easy inversionof the Heideggerean
Eigentlichkeit-the sheer negative to phenomenologicalself-
(dis)closure-substituting forthe stable orderof authenticity only
the indifferent anarchy of das Man? Mere inversion (as Heidegger
himselfwas laterto insiston) could onlyreinforce what it would
surmount.Iffundamental ontologycan (andmust)be inscribedwith-
in thecircuitofreproductive consumption-therecovery ofmeaning
whichis philosophy'sfoundinggesture-it wouldbe no alternative
to simplyprivilegewhat it excludes.Forthe dispersalof das Man
wouldbe onlya formofabstractnegation,a determinate wastewith-
in the system-a "levelling"and "indifference" (to use Heidegger's
language)-ultimatelya relapseto a precriticalformofimmediacy.
Property relationswouldnotbe thereby overcome.Dasein's "falling"
would bringonlyan undifferentiated stateoffusion,a fluidityand
indifference: self-losswouldbecomenaturalizedandsterilizedas the
philosophemeofpureidentity.

givesthe wordmoresignificance
professor thanit has at facevalue. (I have written
in Lalande'sdictionary)
ipseite in thesenseprovided . . ." (NotestoMWthode
de medi-
tation,5,473ff.). in thenotestoLa Souverainete,
Similarly, Bataillewrites:"I amusing
theword[projet]here,as I havealwaysdone,in theordinary senseoftheword.Sartre,
discussinga bookinwhichI stressthisidea (L'Experienceinterieure),has seenthisas a
translationof Entwurf, in the sense thatHeideggergave this Germanword.I am
similarlysupposedto have borrowedthe wordipse6itfroma translation by Henri
Corbin,butthistranslation (whosemanuscript I neverlaideyeson)cameoutafterthe
publication,in a review(Recherchesphilosophiques,1936),ofthetextin whichthis
wordappears.But Sartreis rightto emphasizemyinterestin contemporary German
philosophy.It'sat myinstigationthatin 1929HenriCorbinproposedtomyfriend Jean
PaulhanthepublicationofWasist Metaphysik? in theNRF" (8,666).

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78 Yale FrenchStudies
IV.

Onlyin theGermanlanguagewill thebook'stitletakeon itsfull

Das innereErlebnis.The Frenchwordexperience
significance:
betraysourauthor'sintention.
-Sartre, "Un Nouveaumystique"

"In Hegel'smind,whatis immediateis bad,and Hegel surelywould

have identifiedwhat I am callingexperiencewith the immediate"
(10,249).Surely.Clearlythereis muchin this"newmysticism"6 that
begsfordemystification. CertainlyBataille'srhetoriccan be a little
steamy.
It is the "nostalgia"for"primalcontinuity"(10, 21), of course,
whichcriesoutmostsharplyforinterpretation-a"nostalgia"which
would seem to oppose to the coils of instrumental reasona purer
substratumof lived experience:an "intimacylost" withthe expul-
sionofthesacred(7,62); a "plenitudeoftotalexistence"shattered by
thedivisionoflabor(1,530); a "participation"sunderedbytheriseof
industry(9, 196); a "fusion"rupturedby the gaze ofreason(5, 21).
Zarathustra's wish- "be thatocean" (5,40)-would seemto become
Betaille'scommand:"life"itselfwouldbe thatocean.
Life... passesrapidlyfromonepointtoanother... likea current or
a sortofstreaming ofelectricity.... Ifa groupofpeoplelaughs... a
current ofintensecommunication passesthrough them.. . . The con-
ofa wave,rippling
tagion forthosewholaughbecomeunited
onwards,
likethewavesof thesea: is
there no longeranypartition
between
them... theyareno moreseparatethantwowaves... [5, 111-13]
to saytheleast.Such languagewouldnot
And so on. Riskyrhetoric,
onlyseemsharplyat oddswiththeappealstoheterogeneity. It seems
almost calculatedto provokesuspicion,indeedof the most aching
sort.Forthelanguagereeksofthevitalismoftheday,and was being
used in anothercontextto promotequite a different
politicaleffect.
6. Sartre'slabel.Bataillehimselfwill use,thenerase,theterm."Can'twe detach
the possibilityof mysticalexperiencefromits religiousantecedents(a possibility
which remainsopen,howeverit appears,to the nonbeliever)? Freeit fromthe as-
ceticismof dogmaand fromthe atmosphereof religions?Freeit, in a word,from
mysticism-tothe pointoflinkingit to thenudityofignorance?"(5, 422, notesto
L'Experience interieure).

