Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French

Marxist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...

theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

. He was also briefly a member of '' Socialisme ou Barbarie''.

Biography

Early life

Guy Debord was born in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1931. Debord's father, Martial, was a pharmacist who died when Debord was young. Debord's mother, Paulette Rossi, sent Guy to live with his grandmother in her family

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became ...

in Italy. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the Rossis left the villa and began to travel from town to town. As a result, Debord attended high school in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

, where he began his interest in film and vandalism. The family lived in

Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques Pau (, ) is a commune overlooking the Pyrenees, and prefecture of the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France. The city is located in the heart of the former sovereign principality of Béarn, of which it ...

for a period where he attended

Lycée Louis-Barthou Lycée Louis-Barthou is a secondary school in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. History The school's history goes back to a religious establishment founded by Jesuits in 1640. It is named for French politician Louis Barthou. Academics The ...

. As a young man, Debord actively opposed the French war in Algeria and joined in demonstrations in Paris against it. Debord studied law at the

University of Paris , image_name = Coat of arms of the University of Paris.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of Arms , latin_name = Universitas magistrorum et scholarium Parisiensis , motto = ''Hic et ubique terrarum'' (Latin) , mottoeng = Here and a ...

, but left early and did not complete his university education. After ending his stint at the University of Paris, he began his career as a writer.

Involvement with the Lettrists

Debord joined the Lettrists when he was 18. The Lettrists were led dictatorially by

Isidore Isou Isidore Isou (; 29 January 1925 – 28 July 2007), born Isidor Goldstein, was a Romanian-born French poet, dramaturge, novelist, film director, economist, and visual artist who lived in the 20th century. He was the founder of Lettrism, an art ...

until a widely agreed upon schism ended Isou's authority. This schism gave rise to several factions. One of them, the Letterist International, was decidedly led by Debord upon Gil Wolman's unequivocal recommendation. In the 1960s, Debord led the

group, which influenced the Paris Uprising of 1968, during which he took part in the occupation of the Sorbonne. Some consider his book ''

The Society of the Spectacle ''The Society of the Spectacle'' (french: La société du spectacle) is a 1967 work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory by Guy Debord, in which the author develops and presents the concept of the Spectacle. The book is considered a semin ...

'' (1967) to be a catalyst for the uprising, although perhaps a more immediately significant text was Mustapha Khayati's "

On the Poverty of Student Life ''On the Poverty of Student Life: A Consideration of Its Economic, Political, Sexual, Psychological and Notably Intellectual Aspects and of a Few Ways to Cure it'' (french: De la misère en milieu étudiant considérée sous ses aspects économiq ...

", published in November 1966.

Founding of the Situationist International

In 1957, the Letterist International, the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, and the London Psychogeographical Association gathered in Cosio d'Arroscia (Imperia), Italy, to found the Situationist International, with Debord having been the leading representative of the Letterist delegation. Initially made up of a number of well-known artists such as Asger Jorn and

Pinot Gallizio Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio (1902–1964) was an Italian painter, the formulator of industrial painting, and a founding member of the Situationist International. He was also a scholar of popular culture, archaeology, nomadism, and botany. Mirella Ba ...

, the early days of the SI were heavily focused on the formulation of a critique of art, which would serve as a foundation for the group's future entrance into further political critiques. The SI was known for a number of its interventions in the art world, which included one raid against an international art conference in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

during 1958 that included a large pamphlet drop and significant media coverage, all of which culminated in the arrest of various situationists and sympathizers associated with the scandal. In addition to this action, the SI endeavored to formulate industrial painting, or, painting prepared en masse with the intent of defaming the original value largely associated with the art of the period. In the course of these actions, Debord was heavily involved in the planning and logistical work associated with preparing these interventions, as well as the work for ''Internationale Situationniste'' associated with theoretical defense of the Situationist International's actions.

