ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the complexity of Derrida's relation to Bataille's work. It begins by analysing the detail of Derrida's most sustained treatment of Bataille's work, in the essay 'From Restricted to General Economy', from Writing and Difference. The chapter looks at how they might best understand the mediation of Hegel by Bataille and its influence on Derrida's work, by looking at Bruce Baugh's seminal interpretation of the 'French Hegel'. However, in many respects, Derrida's focus on Hegel serves to occlude other influences from Bataille's work, such as his conception of embodiment and desire, and especially his conception of the relationship between prohibition and transgression. The chapter argues that these aspects of Bataille's work have been a pivotal resource for Derrida's own thinking of the relation between philosophy and what he calls 'nonphilosophy'. As with Artaud, it can be difficult to categorise Bataille in relation to philosophical or cultural movements.