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 REBECCA COMAY 79
Le Bon and Freudhad alreadyshown,in theory, how the "crowd"in
its porositygravitatesinexorablytowardsa leader: the centrifugal
movementof"contagion"condensesunderthegravitational forceof
a "head"orcenter.Nietzschehad alreadyexposedtheluresofempa-
thy(Mitleid) as beingthe ideologyofall conformism, the collusive
identificationwiththeenvironment whichmarkseveryaccommoda-
tiontothestatusquo. AdornoandBenjaminweremeanwhiledemon-
strating,in practice,the high political cost of everymerger.Ein-
fiihlungwouldbe themass hysteriainducedbya societywhichhad
collapsedthesocial spaceofpolitics.Itwouldbe thefalsecollectivity
whichmaskstherealantagonismsoftheday-the "semblanceofthe
masses" occludingthe "realityof classes": Benjaminwas to see in
fascismas such thelivingembodimentofsuch a mask.7
How to deal with such language?Is it enoughto point to the
fissures?To insistthatthe "continuum"is already,profoundly, dis-
rupted?Thattheimmediacyis alreadya shattered one,and "commu-
nication"onlythe openingofan infinitewound?
Everythingrealfractures,
cracks.... Thewoundofincompleteness
opensindividualbeings.Throughwhatcouldbe calledincomplete-
ness,oranimalnakedness,orthewound, diverse
separate
beings
com-
municate.[5, 262ff.]
"Ecstasy is communication. Now communication is not comple-
tion" (5, 445). Thus "community" is farfromthe consensual trans-
parency of a coordinated collectivity: it has the "spaced," self-
distanced quality of an encounter already lacerated fromthe start.
Communication is then the "sharing" which is the "shearing" of a
split connection-like the cracked,repellentjoining which Heideg-
ger(butI anticipate) calls Riss or Trennung.It is what Nancy calls
partage.8 Communication thuspresupposestheveryisolationwhich
will undermine it. Continuity would be the disruptedplace where
nothing stable could endure.
... Beingisolated,communication,are one realityalone. Nowhere
do thereexist "isolatedbeings"which do not communicate,nor
"communication" independentofpointsofisolation.Ifwe arecareful

7. WalterBenjamin,Das Passagen-Werk, GesammelteSchriften Suhr-

(Frankfurt:
kamp,1983),vol. 5, 469.
8. Jean-LucNancy,Le Partagedes voix(Paris:Galil6e,1982)andLa Communaute
desoeuvree(Paris:Bourgois,1986).

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80 Yale FrenchStudies
to steerclearofthesetwoinformedconcepts(hangovers frominfan-
tilebeliefs)themostbadlyknottedproblemwill be solved.[7,553]
"Intimacy" would involve,then,not the transparencyofidentity,but
rather the opaque intransigence of what connects at the point of
greatestsecrecy."Normal" communication (in the "profane"sense of
correspondence and consensus) cannot be more fragile,therefore,
than when "sovereigncommunication" silentlyrules. The darkness
of "common subjectivity" (to use Bataille's language) would thus be
prior to the communal mergersof intersubjectivity,at least as clas-
sically conceived.

