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Критические биографии #1
Guy Debord
Though well-known for his founding of the avant-garde Situationist International movement and his prominent political and cultural activism, Guy Debord was nonetheless a surprisingly elusive and enigmatic figure, spending his last years in an isolated farmhouse in Champot, France. Andy Merrifield's Guy Debord pushes back the farmhouse shutters and opens a window onto Debord's life, theory, and art.
Merrifield explores the dynamics of Debord's ideas and works, including the groundbreaking Howls for Sade and his 1967 classic, The Society of the Spectacle . Debord understood life as art, Merrifield argues, and through that lens he chronicles Debord's stint as a revolutionary leader in the 1950s and 1960s, his time in Spain and Italy during the 1970s and the reclusive years leading up to his death in 1994.
Dada and Surrealism's legacy and punk rock's god, Guy Debord spun theories on democracy, people, and political power that still resonate today, making Merrifield's concise yet comprehensive study an invaluable resource on one of the foremost intellectual revolutionaries of the twentieth century.
Merrifield explores the dynamics of Debord's ideas and works, including the groundbreaking Howls for Sade and his 1967 classic, The Society of the Spectacle . Debord understood life as art, Merrifield argues, and through that lens he chronicles Debord's stint as a revolutionary leader in the 1950s and 1960s, his time in Spain and Italy during the 1970s and the reclusive years leading up to his death in 1994.
Dada and Surrealism's legacy and punk rock's god, Guy Debord spun theories on democracy, people, and political power that still resonate today, making Merrifield's concise yet comprehensive study an invaluable resource on one of the foremost intellectual revolutionaries of the twentieth century.
174 pages, Paperback
First published December 23, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 9, 2016
Rather short and full of name-dropping, many times without providing any logical connections between the brought up theories/theorists.
September 1, 2007
A slightly better than average fly-by-night biography. Debord's an enigmatic fucker; reclusive and destitute, he was also a raging egomaniac interested in shocking whomever he could. Merrifield, in too few pages, tracks down the life of Debord: the head of the Situationist International Movement.
Without a doubt my favorite group of cultural terrorists (behind the Dadaists, of course), SI sought to destroy European Culture. Taking cues from people like Tristan Tzara and Arthur Cravan, Debord and Co. sloganed, manifestoed, and rioted; for a brief moment the group brought together leftist intellectuals and two-thirds of Paris' working class, bringing the city to a standstill in May 1968. For whatever reason, Debord left Paris for the country in the early '70s where he remained a recluse, occasionally shooting off blasts of hate in his always polemical voice. He ended up committing suicide in 1994 after a long battle with alcohol-related illnesses.
Merrifield's book acts as a great primer for those interested in SI and its self-appointed leader.
Without a doubt my favorite group of cultural terrorists (behind the Dadaists, of course), SI sought to destroy European Culture. Taking cues from people like Tristan Tzara and Arthur Cravan, Debord and Co. sloganed, manifestoed, and rioted; for a brief moment the group brought together leftist intellectuals and two-thirds of Paris' working class, bringing the city to a standstill in May 1968. For whatever reason, Debord left Paris for the country in the early '70s where he remained a recluse, occasionally shooting off blasts of hate in his always polemical voice. He ended up committing suicide in 1994 after a long battle with alcohol-related illnesses.
Merrifield's book acts as a great primer for those interested in SI and its self-appointed leader.
April 12, 2022
A short biography of the enigmatic Guy Debord - urban theorist, provocateur, hard-drinking philosopher... and many more things.
What I liked about the book : it did help me to understand Debord's intellectual evolution better (from Lettrist, to Situationist International-May 1968-the disenchantment of the 1970s- shifting interests towards the literature of Spain and the language of the Romany. I liked that the book was short, so helped me get over my threshold anxiety about picking it up and giving it a go.
