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Memoires
French
- GenresArtNonfiction
68 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
2 people are currently reading
107 people want to read
About the author
Guy Debord
88 books824 followersGuy Ernest Debord was a French theorist, writer, filmmaker, hypergraphist and founding member of the groups Lettrist International and Situationist International. In broad terms, Debord's theories attempted to account for the spiritually debilitating modernization of the private and public spheres of everyday life by economic forces during the post-WWII modernization of Europe. Alienation, Debord postulated, could be accounted for by the invasive forces of the 'spectacle'—"a social relation between people that is mediated by images." Central to this school of thought was the claim that alienation is more than an emotive description or an aspect of individual psychology; rather, it is a consequence of the mercantile form of social organization which has reached its climax in capitalism. Debord committed suicide, shooting himself in the heart at his property on November 30, 1994.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 12, 2021
CHRISTIAN NOLLE:
3. Conclusion
The artistic phase of the Situationist International pretty much ended in the early 60s. Many, if not all of the people who were active during that period either left or were thrown out for not following the strict set of rules that Debord had set up. For a lot of them this was a brutal attack in the back, since they had dedicated a whole lot of their lives to the mission. For Debord it was his way of keeping the group as tight knit as possible. What remains of the vast amount of material that they produced is now stored away in archives across Europe and has been reprinted in various degraded versions.
The facsimile edition, for instance, of Mémoires is a populist product, a boiled down presentation to fit easier into our increasingly alienating culture. It has placed itself as far away from the original as possible. The book is no longer a lived experience, but has been adopted by the spectacle for the spectacle. It is a fine art book, joining a tradition with its thick white paper and bright colours. It goes against everything the SI stood for. The inclusion of Debord’s portrait, directly praising him as an unique artistic individual. The book is now important because Debord was involved, and not for what it actual says on its pages. It is frightening in many ways, since the original is so rare, enabling the facsimile edition to be what you would normally encounter. The facsimile is what you will experience. It is crucial for a proper reproduction that it follows its original as closely as possible. All details are of extreme importance! Whether they have used a different style for quotations or have changed the colours. You do not add anything to a reprint, nor do you take anything away, unless the addition lies in form as an appendix and or a foreword.
Another example of recent Situationist misappropriation appeared in an issue of Adbuster, an «anti-capitalist» American magazine[32]. A photograph of Mémoires appears in a bookshelf next to some other books, illustrating its destructive cover. The picture text explains that this is Debord’s book, but it is not. The book shown is too thick to have anything to do with the original[33]. It was simply as an illustration of different graphic design. There is, however, something almost poetic about the title page of the facsimile version. Something which has a scent of resolution. If you look closely at Debord’s cropped portrait, it seems as if his eyes are looking at the right hand page. Starring at the sentence «This book has been made entirely form prefabricated elements» – or more likely on the name of Asger Jorn, who was the person in charge of arranging the foundation of the SI. Without Jorn I am not sure it would have happened, or at least not in the way it did. His enthusiastically and spontaneous approach to most things probably helped them along the way.
He did not want the spectacle to swallow the history of the SI and transform them into yet another French intellectual movement, that had ultimately failed. Because of this he became increasingly concerned that the Situationist International were to leave behind them a legacy of historical inaccuracy. A Mémoires had to be left behind, which told the real story of what had happened in the years of the movement. At this point Debord’s many books had reached a level of academic reading and scrutiny which rendered him in the eyes of the public, into what he hated the most, a celebrity. Debord were in these years changing from one publishing house to another, battling over legal matters in court. It was during this period that the publishing of Mémoires facsimile happened. The book came out eleven months prior to Debord’s suicide that once and for all left the Situationists and their legacy in the history books.
One can argue that the SI in its late days, especially Debord who seem embody himself with the very notion of what it meant to be a Situationist, that they had grown to be so recognized and established as a movement, that they became their own art critics — an institution they were originally opposed to. In the latter days of Debord’s life, especially after Jorn’s death in 1973, he had withdrawn himself from almost all social activity to a pathetic life of solitude. He was convinced that since the near revolution of 1968 had failed, he might as well dedicate himself solely to the act of self-destruction. Again this marks one of the key differences between Jorn and Debord. Jorn had never shown any self-destructive tendencies and had remained active until the very end, continuing his mad tempo of activity which originally had brought humour, spontaneity and playfulness into the SI.
The SI might be most famous for their involvement in the 1968 student uprising in Paris — but what remains increasingly fascinating for a generation of people who were born a decade later, is an interest in their artistic phase. A phase when they materialized their many ideas and concepts into a new visual language, a language that took no prisoners. One that ultimately wanted to destroy the spectacle. The books were sophisticated declarations of war, a war that was fought in the streets of Paris in 1968. It was a period were no short-cuts were taken, it was brutal and unforgiving. They had the guts to continuously hit the nail on its head over and over again.
