I was researching which edition of "Story Of The Eye" to buy a while ago and remembered seeing info on several edits being published over the years, and that there are at least two English translations, one more literal, the other less explicit. Now I can't seem to find the same information again. Anyone got the details?
>>24860407There are two versions in French, the original and the "new version" from the early forties I think. Both versions are printed in his Œuvres complètes but all common paperbacks the French read are of the new version. In English it's the reverse.The most common English translation is by Neugroschel and this is the only one still in print I think (City Lights, Penguin Classics). It's of the original 1928 version.The other translation, older, is of the second version and was published by the Olympia Press in the fifties, with the title A Tale of Satisfied Desire, done by Wainhouse (pseudonym Audiart; who also translated My Mother, Madame Edwarda, and most of Sade). There were a few American pirate editions in the sixties, titled The Story of the Eye (with initial "The"; one with The Naked Beast at Heaven's Gate, aka Madame Edwarda), which must be of this translation. But overall this translation seems very rare: the Olympia edition is quite the collectible, and I haven't found a scan online. There was a sort of sketchy rebooted online Olymia press selling ebooks in the early 2000s, but I don't know and haven't compared all the epubs floating around; maybe the pirate eds. could be had 2nd hand, affordably? I haven't checked myself but it's interesting, especially as I am quite the fan of Wainhouse's translations.About the two versions in general, iirc, Bataille made many small stylistic changes, but overall the story is mostly the same - enough to warrant both versions being printed in his Works instead of marking the differences in the notes. I know he cut out the "crew of negroes" in the last sentence lol.
>>24860458Thank you, this isn't easy info to come by for some reason. Is there a preferred translation of Erotism? I'm aware there's at least two, Dalwood and Hurley. Last question, I promise.
>>24860472Isn't Hurley the translator of The History of Eroticism (vol. 2 of The Accursed Share, with vol. 3 Sovereignty)? That was an early version of what would later become L'érotisme; it can basically be considered a different book (though with much overlap, like most of his late books). The only translation I'm aware of of L'érotisme proper (Erotism/Eroticism/Death and Sensuality) is the Dalwood. (And it's one of the only Bataille books I've skirted around and never fully read.)Like many non-huge authors, there's usually not going to be multiple translations to choose from. I think in Bataille's case the only other alternative translations are of Inner Experience-Guilty-On Nietzsche, and his poetry. The newer versions by Kendall include all supplemental material from his Complete Works and aim to be more exact (though Bruce Boone's version of Guilty, a poet and writer himself, I thought to be very nice).
>>24860499Cheers for the help
>>24860504no problem
>>24860407Haven't eaten boiled eggs since I read this book.
>>24860407>>24861452Fun fact: the egg stuff in the music video for Venus As A Boy is a direct reference to this book, which was Bjork's favourite at age 17. She once spoke about it in a radio interview and in particular advocated for the act of putting eggs in your bottom.
It legit gave me a chubby a few times.
>>24861887it's referenced in Before Sunrise as well
