The Solar Anus (French: L'anus solaire) is a short surrealist text by the French writer Georges Bataille, written in 1927 and published with drawings by André Masson in 1931.[1]

The Solar Anus
AuthorGeorges Bataille
Original titleL'anus solaire
IllustratorAndré Masson
LanguageFrench
PublisherÉditions de la Galerie Simon
Publication date
1931
OCLC8937274

Albeit elliptically, its aphorisms refer to decay, death, vegetation, natural disasters, impotence, frustration, ennui and excrement. It makes ironic reference to the sun, which, although it brings life to the Earth, can also result in death from its unrestrained energies. Moreover, the anus may be seen as a symbol of the inevitability of residual waste due to its role in excretion.[2][3]

References

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  1. ^ Jay, Martin (1993). Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-century French Thought. University of California Press. p. 223. ISBN 0520088859.
  2. ^ Stevens, Christa (1999). "L'histoire solaire du sujet". L'écriture solaire d'Hélène Cixous: Travail du texte et histoires du sujet dans Portrait du soleil (in French). Amsterdam [u.a.]: Rodopi. pp. 81–83. ISBN 978-90-420-0744-4.
  3. ^ Hegarty, Paul (2000). Georges Bataille: Core cultural theorist. London: Sage Publications Ltd. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-7619-6078-2.
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