Political phase of the Situationist International

In the early 1960s Debord began to direct the SI toward an end of its artistic phase, eventually expelling members such as Jorn, Gallizio, Troche, and Constant—the bulk of the "artistic" wing of the SI—by 1965. Having established the situationist critique of art as a social and political critique, one not to be carried out in traditional artistic activities, the SI began, due in part to Debord's contributions, to pursue a more concise theoretical critique of

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

society along

lines. With Debord's 1967 work, ''

'', and excerpts from the group's journal, ''Internationale Situationniste'', the Situationists began to formulate their theory of the spectacle, which explained the nature of late capitalism's historical decay. In Debord's terms, situationists defined the spectacle as an assemblage of social relations transmitted via the imagery of class power, and as a period of capitalist development wherein "all that was once lived has moved into representation". With this theory, Debord and the SI would go on to play an influential role in the revolts of May 1968 in France, with many of the protesters drawing their slogans from Situationist tracts penned or influenced by Debord.Debord, Guy. ''The Society of the Spectacle''. Zone Books, 1995.

After the Situationist International

In 1972, Debord disbanded the Situationist International after its original members, including Asger Jorn and Raoul Vaneigem, quit or were expelled. (Vaneigem wrote a biting criticism of Debord and the International.) Debord then focused on filmmaking with financial backing from the movie mogul and publisher Gérard Lebovici (éditions

Champ Libre Champ Libre is a French publisher founded in 1969 by Gérard Lebovici in Paris. The name is taken from a phrase which means "free field" (the way is clear). In 1984, after the assassination of Gérard Lebovici, Champ Libre changed its name and bec ...

), until Lebovici's mysterious death. Debord was suspected of Lebovici's murder. Distraught by the accusations and his friend's death, Debord took his films and writings out of production until after his death. He had agreed to have his films released posthumously at the request of the American researcher, Thomas Y. Levin. Debord's two most recognized films are '' Society of the Spectacle'' (1973) and "" (1978). After dissolving the Situationist International, Debord spent his time reading, and occasionally writing, in relative isolation in a cottage at Champot with Alice Becker-Ho, his second wife. He continued to correspond on political and other issues, notably with Lebovici and the Italian situationist

Gianfranco Sanguinetti Gianfranco Sanguinetti (born 16 July 1948, Pully, Switzerland) is a writer who was a member of the Situationist International (SI), a political art movement. He is Teresa Mattei's son. Biography Sanguinetti was deported from France in 1971 and ...

. He focused on reading material relating to war strategies, e.g.

Clausewitz Carl Philipp Gottfried (or Gottlieb) von Clausewitz (; 1 June 1780 – 16 November 1831) was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the "moral", in modern terms meaning psychological, and political aspects of waging war. His m ...

and Sun Tzu, and he designed a

war game A wargame is a strategy game in which two or more players command opposing armed forces in a realistic simulation of an armed conflict. Wargaming may be played for recreation, to train military officers in the art of strategic thinking, or to s ...

with

Alice Becker-Ho Alice Becker-Ho, also known as Alice Debord (born August 6, 1941), is a Chinese-born French intellectual closely associated with the Situationist International. Among other works, she has written poetry, a scholarly study of slang, and a travel ...

. Debord married twice, first to Michèle Bernstein and then

. Debord had affairs with other women, including Michèle Mochot-Bréhat. Bernstein wrote a vaguely fictional but detailed account of the open relationships Mochot and she had with Debord in her novel ''All The King's Horses''.

Death

Just before Debord's death, he filmed (although did not release) a documentary, ''Son art et son temps'' (''His Art and His Times''), an autobiography of sorts that focused primarily on social issues in Paris in the 1990s. It has been suggested that his dark depiction of this period was a suicide note of sorts. Both Debord's depression and alcohol consumption had become problematic, resulting in a form of

polyneuritis Peripheral neuropathy, often shortened to neuropathy, is a general term describing disease affecting the peripheral nerves, meaning nerves beyond the brain and spinal cord. Damage to peripheral nerves may impair sensation, movement, gland, or or ...

