Product Description

Guy Debord (1931?94) was one of the most important and intriguing intellectual figures of the twentieth century. Filmmaker and poet, urban critic and political theorist, adventurer and activist extraordinaire during Paris?s May 1968 uprisings, Debord was simultaneously behind and ahead of his times. Best-known as guru of the avant-garde revolutionary movement the Situationist International (1957-72), and for a classic indictment of post-war capitalist consumerism The Society of the Spectacle (1967), Debord?s life and work remains fascinating to this day. Yet the man himself remained elusive and enigmatic throughout his life. Master urban tactician in the 1950s, political muckraker, organizer and theorist during the 1960s, vagabond throughout the 1970s, fleeing to Spain and Italy, he lived as a recluse during the 1980s and early 1990s in an isolated farmhouse in Champot (Auvergne), behind a high stone wall. Guy Debord crosses over that Champot wall, pushes back Debord?s shutters and peers through his windows. It crosses his threshold, drinks his wine, and listens to him talk. Andrew Merrifield focuses on the particulars of Debord?s life, shedding light on this admirable yet apparently impenetrable figure, a free spirit who was radically at odds with life but at the same time loved many things in it, and thought them worth fighting for. The book reveals the dynamics of the man, his ideas, and his times ? which have much to say to our own, equally troubled times. The ideas of Guy Debord, who died only 10 years ago, continue to expose the fragility of our democracy and the mismatch between people and political power today; this book shows that the lessons of Debord are as fresh, subversive, and relevant now as they were forty years ago.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #333212 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-08
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 174 pages

Review
'This aberrant and playful book would almost certainly have pleased its subject. And for us, who have survived Debord's dire prophesies, it's like a happy accident, a flashing chance-encounter, a bit before dawn. To be read.' - John Berger

About the Author
Andy Merrifield is an educator and writer. His books include The Urbanization of Injustice (edited with Erik Swyngedouw, New York University Press, 1997), Dialectical Urbanism: Social Struggles in the Capitalist City (Monthly Review Press, 2002), and Metromarxism: A Marxist Tale of the City (Routledge, 2002).

Customer Reviews

good introduction
I'd say that this nice little volume is one of the best introductions to the Man and his Movement. It sketches a decent biography of the man (who would probably be Against Biography and has probably written an article somewhere to this effect...) and serves to introduce some of his ideas above the level of "capitalism is, like, spectacle and that...big brother aint it". If I had to trace a situationist trajectory for someone aspiring to good praxis - it would start with this and move on to Hussey's biography, taking in Revolution of Everyday Life and Leaving the 20th Century along the way and climax with Society of the Spectacle itself.

An engaging, entertaining and informative read
This book, part of Reaktion Books' Critical Lives series, provides an overview of the life and works of French philosopher Guy Debord. Spanning far more than a other introductory texts, this book brings to life the context of Debord's writing, taking the reader on a voyage into the walled enclosure of Debord's farmhouse in the Massif Central, through Parisian drinking dens to the island in the Seine where Debord's ashes were scattered in 1994. In doing so, Merrifield provides a wealth of detail concerning Debord's thinking and writing, texts such as the Society of the Spectacle and the later Comments on the Society of the Spectacle are covered in detail, and the concluding chapter draws attention to the clear relevance of these texts and arguments to contemporary global political events. I would not just recommend this book to those interested in Guy Debord, the Situationist International or 'the spectacle', but to anyone interested in the alienating nature of capitalism.