Sacrifices, in Œuvres complètes, vol. 1, ed. Denis Hollier (Paris: Gallimard, 1970): 87-96; originally published in André Masson, Sacrifices; avec un texte de Georges Bataille (Paris: Éditions G. L. M., 1936).

English translation: “Sacrifices,” trans. Allan Stoekl, Visions of Excess, trans. Allan Stoelk (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1985), 130-36.

1. Bataille’s text accompanied a set of five etchings by André Masson that depict scenes of sacrifice from Indo-European mythology. Denis Hollier, in his notes to Sacrifices in the Œuvres complètes, reports that Bataille’s manuscript is dated “Été 1933.”

2. Before being published in 1936, Sacrifices, in the form of an album of etchings, was part of a gallary showing in Paris at La Galerie Jean Bucher from June 13-25, 1934 (?). According to the announcement of this showing (see image to the right), the album was to be published through the gallery, Éditions Jeanne Bucher.

Announcement for gallery showing of Masson & Bataille’s Sacrifices (1934?)

3. The original publication plan did not work out for some reason. Instead, Sacrifices was published by Éditions G. L. M. in 1936, two years after its gallery showing. (See G. L. M.’s announcement to the right.) Hollier, in his notes for the Œuvres complètes, reproduces part of a letter from Masson to Bataille that refers to what would be another failed attempt to publish Sacrifices, this time by the Nouvelle Revue Française.

Text Notes

1. Bataille’s text does not refer to any of the myths depicted in Masson’s etchings; nor does Bataille use the word sacrifice in this text. Consequently, the reader is left to grasp the relationship between Bataille’s discussion and the scenes of sacrifice depicted in Masson’s etchings.

2. With its allusion to Descartes’s “Cogito, ergo sum,” Bataille’s opening clause (“Moi, j’existe . . . ”) suggests the genre of the philosophical meditation.