The Tears of Eros

"The Tears of Eros is the culmination of Georges Bataille's inquiries into the relationship between violence and the sacred. Taking up such figures as Gilles de Rais, Erzébet Báthory, the Marquis de Sade, El Greco, Gustave Moreau, André Breton, Voodoo practitioners, and Chinese torture victims, Bataille reveals their common obsession: death. . .Bataille examines death--the 'little death` that follows sexual climax, the proximate death in sadomasochistic practices, and death as part of religious ritual and sacrifice."--the publisher.