NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Guy Debord

Guy Ernest Debord (December 28, 1931, in Paris – November 30, 1994, in Champot) was a writer, film maker, hypergraphist and founding member of the groups Lettrist International and Situationist International (SI). He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie. December 28 is the 362nd day of the year (363rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 3 days remaining. ... Year 1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link is to a full 1931 calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days remaining. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... Situationist, Situationism refers to a cultural praxis developed by the Situationist International (SI), a very small group of international, political and artistic agitators with roots in Marxism and the early twentieth century European artistic avant garde. ... Socialisme ou Barbarie (Socialism or Barbarism) was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period. ...

1 Life
2 Works
3 Films
4 Bibliography
- 4.1 Works by Debord
- 4.2 Further reading
5 See also
6 External links

Life

Guy Debord was born into a bourgeois family in Paris. His father died early, and he was raised by his grandmother in a series of Mediterranean towns. He was a headstrong youth, and after graduating high school he dropped out of the University of Paris where he had been studying law. He became a revolutionary poet, writer and film-maker in the Lettrist International movement. In the 1960s he led the Situationist International group, which influenced the Paris uprising of 1968. His book Society of the Spectacle (1967) was a major catalyst for the uprising ^{[citation needed]}. In the 1970s Debord disbanded the Situationist movement, and resumed filmmaking with financial backing from the movie mogul Gerard Lebovici. His two best films date from this period: a film version of Society of the Spectacle (1973) and the autobiographical "In Girum Imus Nocte Et Consumimur Igni" (1981). After the dissolution of the Situationist International, Debord became increasingly self-isolated, and his writings more pessimistic. His lifelong alcoholism began to take a toll on his health. Apparently to end the suffering from a form of polyneuritis brought on by his excessive drinking, he committed suicide, shooting himself in the heart at his cottage in Champot on November 30, 1994. The Eiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The Mediterranean Sea is an intercontinental sea positioned between Europe to the north, Africa to the south and Asia to the east, covering an approximate area of 2. ... The Sorbonne, Paris, in a 17th century engraving The historic University of Paris (French: ) first appeared in the second half of the 12th century, but was in 1970 reorganised as 13 autonomous universities (University of Paris Iâ€“XIII). ... The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... Situationist, Situationism refers to a cultural praxis developed by the Situationist International (SI), a very small group of international, political and artistic agitators with roots in Marxism and the early twentieth century European artistic avant garde. ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Society of the Spectacle is a 1967 book by Guy Debord, which developed concepts relating to modern culture and commodity fetishism. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... La SociÃ©tÃ© du spectacle (Society of the Spectacle) is a 1973 film by Situationist Guy Debord based on the 1967 book of the same title. ... // Events The Marx Brothers Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. ... Alcoholism is the consumption of, or preoccupation with, alcoholic beverages to the extent that this behavior interferes with the drinkers normal personal, family, social, or work life, and may lead to physical or mental harm. ... Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation and may be referred to as the innate cascade. ... November 30 is the 334th day (335th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 31 days remaining. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Works

Guy Debord's best known works are his theoretical books, Society of the Spectacle and Comments on the Society of the Spectacle. In addition to these he wrote a number of autobiographical books including "Memoires", "Panegyrique", "Cette Mauvaise Reputation..." and "Considerations sur L'assassinat de Gerard Lebovici". He was also the author of numerous short pieces, sometimes anonymous, for the journals "Potlatch", "Les Levres Nues" and "Internationale Situationniste". The Society of the Spectacle is a 1967 book by Guy Debord, which developed concepts relating to modern culture and commodity fetishism. ...

In broad terms, Debord's theories attempted to account for the spiritually debilitating modernisation of both the private and public spheres of everyday life by economic forces during the post-WW2 modernisation of Europe. He rejected as the twin faces of the same problem both capitalism of the West and the statism of the Eastern bloc. Alienation, Debord postulated, could be accounted for by the invasive forces of the 'spectacle' – the seductive nature of capitalism. Debord's analysis developed the notions of "reification" and "fetishism of the commodity" pioneered by Karl Marx and Georg Lukács. This analysis probed the historical, economic and psychological roots of 'the media'. Central to this school of thought was the claim that alienation is more than an emotive description or an aspect of individual psychology: rather, it is a consequence of the mercantile form of social organization which has reached its climax in capitalism. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead... This box: Capitalism generally refers to an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately or corporately owned and operated for profit, in which investment is determined by private decision, and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free... In Marxs early writings, alienation (Entfremdung or EntÃ¤uÃŸerung in the German) refers to the separation of things that naturally belong together, or to antagonism between things that are properly in harmony. ... Reification (German: Verdinglichung, literally: ver-, over + ding: thing + -lichung: as english, -ify) is the consideration of an abstraction or an object as if it had human or living existence and abilities; at the same time it implies the thingification of social relations. ... In Marxist theory, commodity fetishism is an inauthentic state of social relations, said to arise in complex capitalist market systems, where social relationships are confused with their medium, the commodity. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany â€“ March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ... Georg LukÃ¡cs (April 13, 1885 â€“ June 4, 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic in the tradition of Western Marxism. ...

