two old letters are sitting on top of a piece of paper
ALDE

18 - BATAILLE (Georges). 3 autograph letters, 2 of which are sign…
See original version (French)

Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Sale commission
Description
BATAILLE (Georges). 3 autograph letters, 2 of which are signed, addressed to Isabelle Waldberg. [Saint-Germain-en-Laye, early 1939]. One page, in-4, in ink, unsigned; 2 pages in-8, in pencil, signed “Georges”; and one page in-12, in black ink, signed “G.”. Three letters illustrating the mysterious and passionate relationship between Georges Bataille and the sculptor Isabelle Waldberg: “As we look at these three letters, we are in the presence of the remnants of a fire that will never be rekindled before our eyes, and the silence of those who knew it keeps from us even the memory they held of its brilliance”. Three letters to Isabelle Waldberg in *L’Infini*, no. 147, Spring 2021. They most likely date from early 1939, following the death of Bataille’s partner, Colette Peignot, known as Laure. It was during this period that Bataille experimented with ritual sacrifices, with some members of the Acéphale group even suggesting that he was contemplating his own sacrifice in the Forest of Marly. ─ You must realise that what is happening is only possible if we become very resolute. There is no longer any room for wavering; things would quickly become muddled and, in any case, everything we had hoped for would be lost. He is, however, eager to see her: ‘I want you to be a thousand times happy that night, but I also want the most marvellous and purest thing between us to shine through, something intangible. Remember that afternoon in Carrières.’ ─ Thursday evening. Bataille says he is full of anxiety about what might become of her and him, aware that backing down is not the answer: ‘You know full well that yesterday we were at the very end or the very peak of life. Only I do not believe it is possible to stop on such a path. Perhaps what has happened between us can lead only to ecstasies that are no longer carnal. […] I cannot know what you are feeling—at least, I cannot be sure—but I, for my part, am reduced to choosing between death and such a lack of rest that I must inevitably become utterly hardened, both for my own sake and for the sake of others. […] you, too, would have to become hard, and you, too, would have to be willing to go beyond what requires our bodies to open up. I am writing this to you because I have tremendous faith in you. ─ I am sad if you have misunderstood and if you believed there had been a change. There are no changes other than this one: that at certain moments one must pull oneself together, and so it is the closed, purely resolute face that appears. […] But you must not doubt what draws me so strongly towards you. Three letters to Isabelle Waldberg in *L’Infini*, no. 147, Spring 2021, pp. 65–77, with an introduction by C. Waldberg and a commentary by Chr. Le Guerroué. – M. Surya. Georges Bataille, *Death at Work*, Gallimard, 1992.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Eros & Thanatos – Selected extracts from the L-D S library
Auction location
Auction time 10/07/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits:
ALDE
See original version (French)
You may also like