Swinburne From The: The Bataille Type Supreme

A. C. Swinburne, the poet of the decadent and the perverse in Victorian England, is an embodiment of 'sovereignty' in George Bataille's theories. In times of Philistinism and utilitarianism, he introduced l'art pour l'art from France and became one of the earliest practitioners of the Aesthetic creed. He not only promoted the ontological value of artistic beauty, but also transgressed social taboos in making death and sexuality his favorite subjects. Peculiar to Aestheticism in literary history is the coalition between art and life of the artist. Swinburne, whose personal life is no less turbulent than his works, is a typical miniature. His life, before the moral conversion under Watts-Dunton's custody, was permeated with bursts of artistic creation in volcanic manner, wars against set institutions ranging from morality, tyranny to religion, dissolute pursuit after pleasures through addiction to alcohol and sadomasochist sexual practices. Swinburne is, hereby, a Bataillian sovereign man, with his transgressive spirit, adoration of sacred violence, disregard for utilitarian values, as well as a mental state of intoxication that repels reasoning and embraces enjoyment of the present moment with all senses and faculties opened up. Conscious of the vanity of human labor and the principle of abstinence, he liberates himself from the customary servitude and subordination, and was delivered by his art and lifestyle to a sphere where he squanders his genius for no end but beauty itself, relishing all sensual pleasures and indulging in an ecstatic state of being. This sphere is right that of sovereignty, the land of liberated sovereign man. However, the experiment of Swinburne's adoration for sovereignty did not end in triumph over the philistine society. The defeat, together with those of other decadent artists, reminds us of the nature of sovereignty. It is part of human civilization, but for prescribed moments only, such as festivals and wars; and for special groups of people only, such as artists, priests and kings.