Psychogeography

by Merlin Coverley

A fully revised, updated and expanded edition of the bestselling guidePsychogeography. In recent years this term has been used to illustrate a bewildering array of ideas from ley lines and the occult, to urban walking and political radicalism. But where does it come from and what exactly does it mean?This book examines the origins of psychogeography in the Paris of the 1950s, exploring the theoretical background and its political application in the work of Guy Debord and the Situationists. Psychogeography continues to find retrospective validation in much earlier traditions, from the visionary writing of William Blake and Thomas De Quincey to the rise of the flâneur and the avant-garde experimentation of the Surrealists. These precursors to psychogeography are discussed here alongside their modern counterparts, for today these ideas hold greater currency than ever through the popularity of writers and filmmakers such as Iain Sinclair, Will Self and Patrick Keiller.From the urban wanderer to the armchair traveller, psychogeography provides us with new ways of experiencing our environment, transforming the familiar streets of our everyday experience into something new and unexpected. Merlin Coverley conducts the reader through this process, providing an explanation of the terms involved and an analysis of the key figures and their works.Praise for Psychogeography'This little book does exactly what an introduction should; it examines, explains, and whets the appetite...It has an extensive bibliography and an index of websites, research into which has been clearly and cogently utilised. It is a short, but valuable, book' - Telegraph'It would be a fitting tribute to Coverley's unfussy and informative book if it encouraged people in other cities to try psychogeography' - Scotland On Sunday'An excellent overview of a tradition that can be tricky to pin down and a great portal for loads of further reading' - Hugh Marwood

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Psychology, Theory, Urbanism, Politics, Walking

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 4, 2006

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect primer for the misunderstood and muddled intellectual (and physical) practice of psychogeography, Coverley’s short book explores its origins in English lit (Defoe and De Quincy), into the Parisian flâneur, Debord and his Situationists, and the sometimes quite drear and humourless up-to-date folks like Iain Sinclair. The present PG phenomenon is somewhat London-centred, and a fresh swoosh is needed in the practice by other writers from different cities (no Scottish PG to my knowledge, nor much in America), exploring the psychological effects of place on the writer that lies at the nub of the affair. Will Self isn’t treated with much respect in this volume—his columns might be more in the travel squib range, but his long essays on PG in his two collections, and Walking to Hollywood, are significant contributions to its modern renaissance.

[☘Misericordia☘ ⚡ϟ⚡⛈⚡☁ ❇️❤❣ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here's what I though: urban occult radicalism? Count me in! Especially if it includes the peripatetic practices....

But no, while I really liked the 'flaneur' parts, the rest felt particularly unfocused and even rambling. Defoe, Quincey, de Certeau, Debord, Stevenson and lots of other visionaries seem to have been interested in how the urban experience goes on and how it becomes different between places and everything. I appreciate all their time and effort and whatever.

I do not appreciate the lack of non-trivial findings resulting from all the ado: seriously, are we supposed to be surprised that walking in different cities is different? Much ado about nothing?

I must have been spoiled by other, more relevant and even groundbreaking book like this: The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. I've been thinking about it all along while reading this one somehow. Maybe it's because in Merlin's work there's not much practical or inspirational or anything like what we've come to expect from psychology works today? Anyway, it's probably just me.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read, good introduction, quite ridiculously repetitive at times to the extent of reusing whole sentences -- I agree with all that's been said. Not many remarked on quite how white and male and privileged it was also, there's so much I love about the approach and all of the authors in here but damn, are they white, male and privileged. I think Rebecca Solnit is the only woman to grace these pages, apart from the prostitutes and the beautiful women the surrealists stalked through the city... The one Situationist who did seem to actually try to practice psychogeography and write about it was forced to desist after several prison stays--apparently the police didn't appreciate a Black immigrant name of Abdelhafid Khatib experiencing aimlessly in public spaces, especially after immigrant curfew time. What the hell were his comrades doing about that? I'd like to know, the only way they can regain my respect.