. Perhaps to end the suffering caused by these conditions, Debord died by suicide on 30 November 1994. This was not the first time he attempted to end his life. Debord's suicide is as controversial as it is unclear. Some assert it was a revolutionary act related to his career. Due to his involvement with the radical

(SI), as well as his sadness at 'the society as a spectacle' being considered a cliché in later life, many think that Debord felt hopeless about the very society he was trying to shed light on. Debord was said to be "victim of the Spectacle he fought". Among the many commentaries on Debord's demise, one scholar noted: "Guy Debord did not kill himself. He was murdered by the thoughtlessness and selfishness of so-called scholars (primarily trendy lit-criters) who colonized his brilliant ideas and transformed his radical politics into an academic status symbol not worth the pulp it's printed on…"

Works

Written works

Guy Debord's best known works are his theoretical books, ''

'' and '' Comments on the Society of the Spectacle''. In addition to these he wrote a number of autobiographical books including ''Mémoires'', ''Panégyrique'', ''Cette Mauvaise Réputation...'', and ''Considérations sur l'assassinat de Gérard Lebovici''. He was also the author of numerous short pieces, sometimes anonymous, for the journals ''Potlatch'', ''Les Lèvres Nues'', ''Les Chats Sont Verts'', and ''Internationale Situationniste''. The ''Society of the spectacle'' was written in an "interesting prose", unlike most writings in that time or of that nature. For Debord, the Spectacle is viewed as false representations in our real lives. The

Spectacle In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French ''spectacle'', itself a reflection of t ...

is a materialized worldview. The spectacle 'subjects human beings to itself'. Debord was deeply distressed by the hegemony of governments and media over everyday life through

mass production Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and ba ...

and consumption. He criticized both the

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...

of the

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and the dictatorial

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...

of the

Eastern bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

for the lack of

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...

allowed to individuals by both types of governmental structure. Debord postulated that Alienation had gained a new relevance through the invasive forces of the '

spectacle In general, spectacle refers to an event that is memorable for the appearance it creates. Derived in Middle English from c. 1340 as "specially prepared or arranged display" it was borrowed from Old French ''spectacle'', itself a reflection of t ...

' – "a social relation between people that is mediated by images" consisting of mass media,

advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...

, and popular culture. The spectacle is a self-fulfilling control mechanism for society. Debord's analysis developed the notions of " reification" and "fetishism of the commodity" pioneered by

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

and Georg Lukács.

Semiotics Semiotics (also called semiotic studies) is the systematic study of sign processes ( semiosis) and meaning making. Semiosis is any activity, conduct, or process that involves signs, where a sign is defined as anything that communicates something ...

was also a major influence, particularly the work of his contemporary,

Roland Barthes Roland Gérard Barthes (; ; 12 November 1915 – 26 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. His work engaged in the analysis of a variety of sign systems, mainly derived from Western pop ...

, who was the first to envisage bourgeois society as a spectacle, and to study in detail the political function of fashion within that spectacle. Debord's analysis of "the spectaclist society" probed the historical, economic, and psychological roots of the media and popular culture. 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 that has reached its climax in capitalism, as theorized by Herbert Marcuse of the

Frankfurt School The Frankfurt School (german: Frankfurter Schule) is a school of social theory and critical philosophy associated with the Institute for Social Research, at Goethe University Frankfurt in 1929. Founded in the Weimar Republic (1918–1933), dur ...

. The Situationist International (SI), 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 " dérive" and "

détournement A détournement (), meaning "rerouting, hijacking" in French, is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and later adapted by the Situationist International (SI),''Report on the Construction of Situations'' (1957) that ...

