Cálculo de la temperatura bivalente

According to Georges Bataille, eroticism is a sensation that triggers sexual thought, act and feeling in the individual. Although it is often the forerunner of reproduction and sexual relations, eroticism is also a sentiment that is ever present in

133The section commences with an outline of Bataille’s theory on eroticism within the argument for

sexual morality. In Almudena Grandes’ novel CDC, physical eroticism has not been noticed, and,

therefore, it is ignore here. Section 3.3 primarily focuses on AJS and the illustration of the escapist argument. 3.4 will then be able to look more closely at CDC and the individuation argument.

relationships and does not always necessarily involve tactile sexual pleasure. For Bataille, eroticism is in its nature an inner, solitary experience (2001 252). It is veiled in secrecy and commits the individual to silence because its content is bound by a taboo (252). Through its intangible nature, eroticism resides exclusively within the realm of fantasy and the imagination and is sometimes considered to have religious and sacred properties (29). Condensed in this description, eroticism is a highly subjective and volatile concept, whose cause and effect, shift according to circumstances. It is a borderline condition that gives rise to a range of emotions that are of extreme intensity (252, 253). Eroticism has little to do with tangible bodies or objective qualities. It is instead defined as a psychological quest that is accomplished, in addition, to the most obvious and natural goal of reproduction (11). It is an experience that an individual indulges in, for sheer pleasure, and solely in the quest for lust and desire.134 Fascination is central to its experience and it is fuelled and accentuated by its intimate connection to violence and death (13). This is further closely linked to taboo and is suggestive of its perilous nature. Freud, like Bataille, had analysed the function of taboo in his book Totem and Taboo (1940) and, like Bataille, attributed central significance to it. To better understand the history and origin of taboo, I would like to refer to Freud here because his study coincides with Bataille’s. Freud believed that the taboo’s central purpose was a protective one. To him, observation of taboo promised a variety of protective functions, of which some, but not all, are relevant to my research. One of the most fundamental and relevant ones, here, were that it promised protection from dangers,

134 _{Please refer to section 3.2 on sexual morality, to understand how the cycle of lust, desire and sex is}

linked to eroticism. Additionally, Foucault draws a further distinction between Bataille’s idea of love and

sex and his own beliefs that there are two types of love. One that only desires the completion of the physical act and derivation of pleasure from it and one that seeks to put the soul to the test (2008 1347).

Foucauldian understanding of the erotic is, therefore, very different to Bataille’s because it is directly

linked to a philosophical understanding of love (1349). For the purpose of section 3.3.2 and the analysis of AJS, I will only consider Bataille’s definition of eroticism because the novel does not relate more profound feelings than lust and desire, and therefore, makes a Foucaultian analysis unyielding. This section is an extension to the previous analysis on sexual morality and tries to identify further, how the protagonists of AJS and CDC emotionally relate to their sexual experiences.

such as the overindulgence in power in its various forms (1940 28).135 Ultimately eroticism seeks to fascinate, spellbind and bewitch to such an extent that it strikes the innermost core of being causing its heart to stand still and convey proximity to death (Bataille 2001 17). Eroticism, much like sexual experiences, seek to break down established patterns and orders of basic social existence to fulfil the desire for unity with another person in a manner that cannot be attained in daily life. They challenge what the individual knows of its discontinuous existence and repeatedly put its being in question by seducing and tempting it to believe in its continuity beyond death (18, 19, 31).136

Seduction and temptation are presented by taboo and prohibition. The taboo in force is often a social imposition of rules and order, and as such, the experience or sensation only gains erotic momentum when it violates the taboo (31). This violation of the taboo is called transgression. For Bataille, ‘organised transgression together with the taboo make social life what it is. [For] the frequency and the regularity of transgression do not affect the intangible stability of the prohibition since they are its expected complement’ (Bataille 2001 65). Taboo is central to eroticism and morality is often juxtaposed to taboo and shame, as the origin of eroticism (31) and a pre-requisite for its existence. To objective intelligence, eroticism can therefore be a monstrous thing because despite the primary bliss of happiness that it promises, fulfilled passions often provoke sensations so intense that they feel more like violent agitation, turmoil, distress and suffering (37, 19).

For Bataille eroticism can take three forms: physical, emotional and religious (15). The following section, illustrates how eroticism comes about in AJS and CDC.137

135 _{As later sections in this chapter will show, power relations are particularly prominent in AJS and}

contribute to the protagonist’s frustrated identity development.

136Here, its nature falls in alignment with the theory of SIP and supports this thesis’ distinguishing

feature that identity formation seems to be a developmental process that is paved with moments of instability and crisis, regardless of the theory used, or the topic examined.

Later, it analyses the implications of physical and emotional eroticism in both novels and outlines how physical eroticism acts as an escapist tool, while emotional eroticism acts as a developmental one.138