But still, back to the thing itself. An initial description of psychogeography's main characteristics

'For psychogeography may usefully be viewed less as the product of a particular time and place than as the meeting point of a number of ideas and traditions with interwoven histories'. [11]

amongst this melange of of ideas, events and identities, a number of predominant characteristics can be reconised. The first and most prominent of these is the activity of walking. The wanderer, the stroller, the flaneur and the stalker...psychogeography also demonstrates a playful sense of provocation and trickery...seeks to overcome the processes of 'banalisation' by which the everyday experience of our surroundings becomes one of drab monotony...a perception of the city as a site of mystery... [12-13]

Which leads to gothic representations, 'a focus on crime, poverty and death...' I love the gothic with a deep love, but I don't think the city as a site of mystery had to go this way--it's just slumming, innit? Nor must it stay here really. It fits in with the wealthy male voyeurism, but if poor women started engaging in it, poverty would hardly be mysterious. They'd have to look deeper. A working class gothic, new strands of mystery, and for god's sake, a kind of desire that has nothing to do with exploitative johns...

The book opens with literature, those inspiring psychogeography as we know it today: Defoe, Blake, de Quincy, Poe, Machen, Stevenson. Watkins's work on ley lines. Walter Benjamin, Louis Aragon and Andre Breton, poets Rimbaud and Baudelaire. Today of course, it has been brought into the present by Ballard, Iain Sinclair, Stewart Home, Peter Ackroyd, and the films of Patrick Keillor. Coverley writes:

'the programmatic approach of social theorists and geographers is in this instance unable to accurately refect the imaginative reworking of the environment that has been conducted so successfully by those writers whose works celebrate contemporary London. [25]

For Machen it is a freeing of the self from all geographical and historical markers, an adventure through the unknown. But at times it becomes Sinclairs delving deep deep into history, or Ackroyd's circular theories of geographical convergences. You have Poe's creation of a new urban type in The Man of the Crowd as cited by Benjamin and Baudelaire - 'an isolated and estranged figure who is both a man of the crowd and a detached observer of it and, as such, the avatar of the modern city'. [60]

I was rather disappointed by the schoolboy idiocies of Potlatch and the lettrists, but then it gets a little more interesting, from De Bord's 'Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography', 1955:

The word psychogeography, suggested by an illiterate Kabyle as a general term for the phenomena a few of us were investigating around the summer of 1953, is not too inappropriate. It does not contradict the materialist perspective of the conditioning of life and thought by objective nature. Geography, for example, deals with the determinant action of general natural forces, such as soil composition or climatic conditions, on the economic structures of a society, and thus on the corresponding conception that such a society can have of the world. Psychogeography could set for itself the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. The adjective psychogeographical, retaining a rather pleasing vagueness, can thus be applied to the findings arrived at by this type of investigation, to their influence on human feelings, and even more generally to any situation or conduct that seems to reflect the same spirit of discovery.

Taken up the situationists, there is no mention of Lefebvre where I thought there would be. They define psychogeography as 'The study of the specific effects of the geographical environment, conspicuously organised or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals. [93] The invented the derive: A mode of experimental behaviour linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of transient passage through varied ambiences. Also used to designate a specific period of continuous deriving' [93] And the detournement: The integration of present or past artistic production into a superior construction of a milieu.

Here the theoretical grounding, carried on by Vaneigem and de Certeau. And the final chapter on rehashing some of the awesomeness being produced about London. And it is awesome. But still, so white, so male, and what is a movement if it is only produced in two cities? Surely it must lie beyond, surely there are walkers and writers around the Globe. I have a lot of questions, but for my first foray into what psychogeography actually is after hearing the term kicked about, this is quite all right.

[Tosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book by Merlin Coverley is a decent introduction to the subject of 'Psychogeography.' What is that exactly? Well, it's what I do on a regular basis, and now I know there is a name for it.

In theory, one can take a map of your town, place a cup or glass on it. Trace the bottom of the glass so that there is a circle - and then walk aimlessly in that circle. That's one technique. It sort of started with Baudelaire, re-discovered by the Surrealists, and then became serious with the Situationists. It can be an adventure of a travel trip within your own room! It's endless really.

"Psychogeography" is overall a lit-crit book with lots of great recommendations for readings. But it also encourages one to go on their own adventure and to make notes, images, photographing, etc. Really it's the last adventure one can take and it becomes an individual and very subjective way of noticing the world around you.

My favorite cities to do walks is Los Angeles, Paris, London, and Tokyo.

[Jonfaith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chief reward of reading a survey/secondary text is to generate excitement in the source material. By that metric, this work failed. I found it lazily repetitive, as if these were thumbnail sketches fastened into a loose tapestry and the idea that William Blake is "the Godfather of Psychogeography" is repeated every 5-7 pages. We learn that Breton and Debord were assholes and likely contrary to the potential aesthetics of psychogeography. I am guessing that the author wasn't overly invested in the primary sources. The Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the Arcades Project is used for the all the references to The Arcades Project and the works of Peter Ackroyd and Iain Sinclair are discussed in the most minimal of terms, with the same observations repeated throughout the text. It feels like Anne Hall and I wanted an interjection from Sinclair, stating to the author, "you understand nothing of my work."

The Walker: On Losing and Finding Yourself in the Modern City is a much more stimulating endeavor. This can be skipped.

[Si Long Chan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something that stood out to me was that the middle-class privilege of psychogeographers was skimmed over with little mention of those who have had to 'drift'. Surely if walking is to be a subversive act that transforms the city and then these voices need to be heard? That being said, it's a very good book for those new to psychogeography as it provides an devent overview!

[Adam McPhee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good intro to the concept. Surveys the work of several important psychogeographers, some who didn't even realize they were practitioners.

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the territory (hah!) but Coverley is something of an unreliable narrator. He dismisses the situationists for increasingly getting bogged down in Marxist rhetoric, shows that their attempt to make psychogeography part of a revolutionary project went nowhere, yet dismisses Ackroyd and the modern psychogeography movement for its lack of radicalism, which apparently Stewart Home and co fortunately possess although their activities are ultimately as lacking in practical import as the situationists. He also has a rather functional view of literature, and the more something is a critique of Thatcherism the happier he is, although of course heaven forbid anyone should be a Marxist! A more astute literary and/or ideological survey would have been appreciated.

[Evie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rather good book to read if you are interested in learning more about psychogeography. It basically provides summaries to everything that's been said on the subject so far. Very useful if you want to find out which of the different points of view agrees with you more and which points you'd like to research further. I was rather disappointed when I realised the lack of practical application for the theories cited. On the upside, the book has a rich bibliography which is worth investigating and does a good job of collecting the vast number of theories on the subject.

[Neira · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really useful and interesting reference book. It has some less-than-thrilling parts where Coverley speaks in general terms (eg. explaining the Situationist International's Marxist branch he fails to illustrate how Debord et al. made psychogeography political) but it is overall insightful. Definitely worth reading.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Succinctly repetitive.

[Kevin Tole · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was given to me as a present from someone I dearly respect and comes from a mutual joy of walking and being a practising artist. I suppose I should say from the off that I have had a great deal of reticence taking seriously the pontifications of these flâneurs with their pretensions to academia, great art and insights into the human condition. They have invaded our art teaching institutions with their disparagement of craft and skill like the eczematic rash that was Land Art in an urban context in the 70s (a trend which despite all efforts appears to still be alive and kicking if perhaps in its final death throes) and have aimed subconsciously to undermine all that is good about the traditions of art teaching and practise. I should also add that I have a very low regard for those painted with the term flâneur considering them and their practise to be mostly idle chancers of the kind that always seem to float to the top like an aerated turd. Their main proposition and practise appears to be aimless walking and thinking about the objects, associations and in/congruities encountered during the walk. Fancy that now, Ted! And the opposite..... a walk without thinking?...... impossible! To paraphrase Churchill..... Psychogeography is a waste of a good walk.

Merlin Coverley has produced this little pot-boiler of the ‘movement’ of psychogeography presumably to promote to other acolytes and the lingerers on the edge of reason. It pulls in all the usual names and of course name-checks all the ‘mates’ within the ‘psychogeographic milieu' – historical, dead, celebrated (for one reason or another commonly unconnected with psychogeography) as well as the living representations of the genre and the hangers-on from the theatre of grunge. It never ceases to amaze me the people that get pulled into this black hole of aimless wandering alleged to be a high art form. There are living writers name-checked here that I have a deal of respect for. But in the context of psychogeography they all appear to be doing exactly the same kind of thing. Some of it amounts to the old adage that ‘if a story is worth telling then it is worth enhancing’. Embarking on an adventure into any book purporting to be ‘psychogeographic’ is to wander into a world where half-truths and made up any-old-bollix is good enough. Some of them are better at it than others simply because they are better writers (stand up, Chatwin - stop hiding!) – indeed they are better at it because they are WRITERS – not psychogeographers (god it is causing me pain just having to write the word here). THIS IS A NON-SUBJECT . A NON-ACTIVITY!! If you were to write the names down in a ring of all those actively pursuing this performance then you would find them all cross-referencing each other as well as multiple lines leading outwards to all the same (dead) practitioners allegedly proceeding with the similar activities in the past. It is a game of self-promotion where the mundane and banal are given elevated status of the absolute and puissant truth when it should be seen as little more than a personal cerebral exercise. This is an object lesson in constructing something that is not, of building an edifice as important and ground-breaking when it is paper thin, of constructing a history and myth which is pathetically as thin as gossamer.

The bold Merlin appears to be more interested in magic than writing. The prose is clunky and insanely repetitive citing the same people and work time and time again. Dada.... blahhhh.... The Surrealists.....blahhhh.....Iain Sinclair ..... blahhhh...... The Situationist....blahhhhhhh etc etc etc. In fact the one person I expected to get name-checked in the hauling in of characters that can set them up on a bigger stage was W.G. Sebald. I have written an extensive review on The Rings of Saturn (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...) which, on a skimmy read, would appear to fall into the very wide circle that these charlatans inhabit and could not do so without getting into a discussion on the demise of Art Teaching within the UK. Psychogeography epitomises everything that is WRONG about the great tradition of Art Teaching that this country used to espouse and is a pointed finger at everything that is degenerate about the Art world.

I struggled to finish it. If I could pursue Magister Coverley though the courts to recover the time wasted reading this bollix it would be a worthy enterprise emphatically more valuable than reading this ready-for-reclaim trash.

[Fiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive overview of psychogeography mainly in its literary form. Provides useful leads into key figures, ideas, movements and texts to reference. Account of important definitions and etymologies of key terms such as the figure of the flâneur, dérive and détournement. Accessible and easy read. Recommend!

[Lewis]

As repetitive and bland as this account is on the whole, I have nothing but admiration for the strength of Coverley’s disdain for the Situationst tradition of armchair psychogeography and self-absorbed nonsensicality.

[Benjamin Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last section was the only worthwhile part imo

[Deborah Mantle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’d come across the term ‘psychogeography’ and, being interested generally in how we perceive and interact with our physical surroundings (if we notice them at all), wanted to find out more about it.

Coverley’s book aims to be an introduction to the discipline of psychogeography, to provide definitions of key words and expressions and explain its origins and outline the main figures in its development, particularly within a literary tradition.

Being the ‘point at which psychology and geography collide’ (10), psychogeography, according to Coverley’s book, is a tool for investigating the emotional and behavioural effects of place, specifically urban place, on individuals. Practitioners of psychogeography tend to study their surroundings on foot—strolling and wandering, exploring and surveying. From detached observation, mid-twentieth century psychogeographers moved into more active and political engagement with their city environments, not simply commenting on them and making others ‘alert to the increasing banalisation of our urban environment’ (111), but trying to change them.

Brief and repetitive in parts and academic in style, ‘Psychogeography’ is a starting point for understanding the origin of the subject and what its study entails. If you are interested particularly in walking and its social, cultural, political and environmental aspects, then, as Coverley recommends (and I would strongly support), Rebecca Solnit’s ‘Wanderlust: A history of walking’ offers a deeper and more extensive and entertaining read.

My own interest was in trying to see any links between psychogeography and nature writing. Psychogeographers focus primarily on urban settings, yet some of the underlying ideas are similar. Our physical environment affects how we feel and act, negatively and positively, and yet we often lack awareness of and connection with our surroundings, our local landscape. To re-connect, we need to pay attention to our surroundings. Paying attention means actively looking, sometimes stepping back and defamiliarising ourselves in order to ‘see’ a place, to sense its spirit, its layers of social and environmental history. Through careful, thoughtful observation we may ‘reveal the eternal behind the commonplace’ (48).