What I didn't like about the book : it didn't really help me understand Debord's highly abstract pronouncements about The Society of the Spectacle, psychogeography and the like. Much of this is due to my own lack of knowledge of the theories of Marx, Hegel, Lenin.... My hope had been that this would explain the (to me) nebulous concepts of "commodity", "reification", "alienation" a little more. I also found that the author's attempts at poetic descriptions didn't really help. Moving from storms in the Auvergne to storms in the political landscape... it's a metaphor that should not be squeezed out too long. Also, some of the translations from the French were incorrect. For instance, the word "incurable" was slipped in front of "disease" in the English translation of a sentence that (at least as quoted in French) did not contain that word. One's attitude towards a "disease" may be different than that towards an "incurable disease", so this had me tut-tutting.
What I liked about the book : it did help me to understand Debord's intellectual evolution better (from Lettrist, to Situationist International-May 1968-the disenchantment of the 1970s- shifting interests towards the literature of Spain and the language of the Romany. I liked that the book was short, so helped me get over my threshold anxiety about picking it up and giving it a go.
What I didn't like about the book : it didn't really help me understand Debord's highly abstract pronouncements about The Society of the Spectacle, psychogeography and the like. Much of this is due to my own lack of knowledge of the theories of Marx, Hegel, Lenin.... My hope had been that this would explain the (to me) nebulous concepts of "commodity", "reification", "alienation" a little more. I also found that the author's attempts at poetic descriptions didn't really help. Moving from storms in the Auvergne to storms in the political landscape... it's a metaphor that should not be squeezed out too long. Also, some of the translations from the French were incorrect. For instance, the word "incurable" was slipped in front of "disease" in the English translation of a sentence that (at least as quoted in French) did not contain that word. One's attitude towards a "disease" may be different than that towards an "incurable disease", so this had me tut-tutting.
July 23, 2022
Andy Merrifield's book is a short, often poetic exploration of Guy Debord's life and thought from his upbringing in the 1930s to his death in the mid 1990s. Along the way, Merrifield takes the reader to Debord's subversive activities in the Situationist International (SI) and the excitement of the revolutionary days in 1968 Paris, to his life on the run and in exile in the 1970s Italy and Spain, and finally to his relative isolation in the 1980s in the French countryside of Champot.
In addition to narrating Debord's life, Merrifield discusses Debord's films and radical texts, such as the rightly celebrated "Society of the Spectacle." There isn't much exegesis of Debord's critical theory, but Merrifield does provide the reader with a flavor of the texts with extended quotes. It really is remarkable how clearly and presciently Debord was in seeing the spectacular power of the capitalism and the commodify form in generating alienation and passivity.
Overall, this book is an enjoyable companion to read alongside "The Society of the Spectacle."
In addition to narrating Debord's life, Merrifield discusses Debord's films and radical texts, such as the rightly celebrated "Society of the Spectacle." There isn't much exegesis of Debord's critical theory, but Merrifield does provide the reader with a flavor of the texts with extended quotes. It really is remarkable how clearly and presciently Debord was in seeing the spectacular power of the capitalism and the commodify form in generating alienation and passivity.
Overall, this book is an enjoyable companion to read alongside "The Society of the Spectacle."
April 7, 2025
I wanted to read about Debord as sabrestorm stories is publishing a fictional book in 2025 that features him as a character and I wanted to know more about him. I found the book hard work initially but am pleased that I continued. It's an account of a fascinating man and certainly gives me a better understanding of his life though I would need to read some of his writing to get a better understanding of his philosophy. The book references much of his work so I may do so in the future.
July 23, 2023
Дочитала на марсовом!
