Headless Review / Jean Rollin and Georges Bataille

Here is a link to an electronic reproduction of "La Revue Acéphale" ("The Headless Review"), a 1937 Surrealist publication by Georges Bataille, Pierre Klossowski, André Masson, Jean Rollin and Jean Wahl. It was the second in a total of four issues. "La Revue Acéphale" was the exoteric manifestation of Bataille's secret society 'Acéphale', which aimed to revitalize the modern world through an ancient rite, that of (human) sacrifice. The reproduced issue was devoted to Nietzsche, whose philosophy it aimed to recuperate from the Nazis. It contains fascinating essays on that philosopher, as well as an highly interesting article on Nazi neo-paganism - all in French.

Nevertheless, all non-Francophones are advised to follow the link anyway and click on 'voir' to see some beautiful illustrations by André Masson.


BTW: the Jean Rollin who participated in this issue of "La Revue Acéphale" is of course not the French cinéfantastique film maker Jean Rollin, who was born in 1938 and couldn't possibly have contributed any articles to this "La Revue Acéphale" (I just corrected the error in Wikipedia).

In fact, it was the filmmaker's father who contributed to the publication. The father was also called Jean Rollin. Jean Rollin's mother, Denise Rollin-Le Gentil, had an (extramarital) relationship with Georges Bataille from october 1939 to the end of 1943.

Tohill and Tombs' "Immoral Tales. Sex & Horror Cinema In Europe 1956-1984" suggest that years later Jean Rollin (the filmmaker, that is), would remember the bedtime stories that Bataille told him, about 'Monsieur le Curé', a wolf dressed in the robes of a priest.

How I would like to have heard those stories!