[‍ΟυΛιΠο · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ένα εισαγωγικό βιβλίο στον κόσμο της ψυχογεωγραφίας με υποτυπώδεις αναφορές και επιφανειακές προεκτάσεις.. Κάλλιστα μπορεί να θεωρηθεί και ως μια επιπόλαιη πανεπιστημιακή μελέτη με σημειώσεις και επαναλήψεις λεχθέντων δίχως την κριτική ματιά του συγγραφέα πάνω στο αντικείμενο.. Ενδέχεται και ο ιδιος ο Merlin να μη μπορεί να κατανοησει τον όρο της ψυχογεωγραφιας καθώς αρκείται στις αναφορές των άλλων παρά σε μια προσπάθεια συγκεκριμενοποίησης του όρου.. Αυτό δημιουργεί στο αναγνωστικό κοινό μια αίσθηση πως ο συγγραφέας καταπιάνεται με ένα θέμα που ελάχιστα γνωρίζει και στα μεγάλα και σημαντικά ερωτήματα φαίνεται ελλειπής.. Χαριστικά 3 αστέρια μόνο και μόνο για το θέμα που θεωρείται απο μόνο του ενδιαφέρον.. Δυστυχώς η διαλεκτική γραφή και το γνωστικό αντικείμενο είναι κάτω του μετρίου. Διαβάζεται εύκολα ως μια αρχικη γνωριμια με τον ορο της ψυχογεωγραφιας και τα διαφορα λογοτεχνικα ρευματα που αναφερθηκαν σε αυτον.. Στα ατου η αναφορα δυο μεγαλων πολεων αυτο του Παρισιου και του Λονδινου και η διαφορετικη ερμηνεια που αποδοθηκε στον ορο ψυχογεωγραφια στις δυο πολεις.. Στα μειον η αναφορα με λινκς σε underground κοινοτητες ψυχογεωγραφιας.. πολλα λινκς απο τα οποια εχουν φτιαχτει απο αυτονομες ομαδες και απο ατομικες ενεργειες που στην ουσια δεν υπαρχουν καν και που με μια αναζητηση στο google ο καθενας μπορει να βρει.. Αυτο δυστυχως καταδεικνύει και το υλικο που αντλησε ο συγγραφεας για να γραψει το εν λογω βιβλιο..

[Derek Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lively and engaging review of a subject that, forgive the pun, simply can't be pinned down. Instead of getting bogged down too much in the merits or otherwise of the ideas being explored, this is a short guided tour of some of the foremost psychogeographical writers of the last couple of hundred years.

It has whetted my appetite for more of Stewart Home and Nick Papadimitriou, but perhaps not Will Self or Iain Sinclair, and reminded me of the joys of Alfred Watkins, the situationists and Chris Petit.

It occurred to me that maybe someone needs to explore the psychogeographical aspects of tudong, the nomadic travels of Buddhist monks (eg Sucittos Where Are You Going). Some interesting parallels I think: to me psychogeographical exploration is not so much about where you go or what you discover on the way, but about the "you" that accompanies you every step of the way, that cant ever be escaped, but that can be reexamined and reappreciated as tudong unfolds.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather brilliant genealogy I am glad to have gotten to know, though a bit pointlessly acid at times and the editor seems to have been asleep.

[Madly Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an introduction to Psychogeography, how it developed and the people who were interested in it. That's what it really covers and values. I happen to love Iain Sinclair so I wasn't bothered too much by some of the material. I adore Peter Ackroyd and he doesn't really matter to what Coverley is talking about. Psychogeography began really as a sort of movement that explored urban environments, how those urban landscapes affected people and this became very interesting to people like the Situationists and Marxists. One can see why. And many artists and creatives were influenced by the idea of Psychogeography and it's influence. I didn't even know what it was, but I knew where you lived affected your life and just not in ways that people were aware of. Place is essential. Place is everything. When I watch films now I look to place to see if it is filmed correctly because as a visual artist, I know if it is wrong. It's mostly wrong. Laughing.