Communication,in my sense,is in factneverstronger thanwhen

communication, in theweak sense,in thesenseofprofanelanguage
( . . . whichmakes us-and the world-penetrable)provesuseless,
andbecomestheequivalentofdarkness.Wespeakin variouswaysto
convinceothersandto seekagreement.... This incessanteffort ...
would be apparentlyimpossibleif we werenot firstboundto one
anotherbythefeelingofcommonsubjectivity, impenetrabletoitself,
and forwhichtheworldofdistinctobjectsis impenetrable. [9,3111
And is it enough to point out that Bataille's "nostalgia" is at best an
"uneasy" one (5, 155),opposed to everyformofpastoralism and every
formofnaive escape? This "unease" is, indeed, at the rootofBataille's
confrontationwith Breton,9with Bdumler (1, 447-65), with Roman-
ticism (9, 206), with Hemingway (8, 230-33), with (at times) Proust(5,
156-75), with naturalism ("the poetic fallacyof animality" [7, 293]),
with sexual liberationism,10with "Orientalism" (5, 30): with every
attempt to reduce transgressionto the sentimental movement of
restoration and return.Such nostalgia would have the "suspicious
and lugubrious" (5, 540) stupor of an idealizing aestheticism: "the
European's sickly taste foran exotic color" (5, 30)- "like a filmabout
'primitive' countries" (1, 530)-a numbing abstractionfrompresent

9. Bataille's(notunambivalent) critiqueofthesurrealists tendsto focus,among

otherthings,on thenaivet6oftheirappealstotranscendence (the"sur")whichwould,
in his view,obscurecontemporary social conditions(withits concomitant technical
rationality)thusleadingto variousregressivities andarchaisms.Fortheclearestelab-
orationsofthisargument, see "La 'vieilletaupe' et le prefixsur dans les motssur-
hommeet surr&iliste" (2,93-112), "La Valeurd'usagede D. A. F. de Sade" (2,54-69),
"La Religionsurr6aliste" (7,381-95),and "Le lurr6alismeen 1947"(11,259-61).
10. "Despite appearances,I am opposedto the tendencythatseems to prevail
today.I am notone ofthosewhosee in theabolitionofsexualtaboosa wayout"(Notes
to L'Impossible,3, 51lff.).

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 REBECCA COMAY 81
conditionswhichonlymasksan accommodation tothestatusquo. It
ofthe givenwiththepassive
would occlude the historicspecificity
longingforthepast,hypostatizing presentcircumstancesbythevery
appeal to bygonedays. Historyitselfwould preventsuch an easy
overcoming. The radicalimpurityofbeginnings and ends-the am-
bivalentbirthand deathof "history"-shouldprohibitanytempta-
tion to regress. "The nostalgia fora bygone world is . . . based on a
shortsightedjudgment . . ." (7, 126).

Evenifwedohavea paradoxical nostalgiaforit,wecanonlybysome

aberration
regret thelossofthereligiousandroyaledifice
ofthepast.
The effortto whichthisedificeresponded was onlyan immense
andifitis truethattheessential
failure ismissing fromourworld...
we canonlygofurther, without imagining,evenforan instant,
the
ofa return
possibility back.[8,275]
Fromwhatwouldoneescape?Itis toolatetospeakofleaving.Has
notthe"experience"offascismitselfblurred foreverthelinebetween
and
effervescence utility, organizinglumpen uselessnessintotheeffi-
ciencyofstateservice,fusingcharismaticsovereignty withtheme-
chanicalrationalityoforder,markingthefinalpenetration (tospeak
Habermasian)of Zweckrationalitatinto the lifeworldof pure de-
pense?(1,339-71). Suchblurring indeedwoulderodethelastenclave
of uncontaminatedspontaneity-implicating the body,the uncon-
scious, desire,sexualityitselfwithinthe restrictedcircuitof the
commodityexchange.A blurring whichwouldparalyze-as Adorno
andHorkheimer saw all too clearly,
Marcusenotclearlyenough-all
hope of exitand mock everyfantasyofregressionas beingthe col-
lusive daydreamof the herd.Making "Auschwitz"henceforth (as
Batailleputs it, with an almostAdornianpathos)the very"signof
man" (11,226),thedecisiverubricofourday.Turningthepresentinto
a "fieldofashes" (5,40),withoutan optionofescape.
To what would one return?Historicprecedentsare neithercon-
ceivablenorprovided.Thereis no historicformofsovereignty which
is not alreadyimplicatedin themachinationsofprofanerationality.
Even the most "primitive"potlatchesof the Tlingitand Kwakiutl
were alreadycontaminatedby the calculus of acquiredrank and
power(Batailledoesnot,despiteappearances,shareMauss'sidealiza-
tionsofthe communifying bondofarchaic"generosity.") Earlypot-
latchwas alreadycaughtup in therationalcircuitofexchange.Tribal
depenseprovesto be a "comedy"(7,73)ofcompensation andcontrol,

