Given this is a work by noted French surrealist and poet Georges Bataille, I've included it in the "classic literature" section, although I've noted some of Bataille's other works confined to the "horror" category. Which, on further reflection, is somehow appropriate. I'm admittedly not a great fan-- while Bataille writes beautifully, even in translation, and his vision of humanity is essentially dark (Sartre wrote of him, "Bataille speaks about man's condition, not his nature. Bataille has survived the death of God. In him, reality is conflict."), I personally find his vision stultifying after awhile.
"My Mother", the fullest of the 3 stories, deals with a semi-incestuous relationship between a mother and son that becomes fully incestuous during the course of the story. The "mother" takes great pleasure and pride in her own degradation, and seems enthusiastically and voyeuristically interested in the less-than-normal sex life of her son. The other 2 stories are more fragmentary and more overtly pornographic, but are essentially just as grim as "My Mother".
Bataille was a much better writer than the Marquis De Sade (whom he admired) but De Sade, for all his written depravity (and if you've read uncensored De Sade, it's over-the-top depravity), was occasionally capable of humor (grim though it might have been) and, while far more simplistic philosophically, was...dare I say it?...a much more entertaining writer. Not that one would be inclined to read Bartaille for "entertainment", as such, but if you want philosophy, read Sartre or Nietzsche. If you want poetry, there are far superior and enlightening poets out there.
In my own opinion, Bataille, while influential in his own right, is destined to remain a fringe, or cult, literary figure, and may, as the years pass, be completely forgotten. "My Mother; Madame Edwarda; The Dead Man" does nothing to change that conviction of mine.
