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	Debord was the son of Paulette Rossi and Martial Debord. His best known works are '''' and ''''.		Debord was the son of Paulette Rossi and Martial Debord. His best known works are '''' and ''''.

	In broad terms, Debord's theories attempted to account for the spiritually ~~debiltating~~ modernisation of both the private and public spheres of everday life by the forces of market capitalism during the post-] modernisation of Europe. Feelings of alienation, Debord postulated, could be accounted for by the invasive forces of the 'spectacle' - the seductive nature of consumer capitalism. Debord's analysis applied the critique of commodification by ] and ] to what is superficially called 'the media' and claimed that alienation was more than an emotive description, but an historically determined outcome of capitalism. The SI attempted to create a series of strategies that drew directly on the traditions of ] and ].		In broad terms, Debord's theories attempted to account for the spiritually debilitating modernisation of both the private and public spheres of everday life by the forces of market capitalism during the post-] modernisation of Europe. Feelings of alienation, Debord postulated, could be accounted for by the invasive forces of the 'spectacle' - the seductive nature of consumer capitalism. Debord's analysis applied the critique of commodification by ] and ] to what is superficially called 'the media' and claimed that alienation was more than an emotive description, but an historically determined outcome of capitalism. The SI attempted to create a series of strategies that drew directly on the traditions of ] and ].

	The SI initially drew membership from the ]s - a post-Surrealist group of writers and poets dedicated to the destruction of ] values by reducing the written word to ] syllables. However, the SI broke with the formal aims of the Lettrists and, after subsuming much of their membership, were fully established in their own right by ] after an intense period of theoretical analysis, publications and expulsions of various members.		The SI initially drew membership from the ]s - a post-Surrealist group of writers and poets dedicated to the destruction of ] values by reducing the written word to ] syllables. However, the SI broke with the formal aims of the Lettrists and, after subsuming much of their membership, were fully established in their own right by ] after an intense period of theoretical analysis, publications and expulsions of various members.

Revision as of 02:44, 27 January 2005

Guy Debord (December 28, 1931-November 30, 1994) was a member of the Lettrist International, Socialisme ou Barbarie and the founder and chief theorist of the Situationist International (SI).

Life and work

Debord was the son of Paulette Rossi and Martial Debord. His best known works are Society of the Spectacle and Comments on the Society of the Spectacle.

In broad terms, Debord's theories attempted to account for the spiritually debilitating modernisation of both the private and public spheres of everday life by the forces of market capitalism during the post-WW2 modernisation of Europe. Feelings of alienation, Debord postulated, could be accounted for by the invasive forces of the 'spectacle' - the seductive nature of consumer capitalism. Debord's analysis applied the critique of commodification by Karl Marx and Georg Lukács to what is superficially called 'the media' and claimed that alienation was more than an emotive description, but an historically determined outcome of capitalism. The SI attempted to create a series of strategies that drew directly on the traditions of Dada and Surrealism.

The SI initially drew membership from the Lettrists - a post-Surrealist group of writers and poets dedicated to the destruction of bourgeois values by reducing the written word to onomatopoeic syllables. However, the SI broke with the formal aims of the Lettrists and, after subsuming much of their membership, were fully established in their own right by 1965 after an intense period of theoretical analysis, publications and expulsions of various members.

The SI are often attributed as being one of the key ideological catalysts for the May 1968 revolution centered around Nantes, in Paris.

The original edition of Debord's earliest books, Memories, was bound with a sandpaper cover so that it would destroy other books placed next to it.

He attempted suicide twice in his life, the first time in 1953. He successfully committed suicide on November 30, 1994.

Films

Hurlements en faveur de Sade 1952

Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps, Paris, 1959 (short film, Dansk-Fransk Experimentalfilmskompagni).

Critique de la séparation, Paris, 1961 (short film, Dansk-Fransk Experimentalfilmskompagni).

La Société du spectacle, Paris, 1973 (Simar Films)

Réfutation de tous les jugements, tant élogieux qu’hostiles, qui ont été jusqu’ici portés sur le film « La Société du spectacle », Paris, 1975 (short film, Simar Films).

In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni (Simar Films)1978

This film which was meant to be Debord's last one is largely autobiographical but begins with a thorough and pityless critique of the spectator

Guy Debord, son art, son temps, 1995 (television film, by Guy Debord and Brigitte Cornand, Canal Plus)

Bibliography

Works by Debord

To Put an End to Nihilistic Comfort 1953
Memories 1959
La Société du spectacle,1967, numerous editions, in English: The Society of the Spectacle, Zone Books 1995
Œuvres cinématographiques complètes 1978, new edition in 1994, in English: Complete Cinematic Works: Scripts, Stills, and Documents, AK Press Distribution 2003
Commentaires sur la société du spectacle1988, in English: Comments on the Society of the Spectacle, Verso 1990

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