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82 Yale FrenchStudies
an insurancepolicyunderwritten bythemachinationsofa "crooked
will" (7, 75). For the Pacificchieftainindeedis guaranteedto win
throughlosing-gift summoningcountergift-stockpiling prestige
and honorin returnforthe dilapidationsof the fiscalreserve."He
enricheshimselfwithhis contemptforwealth,and whathe shows
himselfto be miserlyofis thepowerofhis own generosity" (7, 72).
Nor is prehistoric"nature"a nostrum.If it is truethat,in his
invocationof "endsin themselves"(1, 305),Bataillewouldseem to
invokethemostclassicalsplitbetweenthenaturalandthecultural-
the immanententelechyofphusis pittedagainstthe exteriority of
techne(Aristotle);the apparent"purposelessness" oftheflowerpit-
tedagainstthefunctionality oftheartifact (Kant);thewastefuleffu-
sions ofthe songbirdpittedagainsttheniggardly efficienciesofthe
craftsman(Schiller)-he is unsentimentalin his attachments, and
dismisseseveryyearningforarchaicNature as beingjust "poetic
fulguration" (7, 294).
Despite appearances.It is truethatour meageracts of efferves-
cenceare said to be just "theexpressionoftheEarthanditslaws" (2,
155)-the verylaws of "cosmic energy"which one would ignore,
warnsBataille,at one'sownperil(7,33).True,too,that"communica-
tion"at timesseems modelledon thelabyrinthine bondingsofmo-
lecular existence(1, 433ff.).And it is truethatthe undulationsof
expenditure seem to supposea "linkbetweenlovemakingand light-
waves" (5, 283)-"perhaps arbitrary," demursBataille,but no less
telling.
Butthisis notthe"cosmicLebensphilosophie" somemightimag-
ine.11Fornaturalimmediacyis notan option."In thiskindofsitua-
tionthereis no recourseto animality"(8, 196).The unfettered imme-
diacyofnaturalexistence(apparently unquestionedbyBataille)12is
neitherpossiblenordesirableforhumanity. Forone thing,such im-
mediacyremains"unfathomable" (7, 294). Foranother,it lacks all
verve.The soggyindifference of"life"("likewaterin water"[7,295])
infactis devoidofsacredtension.The animal(unfettered byworkand
prohibitions) knows not the joyfulhorror oftransgression;it knows
just the "slumber"(7,313) of instinctual life.Libertarianappealsto

Habermas,The PhilosophicalDiscourse ofModernity(Cambridge:

11. Jurgen
MIT Press,1987),235.
12. On evidentlyHegeliangrounds.The epigraphto Theoriede la religioncites
Kojeve(whosetestimonyis takento be impeccable)on the difference betweenthe
immediacyofanimalhungerand themediated"negativity" ofhumandesire.