The work of Thomas Hardy is really about this. Faulkner, too. Steinbeck. One cannot escape their surroundings. It's why travel heightens the senses. But it's deeper than that it's more complex, more mysterious. It's the moss between the bricks on a sidewalk.

Also, can the way a building is designed and made affect you emotionally. Answer, yes. I think place is everything, really. There is a sort of determinism to it, one people are not aware of. I have bought several other books on Psychogeography and Place and am going to read them, but I wanted to understand how it started, the movement, how people used it, how it influenced artists and politics, and how it developed into modern times. It's very big in London, because of Sinclair and Ackroyd, two writers who explore the city in ways that others do not. But it just doesn't belong there. PLACE IS EVERYTHING. Its influence is staggering. So next time you go out and you see something and it makes you happy, think about what just happened and why. Think about the ideal physical situation you would like to be surrounded by. Think about why you paint your room a certain color or plant a garden. Think about how it would feel to walk a city and get lost in its streets. Aesthetics are everything, too. RECOMMENDED introduction to a strange subject. And it's only a limited introduction.

[Walter Schutjens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Psychogeography often seems resistant to a refined definition, its essence harbours in a mélange of identities, movements of politics, and setting. But above all, to most, it seems inescapably French. The terms historical aftereffect draws largely from the French psychogeographical Situationist movement, writings of figures like Guy Debord and Michèle Bernstein are drawn close to the revolutionary periods of 1968, demanding postmodern philosophical works, and the bohemian figure of the flâneur. Yet of all places it is London, lying just across the cold channel, where we can find not only the literary and cultural roots of the psychogeographical tradition, but also its most prominent contemporary figures that seek to radically apprehend and reform our new surroundings.

To understand the nature of the development of the tradition, it is useful to analyse it through one of its most prominent applications, the act of walking. The simple act is given a new role as an inherently subversive action that seeks to overcome a process of ‘banalisation’ of the immediate surroundings and everyday experience, to locate the true nature of the city behind the flux of everyday life. This entails a new awareness of urban surroundings that stands contrary to the spirit of the modern city, what Debord would term the ‘spectacle’; to ‘dérive’ or ‘aimlessly drift’ challenges approved representation by cutting past established routes and into marginal or forgotten sprawls, giving the act a political charge. The juxtapositions and subsequent insights allow for an imaginative reworking of the cityscape, to transcend the figure of the ‘one-dimensional man’ as termed by Marcuse. It is then no surprise that the (modern) figure of the flâneur came to prominence in 1950’s Paris when the elegant promenades were demolished in favour of a stricter topography, the figure characterizes a nostalgia bound in the historicity of change and the birth of the modern city. The exponentially increasing processes of urban redevelopment and gentrification in London, paired with the rise of neoliberal politics which increases individual alienation from work but especially from the public sphere, the applications of psychogeography never seemed more relevant than today.

If it is this tradition that is in dire need of revival, then it is on the paved streets of London, the very place you are reading this article, that it should find its continuation. The tradition first developed in the visionary writings of William Blake and Thomas de Quincey. In their writings the protagonist’s psychology and setting was bound in a gothic 18th century London, where anti-rationality of the imagination and systemic authority were laid bare. Blake was a wanderer and poet, whose poetry is described as highly realistic in portraying scenes of 18th century street life, always bound in a fatalistic sense to the unchanging spirit of the city.

I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow.
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
(William Blake ‘London’ Complete Writings p.216)

The figure who creates a new conception of his surroundings in the psychology of its inhabitants but is tempered by the realization of a city as ageless, these are early features of the tradition. Thomas de Quincey’s long drug-fuelled walks through London described in his ‘Confessions of an English Opium Eater’ subverts that realism and instead portrays the city as a mirror to individual experience, in this case of psychosis and lapses of memory which paint the darker and more chaotic aspects of the city. This gothic image of haunted individual charged by internal woes which are then ascribed to the city around him, can of course be seen strongly in Robert L. Stevenson’s work ‘Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ which takes the occult images very literally in its plot. It was these influences that eventually inspired Edgar A. Poe to write the short work ‘A Man in the Crowd’ set in London at the turn of the 20th century, a text which both Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin ascribe as the major inspiration for the concept of the flâneur. Its concept should be familiar by now, an estranged and somewhat isolated figure who functions as both a part of the crowd and as separate from it. To get from this point to how we know psychogeography today in the tradition of the Situationist Internationale one only needs to add aspects of political radicalism, surrealism and a heavy dose of complex terminology. All of which I would invite you to explore in your own time.