," drew on the traditions of Lettrism. As founder of the SI, it has been suggested that Debord felt driven to generalize and define the values, ideas, and characteristics of the entire group, which may have contributed to his hand-picking and expulsion of members. The hierarchical and dictatorial nature of the SI existed, however, in the groups that birthed it, including the Letterists and the Surrealists. Debord's first book, '' Mémoires'', was bound with a sandpaper cover so that it would damage 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 Beauté du Negatif." Often, it is suggested that Debord was opposed to the creation of art, however, Debord writes in the Situationist International magazine ("Contre le Cinema") that he believes that "ordinary" (quotidian) people should make "everyday" (quotidian) art; art and creation should liberate from the

, from capitalism, and from the banality of everyday life in contemporary society. In "The Society of the Spectacle," Debord argues that it is the price put on art that destroys the integrity of the art object, not the material or the creation itself. It is important to note that Debord does not equate art to "the spectacle."

Films

Debord began an interest in film early in his life when he lived in Cannes in the late 1940s. Debord recounted that, during his youth, he was allowed to do very little other than attend films. He said that he frequently would leave in the middle of a film screening to go home because films often bored him. Debord joined the Lettrists just as

was producing films and the Lettrists attempted to sabotage

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is conside ...

's trip to Paris through negative criticism. Overall, Debord challenged the conventions of filmmaking; prompting his audience to interact with the medium instead of being passive receivers of information. As a matter of fact, his film ''Hurlements'' exclusively consists of a series of black and white screens and silence with a bit of commentary dispersed throughout. Debord directed his first film, '' Hurlements en faveur de Sade'' in 1952 with the voices of Michèle Bernstein and Gil Wolman. The film has no images represented; instead, it shows bright white when there is speaking and black when there is not. Long silences separate speaking parts. The film ends with 24 minutes of black silence. People were reported to have become angry and left screenings of this film. The script is composed of quotes appropriated from various sources and made into a montage with a sort of non-linear narrative. Later, through the financial support of Michèle Bernstein and Asger Jorn, Debord produced a second film, ''Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps'', which combined scenes with his friends and scenes from mass media culture. This integration of Debord's world with mass media culture became a running motif climaxing with "The Society of the Spectacle". Debord wrote the book ''The Society of the Spectacle'' before writing the movie. When asked why he made the book into a movie, Debord said, "I don't understand why this surprised people. The book was already written like a script". Debord's last film, "Son Art et Son Temps", was not produced during his lifetime. It worked as a final statement where Debord recounted his works and a cultural documentary of "his time". * '' Hurlements en faveur de Sade'' (Howls for Sade) 1952 * ''Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps'' (On the Passage of a Few Persons Through a Rather Brief Unity of Time) 1959 (short film, Dansk-Fransk Experimentalfilmskompagni) * ''Critique de la séparation'' (Critique of Separation) 1961 (short film, Dansk-Fransk Experimentalfilmskompagni) * ''La Société du spectacle'' ( Society of the Spectacle) 1973 (Simar Films) * ''Réfutation de tous les judgements, tant élogieux qu'hostiles, qui ont été jusqu'ici portés sur le film " La Société du spectacle "'' (Refutation of All the Judgements, Pro or Con, Thus Far Rendered on the Film "The Society of the Spectacle") 1975 (short film, Simar Films) * ' (a Latin palindrome meaning "We Go Round and Round in the Night, Consumed by Fire") (Simar Films) 1978 – This film was meant to be Debord's last and is largely autobiographical. The script was reprinted in 2007 in ''No: A Journal of the Arts.'' * ''Guy Debord, son art, son temps'' (Guy Debord – His Art and His Time) 1994 (a "sabotage television film" by Guy Debord and Brigitte Cornand,

Canal Plus Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

) ''Complete Cinematic Works'' (AK Press, 2003, translated and edited by

Ken Knabb Ken Knabb (born 1945) is an American writer, translator, and radical theorist, known for his translations of Guy Debord and the Situationist International. His own English-language writings, many of which were anthologized in ''Public Secrets'' (1 ...