3. Conclusion
The artistic phase of the Situationist International pretty much ended in the early 60s. Many, if not all of the people who were active during that period either left or were thrown out for not following the strict set of rules that Debord had set up. For a lot of them this was a brutal attack in the back, since they had dedicated a whole lot of their lives to the mission. For Debord it was his way of keeping the group as tight knit as possible. What remains of the vast amount of material that they produced is now stored away in archives across Europe and has been reprinted in various degraded versions.
The facsimile edition, for instance, of Mémoires is a populist product, a boiled down presentation to fit easier into our increasingly alienating culture. It has placed itself as far away from the original as possible. The book is no longer a lived experience, but has been adopted by the spectacle for the spectacle. It is a fine art book, joining a tradition with its thick white paper and bright colours. It goes against everything the SI stood for. The inclusion of Debord’s portrait, directly praising him as an unique artistic individual. The book is now important because Debord was involved, and not for what it actual says on its pages. It is frightening in many ways, since the original is so rare, enabling the facsimile edition to be what you would normally encounter. The facsimile is what you will experience. It is crucial for a proper reproduction that it follows its original as closely as possible. All details are of extreme importance! Whether they have used a different style for quotations or have changed the colours. You do not add anything to a reprint, nor do you take anything away, unless the addition lies in form as an appendix and or a foreword.
Another example of recent Situationist misappropriation appeared in an issue of Adbuster, an «anti-capitalist» American magazine[32]. A photograph of Mémoires appears in a bookshelf next to some other books, illustrating its destructive cover. The picture text explains that this is Debord’s book, but it is not. The book shown is too thick to have anything to do with the original[33]. It was simply as an illustration of different graphic design. There is, however, something almost poetic about the title page of the facsimile version. Something which has a scent of resolution. If you look closely at Debord’s cropped portrait, it seems as if his eyes are looking at the right hand page. Starring at the sentence «This book has been made entirely form prefabricated elements» – or more likely on the name of Asger Jorn, who was the person in charge of arranging the foundation of the SI. Without Jorn I am not sure it would have happened, or at least not in the way it did. His enthusiastically and spontaneous approach to most things probably helped them along the way.
He did not want the spectacle to swallow the history of the SI and transform them into yet another French intellectual movement, that had ultimately failed. Because of this he became increasingly concerned that the Situationist International were to leave behind them a legacy of historical inaccuracy. A Mémoires had to be left behind, which told the real story of what had happened in the years of the movement. At this point Debord’s many books had reached a level of academic reading and scrutiny which rendered him in the eyes of the public, into what he hated the most, a celebrity. Debord were in these years changing from one publishing house to another, battling over legal matters in court. It was during this period that the publishing of Mémoires facsimile happened. The book came out eleven months prior to Debord’s suicide that once and for all left the Situationists and their legacy in the history books.
One can argue that the SI in its late days, especially Debord who seem embody himself with the very notion of what it meant to be a Situationist, that they had grown to be so recognized and established as a movement, that they became their own art critics — an institution they were originally opposed to. In the latter days of Debord’s life, especially after Jorn’s death in 1973, he had withdrawn himself from almost all social activity to a pathetic life of solitude. He was convinced that since the near revolution of 1968 had failed, he might as well dedicate himself solely to the act of self-destruction. Again this marks one of the key differences between Jorn and Debord. Jorn had never shown any self-destructive tendencies and had remained active until the very end, continuing his mad tempo of activity which originally had brought humour, spontaneity and playfulness into the SI.
The SI might be most famous for their involvement in the 1968 student uprising in Paris — but what remains increasingly fascinating for a generation of people who were born a decade later, is an interest in their artistic phase. A phase when they materialized their many ideas and concepts into a new visual language, a language that took no prisoners. One that ultimately wanted to destroy the spectacle. The books were sophisticated declarations of war, a war that was fought in the streets of Paris in 1968. It was a period were no short-cuts were taken, it was brutal and unforgiving. They had the guts to continuously hit the nail on its head over and over again.
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June 14, 2020it’s very pretty, and very debord.
September 23, 2022
Un objet fascinant et très agréable à parcourir.
Read
July 28, 2025This book is entirely composed of prefabricated elements!
The arts of the future will be upheavals of situations, or nothing. Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the material is new. For we want to speak the beautiful language of the century.
The arts of the future will be upheavals of situations, or nothing. Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the material is new. For we want to speak the beautiful language of the century.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews