Penguin Modern Classics: Blue Of Noon

One of the twentieth century's great nihilist novels, Blue of Noon is a blackly compelling account of depravity and terror that retains all its shocking power today. Set in pre-war Europe, its narrator lurches despairingly from city to city in a surreal sexual and mental nightmare of squalor, sadism and drunken encounters - his journey into madness mirroring the fighting and marching on the streets outside. Confronting Fascism, the novel is torn between identifying with history's victims and being seduced by the violent glamour of its terrible victors.One of the most brilliant intellects and influential French writers of his time, Bataille's unflinching exploration of the dark forces beneath the surface of civilization defies all our expectations.