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 REBECCA COMAY 83
naturewould onlyneutralize"sin" as wholesomespontaneity(fun
sex,healthyappetite):Genetand Sade,Baudelaireand Proustknew
ratherthe awfulattractionof forbidden fruit.For the violationof
taboos is not a "returnto animal violence" (10, 68): transgression
preservesthe veryprohibition
(dialectically?)13 it would surmount.
To evade such a "dialectic" in
by takingrefuge immediacyindeed
would only reinforceone's immersionin the snares of work.
"Nature"itselfwouldbe in thissensejusttheadaptivephantasmof
The veryappealtonature(as Horkheimer
servility. also saw)wouldin
factjust bespeakits mostperfectdomestication.
Thethemeofnature,whichcouldseemtobea moreradicalforceof
would
opposition, itself thepossibility
onlyoffer ofa provisional
es-
cape.(Loveofnatureis in anycase so easily with
reconciled the
primacyofutility. .. thatit has becomethemostcommonplace-
andthemostharmless-means ofcompensationforutilitarian
so-
There
cieties.) is clearly
nothing
lessdangerous,
less and
subversive,
evenin theendlesswildthanthanthewildness
ofrocks.[9,206]
Sacredexperienceneverpresupposesan originalplenitudeto be
reestablished."Humanity"as such is definedby an irrecuperable
loss-a loss which bringsonly the intangible"gain" of a certain
.), and whichcan onlyredoubleitselfin thefoldsof
lucidity(7, 126ff
time."Clearconsciousnessis searchingforwhatithas itselflost,and
whatit mustlose againin theveryact ofdrawingnearto it" (7, 315).
No "livedexperience"couldrestorethat.The infamous"present"of
Bataille'scelebrationswould appearto falter.(Certainlythe "stand-
ing"ofthenuncstanswouldappearto slide.)"Onlythepossibilityof
purerepetitionpreventsus fromperceivingtheprimacyofthe pre-
sent" (9, 196)-Bataille herespeaksperhapsmorepreciselythanhe
knows.Forexperienceas such,in fact,wouldhave thefoldednessof
themost"pure"ofrepetitions. The "return,"wereit indeedpossible,
wouldbe preciselyto a timethatneverwas: "Religioningeneralwas a
responseto thedesirethatmanalwayshad tofindhimself,to recover
an intimacythatwas strangely alwayslost" (7, 123,emphasismine).
In suchcircumstances, "life"couldneverbe an answertothelateness
of the event.Death is thatlateness.Whatit restoresis just the ab-
sence oflife'sself-presence to itself.

13. On Bataille'sapparentappealto theoperationofAufhebung, anditspossible

overdetermination in L'Erotisme,see Derrida,"De l'6conomierestreinte
a 1'6conomie
op.,cit.,404.
g6n6rale,"

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84 Yale FrenchStudies
Thepower that. .. [life's]
ofdeathsignifies intimacy
reveals
itsblind-
ingconsumption onlyatthemoment whenitceases.... Itisthrough
itsabsencethatintimate
life-whichhadlostthepower tofullyreach
me,andwhichI essentiallyregarded as a thing-isfullyrestored
to
mysensibility.
[7,309]

V.

Experience of non-experience....
-Blanchot, L'Entretien
infini

Experienceis not, in short,Erlebnis.It is neitherthe certitudeof

feelingnortheplenitudeofsensationwhichBenjamin-like Hegel-
rightlycriticizedas beingthe spuriousclaim to an immediacyin
realitydenied. (Bythe 1930s,the ideologicalstakes of just such a
claim had becomeabundantlyenoughclear.)Nor-despite a certain
fascinationon Bataille'spart(justly,if prematurely,suspected)-is
1'experience interieuretheinneresErlebniswhichJunger will come
to identifywiththeessenceofwar,and whichannouncesitself,typ-
ically,as theheroiccertitudesofpain and labor.14
Adornocalled Erlebnis"an outmodedand ... deficientexpres-
sion."15Indeedhe flatlyinscribedit withinthehorizonofthe culi-
nary-that circleof consumptionwhichdefinesour immersionin
Marx's "realmof necessity"(therestricted circuitof self-preserva-
tion).Benjaminwas to tracesuch an "experience"ofimmediacyto
the specificdegradationsof our modernity. Erlebniswould be that
clammysensationofproximity whichmarksourradicalalienation
fromthedepthsofhistory-thecollapseofspatialdistancethrough
the freneticjostlingsof the crowdedcity,the collapse ofsocial dis-
tancethrough theuniformities ofwagelabor,thecollapseoftemporal
14. See ErnstJunger, Der Kampfals inneresErlebnis,Werke,(Stuttgart: Ernst
KlettVerlag,1960),vol.5. Despitemomentsofswaggering, anddespitebeingdrawnto
owndescriptions
Jfinger's ofthedecomposing corpsesofthebattlefieldinLa Limitede
1utile (7, 251-53), Bataille seems to denouncesuch heroicsas beingultimatelya
conformism and servility."Heroismis an attitudeof flight"(5, 347). On Bataille's
distinction betweenmilitarismand authentic"war,"see La Partmaudite,7, 51-65.
15. TheodorAdorno, AsthetischeTheorie(Frankfurt:SuhrkamVerlag,1973),362.