The Situationist International, a political/artistic movement organized by Debord and his colleagues and represented by a journal of the same name, attempted to create a series of strategies for engaging in class struggle by reclaiming individual autonomy from the spectacle. These strategies, including "Derive" and "Detournement", drew on the traditions of Dada and Surrealism. In detournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. ... DaDa is an album by Alice Cooper, released in 1983 (see 1983 in music). ... Psalm 69, egg tempera and oil on wood by Ernst Fuchs Surrealism[1] is a movement stating that the liberation of our mind, and subsequently the liberation of the individual self and society, can be achieved by exercising the imaginative faculties of the unconscious mind to the attainment of a...

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 1959. After an intense period of theoretical analysis, publication and the expulsion of most of its few members, the SI dissolved itself in 1972. Lettrism is an artistic style which was created in Romania by Isidore Isou in 1942, when he was only sixteen years old, according to Jean-Paul Curtay in La Poesie Lettriste (Paris 1974). ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ... Look up onomatopoeia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ...

Debord's first book, Memoires, was bound with a sandpaper cover so that it would destroy other books placed next to it.

Debord has been the subject of numerous biographies, works of fiction, artworks and songs, many of which are catalogued in the bibliography by Shigenobu Gonzalves, "Guy Debord ou la Beaute du Negatif".

Films

Hurlements en faveur de Sade 1952

[Howlings in favor of Sade] // Events February 20 - The film The African Queen opens (Capitol Theater in New York City). ...

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

[On the passage of some persons through a rather short period of time] Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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

[Critique of separation] 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

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

[The Society of the Spectacle] 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

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).

[Refutation of all judgements whether hostile or in praise which up to now where given on the film 'The Society of the Spectacle'] 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ...

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

[We turn in circles in the night and are consumed by fire] This film, which was meant to be Debord's last one, is largely autobiographical but begins with a thorough and pitiless critique of the spectator 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ...

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

[Guy Debord - his art and his time] 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Bibliography

Works by Debord

Memoires, 1959 (co-authored by Asger Jorn), reprinted by Allia (2004), ISBN 2-84485-143-6.
La société du spectacle, 1967, numerous editions; in English: The Society of the Spectacle, Zone Books 1995, ISBN 0-942299-79-5.
La Véritable Scission dans L'Internationale, 1972 (co-authored by Gianfranco Sanguinetti); in English: The Real Split in the International, Pluto Press 2003, ISBN 0-7453-2128-3.
Œuvres cinématographiques complètes, 1978, new edition in 1994; in English: Complete Cinematic Works: Scripts, Stills, and Documents, AK Press 2003, ISBN 1-902593-73-1.
Considérations sur l'assassinat de Gérard Lebovicim 1985; in English: Considerations on the Assassination of Gérard Lebovici, TamTam 2001, ISBN 2-85184-156-4.
Commentaires sur la société du spectacle, 1988; in English: Comments on the Society of the Spectacle, Verso 1990, ISBN 0-86091-302-3.
Panégyrique volume 1, 1989; in English: Panegyric, Verso 2004, ISBN 1-85984-665-3.

Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Asger Jorn (March 3, 1914 - May 1, 1973) was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark under the name Oluf JÃ¸rgensen. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... Gianfranco Sanguinetti was a writer and member of the Situationist International (SI), a political art movement. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year 2001. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Guy Debord

Results from FactBites:

Guy Debord - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1064 words)
	Guy Debord (born December 28, 1931; died November 30, 1994) was a writer, film maker, hypergraphist and founding member of the groups Lettrist International and Situationist International (SI).
	Debord's analysis developed the notions of "reification" and "fetishism of the commodity" pioneered by Karl Marx and Georg Lukács.
	Debord has been the subject of numerous biographies, works of fiction, artworks and songs, many of which are catalogued in the excellent bibliography by Shigenobu Gonzalves, "Guy Debord ou la Beaute du Negatif".

Guy Debord - Situationist, Lettrist, Philosopher - Biography (1085 words)
	Guy Debord was born in Paris on December 28, 1931.
	Debord proclaimed himself the leader of the SI, and saw himself responsible for maintaining the high ideals he had in mind for the group, but to equate Debord with the SI in all its activities would be misleading.
	In 1984 Lebovici was assassinated, and Debord was tangentially implicated.

More results at FactBites »

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Contents

Works

Films

Bibliography

Works by Debord

Further reading

See also

External links