BATAILLE, Georges, (1897-1962) French essayist and novelist, who developed the theory of erotic excess. Bataille studied with the anthropologist Marcel Mauss before training as an archivist, and worked as a librarian in Lyons and at the Bibiliotheque nationale in Paris. Founded the literary review Critique in 1946. Wrote The Accursed Share (1967)
Post-structuralists and postmodernists