London did not lose its touch with the tradition at the turn of the last century, indeed there has been a revival in its practice since the early 2000’s by figures such as Will Self, Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd picking up the banner. Will Self with the popular column in the Independent titled ‘Psychogeography’, Iain Sinclair amongst other things with his novel ‘London Orbital’ describing his trek around the M25 London ring road confronting Thatcherite legacies, and Peter Ackroyd in his historical portrayals of gothic London in works such as ‘London: the Biography’. I feel it is also owned to the London tradition in bringing a contemporary shift in focus of psychogeographer’s in literature, brought by new-wave British writers such as J.G Ballard on the concept of ‘urban concentration’. As more people move into the outskirts of cities, images of abandoned waysides, junkyards, and industrial zones have permeated the popular conscience and are seen as areas of conflict as opposed to the city centre. This has influenced countless postmodernist writers such as D. DeLillo, DF. Wallace and Z. Smith in trying to capture a new psychology in a Western form of capitalism which is built on invisible sources of wealth, whose footprint is counted in endless retail parks and suburban sprawl. To understand our place in the world we must understand the place we are in, and the fate of the flâneur, wanderer, stroller, student, is bound to the fate of the city and its redevelopments which may grow increasingly hostile to his intentions. In many ways the ideas and subsequent influence of those who have realised this are firmly entrenched in London and its literary and cultural tradition. And I suppose I could only recommend going for a walk to think this all through.

[Yasemin Ilkay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kendi alanında psikocoğrafya-edebiyat ilişkisini kurma anlamında oldukça başarılı bir derleme olsa da, psikocoğrafya üzerine daha çok bilgi sahibi oldum mu metni bitirdiğimde? Hayır. Metnin girişinde önerilen pdikocoğrafi yöntem beni heyecanlandırdı, edebiyatta, sanatta psikocoğrafyanın izini sürmek keyifliydi ancak tam olarak beklentimi karşılayamayan kitap bitti. Robinson Crusoe’yu okumak içim yanıp tutuşuyorum şu an. Hiç bu gözle -bir gezgin sıfatıyla- bakmamıştım çünkü. Altını çizdiğim, esinlendiğini de pek çok yer oldu, ancak sanıyorum ki kenti psikocoğrafi olarak kavrayıp anlatmak bilim insanlarından çok romancıların işi.. Bir de psikocoğrafi ve temsil açısından nitelikleri taban tabana zıt olan iki kentin -Londra ve Paris’in- nasıl farklılaştığını ve aralarına sonradan katılan New York’un bu anlamda konumunu daha derinlemesine okuyup araştırmak isterim. Bu da yeni araştırma, okuma, yazma sahaları demek 😊

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the one to start with, if you're a beginner. Gives an excellent overview without being exhaustive. It's not the only book you can depend on, but it's certainly a good place to begin.

[BaSila Husnain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome insight

[Friederike Leppert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provided an interesting new perspective on cities. I unfortunately did not have the headspace to dive deep into this new perspective but nevertheless enjoyed the read. It is def something for Paris and London lovers, who appreciate ethnographic observations.

[John Manley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The mere existence of this book was an enlightenment to me. Here was a name to something I thought I had been enjoying all my life, the rich interplay between psychology, cartography, geography and history.
Here was a subject I would really enjoy, one that tied so many of my passions for walking together.

Unfortunately that dream was soon shattered, for according to Coverley Psychogeography is for the artistic elite living in the urban expanses of the largest cities. In fact he seems to narrow it down to only those living in London or Paris.

I feel the underlying problem with the book is the balance between the theory, and the practice. An opportunity has been missed here to take the subject forward, to open it up to the future.

Saying that, it has spurred me to play with the subject, both in practice at: https://navsmaps.wordpress.com , and in through reading by taking up his book suggestions. Has anyone else found ways of exploring the concepts?

[Tilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Coverley's book provides a good introduction to the history of psychogeography, spanning major movements like that of the flâneur and the Situationists and taking the reader back further, showing how the roots of the discipline were seeded by Daniel Defoe and William Blake. It's good at what it does - heck, it's excellent. If you know nothing about psychogeography, this is a far better place to start than with the columns of Will Self, and it'll put you on to figures like Walter Benjamin and de Certeau who you can peruse at your own pleasure (or peril).

My criticism, though, is that it feels a little thin. Perhaps this is unavoidable when the text comes in at just under 150 pages, but it's something that continually grated on me towards the end. Most obviously, aside from two or three lines highlighting the issue, Coverley barely mentions the blatant gender inequality that stands out in the history of the discipline. This text is a history of men who walk, and - mostly unmentioned by Coverley - of men who walk often in search of women (André Breton's 'Nadja' is the most obvious example, but he's not alone). I finished this yearning to read Aruna D'Souza and Tom McDonough's 'The Invisible Flâneuse', or Lauren Elkin's 'Flâneuse: The (Feminine) Art of Walking in Cities' when it eventually comes out in 2016. Class isn't really discussed either, a further area in which I would be interested to research (de Certeau's writings on the voyeur, for example, seem to have interesting implications for thinking about tower block social housing).

This book is well worth a read - it really is a good starting place for an academic foray into psychogeography's history as a discipline. But don't expect the most comprehensive foray in the world: there's a lot of work left for you to do after finishing these pages!

[Ethan]

The function of the book book may serve as some form of introduction in providing perhaps a brief history and some form of definition for the titular term Psychogeography, but past that this work is sorely lacking. Even the history which it documents is rather trivial, mundane. The repetitive observations within are boring, unimpressive.

If this were to be the introduction of someone to Psychogeography I can't see why they would go much further with it. Sure, the concept of the flaneur is interesting, and can certainly be applied in an aesthetic sense to various novels - I can see it being applied to Nausea in particular - and I guess in some ways it makes walking more interesting, tying our emotional state, our physical state, etc, to the place which we inhabit and traverse, but it would seem to me as though there is very little application of Psychogeography outside of that. Sure, environments, how we access them, what psychological states and behaviours they conjure, can indicate something about ourselves and the environments themselves, but this isn't a particularly appealing concept. It feels more like a fad of the New Age than anything.

The author has a clear distaste for Guy Debord as implied by their frequent dismissal of his official recognition of a concept that has been around centuries prior, but the criticism of Debord is weak. I find it a great irony that in Debord's attempt to create a kind of science out of Psychogeography, the author acknowledges how it is later abandoned by the situationists, but this leads to no real interrogation on the author's part of the usefulness of the term which they commit their study to.

Overall, it is a serviceable introduction, but likely a Wikipedia entry would serve just as well.

[Jeremy Wineberg · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this would read better as a series of introduction essays to a reader, rather than a stand alone book. While the analysis can often be concise, in many places Coverly merely skims over the surface. While I like the author's broad treatment of psychogeography, bringing in earlier folks like Blake, Defoe and Poe in an attempt to lay out the roots of the practice, it also cries out for more meat on such intriging bones. It is as if he were taking this approach because of the concept's instant association with the Situationist, whom the author seems to disdain. He makes a fairly rough, though convincing argument that the Situationist were, in fact, not very good psychgeographers and represent only a narrow interpretation of a much more full and deserving practice. This argument would be strengthen by spending more time fleshing out a fuller history and broader practice and less time bashing the SI.

[Greta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a book about psychogeography which is less historical and more sort of inspirational. Something with more detail about the wanderings, the findings, the musings one experiences when one wanders the streets of a city. Instead I got a lot of terms for the people who wander, names of the famous wanderers, and a bit about the main cities for wandering which apparently are London and Paris. I think the concept itself can extend further afield, to smaller, remoter places with streets and alleys and include not only writers, but photographers, poets, musicians and normal folks just out to get some exercise. I suppose this book is a good primer for people looking for an historical justification for the urban wandering they do, but that's not exactly what I wanted.