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 REBECCA COMAY 85
distancethroughthe jerkyaccumulationof emptymoments-the
"catastrophic" occlusionof(auratic)distancethrough theamorphous
homogeneityofthe given.16Such a sensationof "livedexperience"
wouldbe just thefailureofauthenticmemory.The capacityforhis-
toricalreflectionwould be sterilizedwith the atomizationof the
present.Death itselfwouldbe "eliminated."
It is a pointHeidegger,too,in his ownway,was to make,whenin
SeinundZeit he relatedthevitalist"streamofexperience"[Erlebnis-
strom]to the homogenousfluxof accumulativenow-points-toa
modality,thatis to say,ofthe inauthentic(SZ, 388). Such a stream
could onlyisolate thepresentas the emptyunitofexchangeability.
Creating(as he remarkslater)theveryneed to groundperceptionin
the self-givemLess of the privatesubject (US, 129ff.).A givenness
whichwould obliterateall the differences, yieldingonlythe trivial
self-identity of the immediate.("The Greekswerelucky,"he com-
ments,"to have had no 'livedexperiences"'[N 1, 95].)
Experienceis closer,no doubt,to Benjamin'sErfahrung: to that
communifying "experience"alreadylost by the time of the indus-
trialera,takenup or overwritten by the circuitofproductivityand
exchange.In reality,such experiencehad been lost long beforeit
could everbegin.For Benjaminknew well that therewas nevera
pointoforiginary plenitudeto be recapitulatedor "reexperienced":
Erfahrung had beenfromtheoutsetalreadyfractured bythepassage
of time itself.Erfahrung-theexperiencelost-is nothingother
than the experienceofloss. Experiencerevealsonlythe truththat
thereneverwas an "experience." Benjamin'sProust(thoughperhaps
not Bataille's)knew this:
ispierced
[Proust] bythetruththatnoneofushastimetolivethetrue
dramas thataredestined
oftheexistence forus.Thisagesus.Nothing
else.Thewrinkles andlinesonourfacesaretheentries ofthegrand
passions, thatcalledon us-but we,themasters
vices,perceptions
werenotathome.17
[wir,dieHerrschaft],
Such is the uncanny"too late" whichmarksthe structureoflived
of
timeas such. It is a belatednesswhichdisruptsthe inevitability
everydestiny,dislodgeseveryclaimto "mastery"[Herrschaft],disap-
16. WalterBenjamin,"UbereinigeMotivebei Baudelaire,"GesammelteSchrif-
ten,1(2),605-54.
17. Benjamin,"Zum Bilde Prousts,"GesammelteSchriften,op.,cit.,2.1, 320ff.

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86 Yale FrenchStudies
propriateseverycomfort ofbeing"at home."Memory, then,assumes
the involuntariness-ungewolltes Eingedenken,Proust'smemoire
involontaire-ofa seizurewithoutclosure.Reminiscencebecomes
therecapitulationofwhatneverdid,in thefirstplace,takeplace.For
Benjamin,such a loss had thepowerto countereveryformofnostal-
gia,and fuelledtheimpatienceforrevolutionarychange.

VI.

Butwhatis thisexperience[Erfahrung]?
Is it theabdication
[Abdanken]ofthinking?
-Heidegger,Zur Sache des Denkens

But Heideggertoo,afterall, beganto speakofsuch an experience.It

was to involveforhim as well the generaleconomyof the gift.A
certain"turn"was firstin order.A turnaway,perhaps,fromtheerect
proprieties ofauthenticDasein and towardsa generaldispossession
ofthe"ownmost"self.(After a while,perhaps,theerect"standing"of
Selbstandigkeit came to seem suspiciouslyclosetothesecurity hold-
ingsofaccumulatedstock[Bestandi-suspiciouslyclose,thatis, to
the avariciousurge to self-elevation, meta-physics's foundingges-
ture.)
Itwas toinvolvea turntoward(butthesedirectionalities lose their
meaning)a recedingorigin,theabsentpresencewhichprecedesevery
relationofproperty/propriety and whichcalls fora radical"letting
go" [Gelassenheit].It will be a questionofexperiencing the tugofa
no
Being longer(or not yet) embroiled in the of
snares productivity,
priorto everymanipulationand all control.No movementofregres-
sion could recuperatethis.Forwhatis to be appropriated is not the
plenitudeofa priorpuritybut ratherthe veryexperienceofloss as
such. Forpresencedefinesitselfpreciselyas thewithholding ofthe
present:a "gift"whichdeterminestimeitselfas an epochalor self-
suspended"sending,"ratherthanas theserialstringofaccumulated
now-points whichcouldbe collectedorheldintact.It thereby divests
the presentofits atomicintegrity, unravellingthe possibilityofall
exchange.As such,itundermineseverystructure ofappropriation by
refusing to renderpresentthatwhichit offers as (only)a gift.

