Georges Bataille, Marina Galletti (editor), Alastair Brotchie (editor), Natasha Lehrer (translator), John Harman (translator), Meyer Barash (translator) · 1936–1939 (papers); 2017/2018 (Atlas Press edition) · PDF · Calibre ID 7729
Resurfaced in Give Them Nothing to Watch (2026-10-04).
Role in the triad
Restaging: escape the head, and bring the king’s head back to the Concorde obelisk as a sacred rite.
Why this book
Found by searching for ‘Acéphale’, then confirmed via ‘obelisk’ and ‘Louis XVI’ in the chronology: the proposed annual festival for the guillotining of Louis XVI, the ‘supposed skull’ to be left at the obelisk, the oath of silence at the Concorde. The third position against Kadare’s state and Lu Xun’s refusal. (Duplicate record: ID 696.)
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “Too long has human life served as head and reason for the universe.” (The Sacred Conspiracy, 1936, p. 125)
- “Man has escaped his head like a condemned man escaping from prison.” (p. 125)
- “Beyond what I am, I encounter a being who makes me laugh because he has no head, and who fills me with anguish because he is formed of innocence and crime” (p. 125)
- “What we are starting is a war.” (p. 124)
- “Never utter a single word — not even the slightest allusion — regarding these encounters” (Prohibitions Regarding the Forest of Acéphale, rule 3, p. 175)
- “A similar project to leave the supposed skull of Louis XVI at the same spot was likewise never carried out.” (Chronology, 1936, p. 113)
- “Bataille suggested an annual celebration of the guillotining of Louis XVI at the Place de la Concorde. This was never put into practice” (Introduction, p. 83)
Themes
Acéphale · College of Sociology · guillotine · headlessness · labyrinth · Louis XVI · Masson · oath of silence · obelisk · Place de la Concorde · sacred sociology · sacrifice · secret society