Guy Debord

by Anselm Jappe, T.J. Clark (Foreword), Donald Nicholson-Smith (Translator)

This is the first and best intellectual biography of Guy Debord, prime mover of the Situationist International (1957–1972) and author of The Society of the Spectacle , perhaps the seminal book of the May 1968 uprising in France. Anselm Jappe offers a powerful corrective to the continual attempts to incorporate Debord’s theoretical work into “French theory.” Jappe’s focus, to the contrary, is on Debord’s debt to the Hegelian-Marxist tradition, to Karl Korsch and Georg Lukács, and more generally to left-Marxist currents of council communism. His close reading of Debord’s magnum opus supplies a superb gloss that has never been rivaled despite the great flood of writing on the Situationists in recent decades. At the same time, Debord is placed squarely in context among the Letterist and Situationist anti-artists who, in the aftermath of World War II, sought to criticize and transcend the legacy of Dada and Surrealism. Jappe’s book offers a lively account of the Situationists’ theory and practice as this “last avant-garde” made its way from radical bohemianism to revolutionary theory and action. Guy Debord has been translated into many languages. This PM Press reprint edition benefits from a new author’s preface and a bibliographical update.

Genres: Philosophy, Biography, Politics, History, Art, Nonfiction, Theory

224 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 1992

About the author

Anselm Kappe grew up in Cologne and in the Périgord. He studied in Paris and Rome where he obtained, respectively, a master's and then a doctorate degree in philosophy. His advisor was Mario Permiola. A member of the Krisis Groupe, he has published numerous articles in different journals and reviews, including Iride (Florence), Il Manifesto (Rome), L'Indice (Milan) and Mania (Barcelona). In his writings, he has attempted to revive critical theory through a new interpretation of the work of Karl Marx. He is currently teaching aesthetics at the Accademia delle Belle Arti di Frosinone.

Reviews

[AC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marx himself (according to Jappe) did not entirely grasp some of the fundamental forms of capitalism -- treating as essential characteristics what were actually traits of precapitalist forms of production. Thus, where Marx (in the 1860s) supposed that the working class would have to be excluded from the bourgeoisie and that the crisis of capitalism would arise from the shortcomings of the commodity form, by the 1960s it appeared that crisis had come instead from the total VICTORY of the commodity form and from the absorption of the proletariate (and his consciousness) INTO the bourgeoisie (and its commodified form).

Debord thus has the merit of having been one of the very first to understand that a Marxist form of analysis needed to be applied to very new and unexpected conditions. He was thus a transitional and seminal figure.

Part I contains an arid excursion into Marxist scholasticism, and lacks all of the brilliance and relentless intelligence of Plant's The Most Radical Gesture (hence, my ranking). Part II, which is the longest section, deals with Situationist practice, the events of May 1968 (which justified and vindicated their earlier pronouncements -- in which large segments of Parisian society simply went on a wildcat strike devoted... to play), and some brief, but beautiful tender obsevations on the Comment on the Society of the Spectacle. It is livelier.

On the question of the relation between Debord and Baudrillard, Jappe sides with Plant, and against the view that Debord was some type of cynical misanthrope, he argues that Debord was no nihilist, that he loved the Paris of the 1950s that he knew, and even the later traces of authenticity that could be found -- and that "[f]or the ostentatious despair that flirts with self-destruction and is so much admired in art galleries and halls of learning Debord had nothing but scorn: as early as 1955 he evoked the "overrated corpse" of Artaud....

This is not a brilliant book (like Plant's), but is sturdy and has utility.

[Fidelix Castro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tope con la visibilización marxista de La sociedad de espectáculo de Debord. Si no entendiste la sociedad del espectáculo y lees este libro para comprenderlo, ya van a ser dos libros los que no entiendes

[Baki · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A vitória será daqueles que souberem provocar a desordem sem a amar"

[Agnes elle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trabalho bem escrutinado e documentado do percurso politico-social de Guy Debord( figura incontornável libertária na França desde 60), da sua crença irredutível até ao final, da sua irreverência e isolamento dos seus congêneres. Criador das:
A sociedade Espetáculo_conceito máximo.
A Internacional Socialista_movimento politico tão importante nos acontecimentos no Maio de 68 quase relegada Põe a descoberto os verdadeiros intervencionistas, toda a panóplia de idéias e atividades das diferentes facções, que incentivaram e se aliaram da Greve Geral e Crise de 68 e transformaram a sociedade de então...
Muitas outras idéias/conceitos de Debord são aqui explorados e apresentados.

Anselm Juppe _ filósofo, ensaísta alemão. Pertence ao grupo da revista KRISIS, intlectuais e activistas que rompem com a esquerda tradicional e com a esquerda radical.

[‍ΟυΛιΠο · Rating 5 out of 5]

και ας πιούμε κι άλλο όλοι μαζί στη δική μας δόξα
για να 'χουν να λένε οι εγγονοί μας και οι γιοί τους:
υπήρξαν κάποτε άνθρωποι που δεν ντρέπονταν καθόλου
για τους συντρόφους τους και που δεν εγκατέλειπαν ποτέ
τους φίλους τους...

[raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

jappe é o maior expert quando se trata da teoria de debord. impecável!!! e prefácio por robert kurz (divo) “Guy Debord e os outros situacionistas franceses estão na moda. É o pior que lhes poderia acontecer. Pois a moda é o oposto da crítica. Crítica radical não pode virar modismo sem perder a alma. O que está na crista da onda é a maneira como idéias são transformadas em lixo de praia.”

[Declan Cochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

a stunning whirl through debord's ideas, situating them in marxist contexts and also surveying the state of intellectual thought in france in the wake of "society of the spectacle". a dense book, 150 pages but took me four days to get through.

[Φώτης Καραμπεσίνης · Rating 4 out of 5]

Κυκλοφόρησε στα ελληνικά. ως "Γκυ Ντεμπόρ", εκδόσεις Ελεύθερος Τύπος.

[Francesco Tenaglia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suggested for a well documented, opinionated insight on Debord that eludes the blabla that surrounded SI

[Andrej · Rating 5 out of 5]

More theoretically subtle, detailed and serious than Merrifield's book on Guy Debord. Some parts were redundant but it's still a very good book.

[Santiago Aparicio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Más oscuro que el propio Debord.

[loitering outside 711 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes the secondary literature is better than the source material
The book is such a banger

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall a very good study on Debord's writings and thoughts on the structure of contemporary society. Not as good as reading the great man's words - but nevertheless a perfect book to wonder 'why' on. Good book to carry around St. Michel.

[Pedro Areal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Biografia das ideias politicas de Debord.