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 REBECCA COMAY 87
Timeis not.Thereis ("it gives")[Esgibt]time.The givingwhichgives
timeis determined bythenearnesswhichdeniesandwithholds.This
nearnessgrants[gewdhrt] theopennessoftime-spaceand safeguards
[verwahrt]whatremainsbothrefusedinwhathas been,andkeptback
in what arrives.We name the givingwhich givesauthentictime
a reachingwhich opens and conceals. Insofaras reachingis itself
a giving,thereis hiddenin authentictime the givingof a giving.
[ZSD, 16]

"Es gibt Sein, Es gibtZeit" (ZSD, 19): such a "gift"would precede

the give and take ofproperty,preceding,therefore,every"present"of
an accountable exchange. Such a "gift"would in factdisplace (with-
out mediating) the opposition between giving and receiving. For at
this level the relationship between "man" and "time" (or "Being")
would become the mutual extension of an excess rather than the
measured reciprocityof a debit-creditexchange. "Production" here
breaks down or falters,and with it everywork relation known to
this day.

Is man thegiverorreceiveroftime?Andifhe is thelatter,howdoes

man receivetime?Is he firstofall man so that,afterthat,occasion-
ally-that is,at sometimeorother-he receivestimeandentersinto
relation with it? . .. Authentic time has alreadyreached man as such
so thathe can be manonlybystandingwithin[insteht]thethreefold
reachingand by enduring[aussteht]the denying-withholdingnear-
nesswhichdetermines thisreaching.
Timeis no productofman,man
is no productofman.Thereis [Esgibt]no productionhere.Thereis
onlya givingin the sense alreadynamed,thatof a reachingwhich
clearsopentime-space.[ZSD, 17]

Indeed such a "gift"would displace the veryopposition between giv-

ing and withholding.Forthe "appropriation"[Ereignis]which defines
the "event" ofgivingwould be just that self-withdrawalby which the
presentis "kept back." "Expropriation,"then, "belongs to Appropria-
tion"-"Zum Ereignisgehortdie Enteignis"(ZSD, 23)-and thus the
"own" becomes dispossessed. This introducesa "reserve"beyondall
avarice, and thus introduces the germsof a radical futurebeyondthe
calculations of any "project."Beyond,that is, the projectilevolunta-
risms of the projet. Towards a "waiting" [warten]which, "expecting"
[erwarten]nothing, "releases itselfinto openness" (G, 42), and thus
preservesthe possibility of the radically new.

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88 Yale FrenchStudies
VII.

welcomes... as thebirdsings,andgivesme no
My sovereignty
thanksformywork.
-Bataille, Mgthodede meditation