Мама говорит что он бы сейчас фейсбучил)))
Но вообще до предпоследней главы я бы поставила тройку, а потом автор вспомнил что он не про Париж и корешей, а про Его Идеи (которые будут актуальны всегда)) и сделал прикольный мостик к современности
Про жену-медиевистку прикольно) нам всем такая нужна
Мама говорит что он бы сейчас фейсбучил)))
Но вообще до предпоследней главы я бы поставила тройку, а потом автор вспомнил что он не про Париж и корешей, а про Его Идеи (которые будут актуальны всегда)) и сделал прикольный мостик к современности
Про жену-медиевистку прикольно) нам всем такая нужна
March 4, 2024
2nd read: 3 stars, great opening chapters
First Read: 4 stars:
Debord is essentially a drunken philosopher. And thus he can really never tell us how to live without advocating self-destruction of some sort or another. No matter the specificity or grandiosity of his dreams, that are ultimately doomed to failure, the drunkard lives for drink foremost. The drunkard usually has a self-serving personality, and can be prone to rage, individualism, and severing ties with others. Though also, the drunken philosopher can enjoy a freedom from social expectations and no limit towards the indulgence of sensuous pleasures.
In a sense it is a simple life, but then again given the avant-garde nature of Debord's work, one that refuses to work by traditional means, which can get difficult. At least from one angle, Debord mooches off others' suffering—for they may indulge in vicarious escapism from work through him (certainly I did when reading this work).
The question of Debord's anti-sociality: his love of transgressive literature and expression, his revolutionary fury that he found in youth—then seems to congeal into a hermit-like attitude to a life of spectacle and infamy. He holes up on the road or in his countryside fortress with his intellectual partner and wife (Alice Becker-Ho) and escapes into a historical dreamworld of transgressive anti-heroes and contrarian thought; of rural simplicity and non-submission to authority. Yes, he had close relationships with people, even intense ones, but he was highly selective and prone to vanish from any 'situation' he no longer enjoyed or thought relevant.
He has been compared to Andre Breton, the 'pope of Surrealism', however sharing similar anti-heroes and even aims, Breton attempted to remain in the heart of his avant-garde movement until the very end of his life, whereas Debord abdicated almost immediately after the peak of its influence. Thus he went into exile, quite happily. Though described as a melancholic individual, Debord seemed to be quite satisfied with his life, no matter if his ideals never equaled reality, and never may.
First Read: 4 stars:
Debord is essentially a drunken philosopher. And thus he can really never tell us how to live without advocating self-destruction of some sort or another. No matter the specificity or grandiosity of his dreams, that are ultimately doomed to failure, the drunkard lives for drink foremost. The drunkard usually has a self-serving personality, and can be prone to rage, individualism, and severing ties with others. Though also, the drunken philosopher can enjoy a freedom from social expectations and no limit towards the indulgence of sensuous pleasures.
In a sense it is a simple life, but then again given the avant-garde nature of Debord's work, one that refuses to work by traditional means, which can get difficult. At least from one angle, Debord mooches off others' suffering—for they may indulge in vicarious escapism from work through him (certainly I did when reading this work).
The question of Debord's anti-sociality: his love of transgressive literature and expression, his revolutionary fury that he found in youth—then seems to congeal into a hermit-like attitude to a life of spectacle and infamy. He holes up on the road or in his countryside fortress with his intellectual partner and wife (Alice Becker-Ho) and escapes into a historical dreamworld of transgressive anti-heroes and contrarian thought; of rural simplicity and non-submission to authority. Yes, he had close relationships with people, even intense ones, but he was highly selective and prone to vanish from any 'situation' he no longer enjoyed or thought relevant.
He has been compared to Andre Breton, the 'pope of Surrealism', however sharing similar anti-heroes and even aims, Breton attempted to remain in the heart of his avant-garde movement until the very end of his life, whereas Debord abdicated almost immediately after the peak of its influence. Thus he went into exile, quite happily. Though described as a melancholic individual, Debord seemed to be quite satisfied with his life, no matter if his ideals never equaled reality, and never may.
September 15, 2007
This is an excellent introduction to Guy Debord and his writings. In fact one can't go wrong with Reaktion Books - Critical Lives series. It's like a brand name with record labels: Factory, Motown -you know it's going to be good.
Read
February 29, 2008Recommended.
March 16, 2011
Neat and easy to read short bio of the great M. Debord. RecomMended.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews