Off with his head!

Abstract

This essay explores the multiple significations of the term Ac茅phale within the work of Georges Bataille. Developing a reading of Bataille鈥檚 philosophy from the position of the Acephalic character, the text argues that Bataille鈥檚 well-known wish to perform a human sacrifice was intended to create the Acephalic figure itself. In perverting the reading of Bataille鈥檚 gesture, the text aims to elucidate other ways in which the Ac茅phale journals engage with Bataille鈥檚 thought. Central to this problem is the illustrated series of images by Andr茅 Masson that run throughout the Ac茅phale journals: these images develop a narrativised account of Ac茅phale鈥檚 existence in the celestial world. Claiming that these images function as a form of interrupted myth, Bataille鈥檚 work is explored in relation to the problems of myth and community that sit at the heart of Jean-Luc Nancy鈥檚 reading of Bataille.