Such a giftwouldintroduce, ifnottherestricted andrestrictivepres-

sureofthepotlatch,stilltheburdenofan unnameddebtor guilt.A
guiltso infinite,perhaps,thatno repayment couldbe thinkable.Once
acknowledged,such a guiltwould disruptthe veryeconomyof ex-
changeandthesystemofretributive justicewhichinevitably follows.
Sucha guiltalreadyhadbeenregistered at theedgesoffundamen-
tal ontology.Had it been thoughtthrough(as Levinasonce pointed
out),it would have surelyshatteredtheveryappeal to self-recovery
and self-mastery whichhad definedHeidegger's"project"at theout-
set. Forthe existentialanalytichad uncovered,as the constitutive
structure ofDasein, a momentofradicalobligationor indebtedness
[Schuldigsein]:an unrepayabledebtwhich Heideggercalled, quite
simply,"comingtoowesomething to Others"(SZ, 282),andwhichhe
locatedpriorto everyrecuperative transaction .ofexchange.Such ex-
change transactions(as Nietzsche had alreadyshown)could only
determinetime as the linearflowof emptynow-points-i.e.,the
homogeneous"streamofErlebnisse,"in fact,thatcharacterized the
inauthentic, as we saw above(SZ, 291).The timeofauthentic"guilt,"
in contrast,wouldprecedesucha lineardetermination: timeas such
would be the giftprecedingeveryaccountableadvance.It would be
the openingof a responsibility priorto the law-prior to the re-
strictedtallyingofdebitsand creditswhichNietzschehad identified
as thesenseof"justice"[Gerechtigkeit] andlinkedto themercantile
economyofrevenge[Rachel.The premoralspace ofethics:a site of
incommensurability beforethe law.
"Guilt" in this sense would be the debtpriorto the circuitof
possessions-the restricted economyofthemarketplace-and,as an
openingto "theOthers,"wouldmarka socialitypriorto all account-
ing and exchange.Only such a beingas Dasein could be capable of
such sociality.The peculiarityofits death-the "stilloutstanding"
quality[Ausstand]ofits ending-marksitsfinitudeas thesiteofan
obligationwhichwill neverbe paid off(SZ, 241-46). Such a finitude

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 REBECCA COMAY 89
would link death inseparablyto the Others.(Bataillesaw that,if
Heidegger-at least not always-did not.)18
A debtso infinitethatno thankscouldeverbe enough.Gratitude
itselfwouldbe no answerto theincommensurability ofthegift.In a
restrictedeconomy,gratitude [reconnaissance] wouldbe justtheme-
diatingrecognition whichwoulddischargethedebtbysymbolicres-
titution,annulingthegiftbyreinsribing itwithintheintersubjective
circle of exchange.In a generaleconomy,an infinitegiftwould
provokea gratitudeso radicalthatno paybackcould be thought.
In Was Heisst Denken?, Heideggerwill definethinkingas thank-
ing,Denken as Danken: was "grateful" responseto a giftwhichis
itselfnothing-nothingotherthan the abilityto think,thatis, to
thank, as such. Thanking becomes simply the recursive,per-
formative movement- "a thankingwhichdoes notjustgivethanks
forsomething,but only thanksforbeingable to thank"(G, 65)-
whichknowsno objectforits gratitudeand thushas nothingwith
which to pay back. Here the two momentsof exchange-giftand
countergift,endowmentand thanks-become indistinguishable (if
not mediated),introducing a radicalindeterminacy at the heartof
thought.Forthankingwould become itselfa gift(requiringthank-
ing ... )-and thus the closed circleof compensationtwists-open
intothe eroticspiralofa surpluswithoutend.
Howcouldwegivemorefitting thanksforthisdowry thegift
[Mitgift],
whatis mostthoughtworthy,
ofthinking thanbythinking
overwhat
is mostthoughtworthy?
So thatthehighestthankswouldbe think-
ing?And the deepestthanklessness,thoughtlessness?
Authentic
thanks,then,neverconsistsin ourcomingwitha giftandmerely
repaying giftwithgift[vergelten
Gabe mitGabe].... Suchthanking
is not a compensation [Abgelten],butit remainsan offering....
[WHD,94, 158]

18. "I have been the firstto describe"communication" in its connectionwith

angoisse,"remarksBataillein the notes to Le Coupable (5, 542)-a remarkwhich
indeedstrikesto theheartoftheentanglement betweenHeidegger andBataille.Forin
raisingthe solitary"anguish"of Sein-zum-Tode to the communal"ecstasy"ofthe
experience ofl'autrui-qui-meurt(anexperience disallowedbyHeidegger inhisprohibi-
tionoftheErsatzthema ofthe"Other'sdeath"),Batailleseemstoarticulatea regionof
socialexperience unrecognizable toHeidegger himself.Justas theHeideggerean struc-
tures of temporalitywere perhapsinaccessibleto Bataille. On the question of
Batailleancommunity anditsrelationship to Sein-zum-Tode, see Jean-Luc Nancy,La
Communaut6desoeuvree (see above,n. 8),together withMauriceBlanchot,La Com-
munaute inavouable(Paris:Minuit,1983).

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