Leaving the 20th Century: The Incomplete Work of the Situationist International

by Chris Gray

The first Situationist text to be published in the UK in 1974, ‘Leaving the 20th Century’ was Chris Gray and the English situationists’ attempt to capture and distil the vibrant anti-art, anti-capitalist energy of the original International Situationist texts (1957-74). With its loose translations and irreverent commentary, Gray and co. attempted to capture the “terrorism, wit and general megalomania” of the original publications, whilst faithfully reprinting the “photographs of girls, soldiers, bombings, comic-strip frames, maps of cities and diagrams of labyrinths, cathedrals and gardens.” From the art/anti-art beginnings, to the role of the Situationists in the worker-student insurrection of May 68’, ‘Leaving the 20th Century’ remains the definitive English pro-situ text.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Politics, Philosophy, Theory

Kindle Edition

First published April 20, 1998

Reviews

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection. Other than two extended pieces from Debord and Vaneigem's primary texts, the majority of the pieces collected here fall outside the main canon of Situationist texts. Not entirely comprehensive (lacking, in fact, a lot of material about the events of May 1968), this is nevertheless a great short introduction to the writings of the SI.

[Martin Raybould · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly ragged but thought provoking collection of situationist texts that are still highly relevant in the 21st century.

[Brian Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is forbidden to forbid

[Tom Kovacik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great introduction to the SI

I liked the beautiful connection of surrealism And marxism, But disliked the many typographical errors in this book.
I would recommend IT to all the wonderful people of all the counter-cultures And sub-cultures alike.
I gave it 5 stars because it is my 1st SI book.