) includes the scripts for all six of Debord's films, along with related documents and extensive annotations.

Legacy

On 29 January 2009, fifteen years after his death,

Christine Albanel Christine Albanel (born 25 June 1955) is a French politician and civil servant. From May 2007 to June 2009, she was France's Minister for Culture and Communication in François Fillon's government. Early career Albanel is agrégé in classica ...

, Minister of Culture, classified the archive of his works as a " national treasure" in response to a sale request by

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

. The Ministry declared that "he has been one of the most important contemporary thinkers, with a capital place in history of ideas from the second half of the twentieth century." Similarly, Debord once called his book, ''The Society of the Spectacle'', "the most important book of the twentieth century". He continues to be a canonical and controversial figure particularly among European scholars of radical politics and modern art.

Bibliography

* * '' Mémoires'', 1959 (co-authored by Asger Jorn), reprinted by Allia (2004), . * ''La société du spectacle'', 1967, numerous editions; in English: ''The Society of the Spectacle'', Zone Books 1995, . ''Society of the Spectacle'', Rebel Press 2004, . ''The Society of the Spectacle: Annotated Edition'', Bureau of Public Secrets, 2014, . * ''La Véritable Scission dans L'Internationale'',

, 1972 (co-authored by

); in English: ''The Real Split in the International'', Pluto Press 2003, . * ''Œuvres cinématographiques complètes'', Champ Libre, 1978, new edition in 1994; in English: ''Complete Cinematic Works: Scripts, Stills, and Documents'', AK Press 2003, . * ''Considérations sur l'assassinat de Gérard Lebovici'', éditions Gérard Lebovici, 1985; in English: ''Considerations on the Assassination of Gérard Lebovici'', TamTam 2001, . * '' Le Jeu de la Guerre'', 1987; in English ''A Game of War'', Atlas Press 2008, * ''Commentaires sur la société du spectacle'', éditions Gérard Lebovici, 1988; in English: ''Comments on the Society of the Spectacle'', Verso 1990, . * ''Panégyrique volume 1'', 1989; in English: ''Panegyric'', Verso 2004, reprinted 2009, ; in Portuguese: "Panegírico" 002 . * All the Guy Debord's books and films as well as unpublished texts were gathered in a volume of ''Œuvres'', éditions Gallimard, collection Quarto, Paris, 2006. * "The Proletariat as Subject and as Representation"

References

External links

*
Situationist international online

The Marxist Critique of Religion in the Films of Guy Debord

Guy Debord's Howls for Sade

Libcom.org/library: Guy Debord archive

* ttp://www.notbored.org/commentaires.html "Comments on the society of the spectacle" (1988)
Guy Debord and the Situationists

an

by Guy Debord at Ubu.web
Michael Löwy on Guy Debord
in '' Radical Philosophy''
The Strange Life of Guy Debord
French)

an

Guy Debord and the Aesthetics of Cine-sabotage

Constructing Situations: Guy Debord's detournement of fiction

Class Wargames Presents Guy Debord's The Game of War
{{DEFAULTSORT:Debord, Guy 1931 births 1994 suicides 20th-century essayists 20th-century French essayists 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French non-fiction writers 20th-century French philosophers Anti-consumerists Board game designers French Communist writers Continental philosophers Critical theorists Cultural critics Direct democracy activists French anti-capitalists French anti-war activists French communists French film directors French graphic designers French political philosophers French male essayists French male non-fiction writers French male screenwriters French Marxists French screenwriters French people of Italian descent Lettrism Marxist theorists French Marxist writers Mass media theorists Media critics Philosophers of art Philosophers of culture Philosophers of history Philosophers of war Philosophers of technology Political philosophers Psychogeographers Revolution theorists Situationists French social commentators Social critics Social philosophers Suicides by firearm in France Theorists on Western civilization Writers about activism and social change Writers from Paris 20th-century French screenwriters Critics of work and the work ethic