Are we, intellectual sirs, not actively or passively 'producing' more and more words, more books, more articles, ceaselessly refilling the pot-boiler of speech, gorging ourselves on it rather, seizing books and 'experiences', to metamorphose them as quickly as possible into other words, plugging us in here, being plugged in there, just like Mina on her blue squared oilcloth, extending the market and the trade in words of course, but also multiplying the chances of jouissance, scraping up intensities wherever possible, and never being sufficiently dead, for we too are required to go from forty to the hundred a day, and we will never play the whore enough, we will never be dead enough .Anonymous
About This Quote
"Are we, intellectual sirs, not actively or passively 'producing' more and more words, more books, more articles, ceaselessly refilling the pot-boiler of speech, gorging ourselves on it rather, seizing books and 'experiences', to metamorphose them as quickly as possible into other words, plugging us in here, being plugged in there, just like Mina on her blue squared oilcloth, extending the market and the trade in words of course, but also multiplying the chances of jouissance , scraping up intensities wherever possible , and never being sufficiently dead , for we too are required to go from forty to the hundred a day , and we will never play the whore enough , we will never be dead enough" is a quote often attributed to Georges Bataille . In this quote Bataille describes a woman named Mina who works at a brothel. In order to make money Mina must be constantly having sex with many men. Bataille describes this situation as being one where "she is required to go from forty to the hundred a day, and she will never play the whore enough, she will never be dead enough." This is a bleak description of a lonely existence.
There may be moments where Mina enjoys having sex with many men yet that enjoyment is very fleeting. She must always be at work. She cannot look forward to going home each day.
She can only hope that she will have enough customers so that she can earn enough money so that she can eat and live comfortably. In this quote Bataille uses words such as "gorging ourselves" which is an interesting description of how people absorb language through reading. People who read a lot of novels tend to read a lot of novels because they want to know what happens next.
They do not read literature for its own sake but they do not want to miss out on what happens next if they have not already read it.
Source: Libidinal Economy
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