AGAINST ARCHITECTURE the Writings of Georges Bataillle Denis HollierFirst MIT Press paperback edition,1992 © 1989 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. French edition published in 1974 under the title La Prise de la Concorde, © 1974 Editions Gallimard, Paris. This book was set in Baskerville by Graphic Composition Inc., Athens, Georgia, and printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hollier, Denis. [Prise de la Concorde. English] Against architecture : the writings of Georges Bataille / Denis Hollier ; translated by Betsy Wing. pcm. “Translation of: La prise de la Concorde. “An October book.” Bibliography: p. 1 262581132 (pb) 1. Bataille, Georges, 1897-1962—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Bataille, Georges, 1897-1962—Knowledge—Architecture. 3. Architecture and literature, I. Title. PQ2603.46952713 1989 848'.91209—de20 89-82117 ciP 10987Contents Introduction: Bloody Sundays ix The Hegelian Edifice A Simple Beginning 3 The Hegelian Edifice 4 Thesymbol The Architectural Metaphor Notre-Dame de Rheims Cid On Bataille 23 Architectural Metaphors 31 Summa Theologica 36 “Architecture”: The Article 20 The Labyrinth, the Pyramid, and the Labyrinth The Labyrinth and the Pyramid 57 The Caesarean Incomplete 74 Slaughter 76 “The Pineal Eye” 85 1. Homo sapiens 85 2. La tache aveugle: The blind spot 94