In the con textofs eekin g a curew ith on e ofthe rs t Fren ch an -alys ts ,A drien B orel,an d critiq uin g the idealis t u s es ofFreud an d Sade by s urrealis tcon tem p orary A n dr Breton ,the p hilos op her G eorges B ataille p ublis hed in 928an erotic ction ofhis ow n ti -tled T heStory oftheE yeun der the p s eu don ym L ord A u ch,m ean -in g literally L ord to the s hithou s e [au x chio es ](B ataille 200a, 76).T ried in p recis ely this kin d ofre,B ataille p u ts together in literary form an earlies tform ulation ofw hatw ou ld later becom e s om e ofhis m os ts ign ican t p ron ou n cem en ts abouthis m ilieu an d its p rop os ed am elioration .B ataille felt our taboos had be-com e un reectively os s ied over the cours e oftim e,m ean in g ou r erotic tran s gres s ion s ofs u ch taboos today w ere con dem n ed to degradation in a w ay thates chew ed the s acred-erotic fes tive s ites ofou r com m u n alp as t.Such s ites hitherto had been the s tu of religion ,w here m yth an d m etap horization took p lace or w here, as L acan p u ts it,the jou is s an ce[en joym en t]rep res s ed by taboo does n t hu s h u p bu t n ds its O ther m ode to s p eak,for the rs t e ect ofrep res s ion is that its p eaks ofs om ethin g els e,w hich is w hat con s titutes the m ain s p rin g ofm etap hor(999,662). A n d itis ofin teres tto exam in e w hat our m yths or ction s m ight be m etap horizin g today,les t w e n eglect their m ean in g.
