By borrowing various forms of expression ranging from the hallucinated fictional narrative to the theoretical essay via the fragment, Bataille always exerts an influence, most often underground, on literature, philosophy, the human sciences and the arts. The variation of its centers of interest and the issues they raise are driven by a deep unity and testify to an acute sense of the problems that plague our common humanity. Taking a path marked out by a few entries characteristic of non-systematic thought, this book invites us to better understand what Bataille calls “sovereignty”, which is both a thought experience and a salutary life experience for us here and now.