No comments about Marx.

No comments about Simone de Beauvoir: A Beginner's Guide.

No comments about The Count of Saint-Germain: Mystic And Philosopher.

No comments about John Stuart Mill - Life and Times of the Political Philosopher (Biography).

1 comments about Georges Bataille: An Intellectual Biography.

1. This translation of Surya's 1992 biography of the notoriously contradictory French writer contains nearly 500 pages of text supported by 86 pages of notes. It is the first full-length biography in either English or French. Bataille is decidedly an acquired taste, so this book may well persuade you to admire this neo-Sadean thinker who spent his sixty-five years (1897-1962) as an archivist at the Bibliothèque Nationale and then as director of the Orléans Municipal Library. Surya weaves together Bataille's scatophilic and necrophilic obsessions and debauched private life with his literary themes in a way that is not sensationalist or prurient. The author does full justice to his subject's provocative claims concerning the role of consumption in capitalist civilization; the negative features of so-called inner experience; the alleged links between eroticism and death; and the supposed impossibility of community. Indirectly, Surya shows how Bataille's persistent preoccupation with the "informe" (formless) not only illuminates some of the most cutting-edge academic work in art history and literary criticism today, but also eerily foreshadows recent scientific theories of catastrophe, chaos and cosmic evolution. Hasty readers have long inferred a fascist moment in writings like "The Psychological Structure of Fascism" (1933), the first psychoanalytical analysis of its subject, according to Surya (177). To counter this widespread tendency, Surya is particularly good at displaying the development of Bataille's "impossible" thought against the background of French left-wing political activity and thus successfully distances Bataille from any easy embrace of French (or German) fascism.
   Surya's book is not easy to read, however, if you're expecting the straightforward prose of Deirdre Bair's biographies of Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir and Anaïs Nin. Surya's style is that of a sophisticated literary theorist rather than a factual historian. This book is a must if you're already familiar with Bataille's work and wanted to situate it in his life and times. But for a first look, I would turn to Fred Botting and Scott Wilson's introductions to their "The Bataille Reader" (1997) and "Bataille: A Critical Reader" (1997).

No comments about Russell H. Conwell.

2 comments about Beyond Acceptance.

1. 
   This was a magnificient book. I really enjoyed reading it. Ms. Porzia Danisi showed how her strong belief and faith in God helped her get through her illness, and other obstacles she's faced in life, and still not give up and accomplish and do the things she wanted to do, regardless of her illness. This is very uplifting and shows anyone that no matter what you're faced with in life, that you should never give up.



2. This is a very personal account of one woman's fight to transcend physical, cultural, and emotional limits and to choose a life of participation and meaning. In her early teens, soon after immigrating to Brooklyn, New York, with her family, Porzia Danisi was diagnosed with Friedrich's Ataxia, a progressive neuromuscular disease. Except for some minor coordination and balance problems, Porzia had a full and active childhood in her native Grummo Appula, Italy, and excelled in her studies there. This taste of "normal life and activities" made the reality of the degenerative nature of the disease and of the necessity of dependence on a wheelchair and helping attendants all the more painful and difficult to accept.
   
   Porzia chronicles her deepening, sustaining faith and sharpening resolve as she completes her college degree, begins her advocacy work in the community, and fights to define an independent adult life. Her story takes on a very American theme as Porzia's daily activities reflect her passionate belief of the right of all to have equal opportunity and protection under the law. This excellent, motivating book helps the reader understand how each day's struggles and small successes help a person to mature and to shape a remarkable, memorable life.

No comments about Memories of Rudolf Steiner and Marie Steiner-von Sivers.

No comments about Mini Guide to Philosophie: Nietzsche.

No comments about Friedrich Nietzsche.