comments on the society of the spectacle

It would be of no use to praise these books’ independence of judgment and prophetic clairvoyance, or the classic perspicuity of their style.

Following a rigorous anchoritic intention, they are in fact separated from the text and they find their own place not in an improbable elsewhere, but solely in the precise cartographic delimitation of what they describe.

At most it might be possible to suggest here a few glosses in the margins, much like those signs that the medieval copyists traced alongside of the most noteworthy passages. As such, these books do not need clarifications, praises, or, least of all, prefaces. As Debord noted in his follow-up work, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle (1988), “spectacular domination has succeeded in raising an entire generation molded to its laws.GUY DEBORD’s books constitute the clearest and most severe analysis of the miseries and slavery of a society that by now has extended its dominion over the whole planet - that is to say, the society of the spectacle in which we live.

Most people today have scarcely any awareness of pre-spectacle history, let alone of anti-spectacle possibilities. It has, in fact, become even more pertinent than ever, because the spectacle has become more all-pervading than ever-to the point that it is almost universally taken for granted.

This makes the book more of a challenge, but it is also why it remains so pertinent more than half a century after its original publication, while countless other social theories and intellectual fads have come and gone. This is the first edition in any language to include extensive annotations, clarifying the historical allusions and revealing the sources of Debord’s “détournements.”Ĭontrary to popular misconceptions, Debord’s book is neither an ivory tower “philosophical” discourse nor a mere expression of “protest.” It is a carefully considered effort to clarify the most fundamental tendencies and contradictions of the society in which we find ourselves (in order to facilitate its overthrow). The Society of the Spectacle, originally published in Paris in 1967, has been translated into more than twenty languages and is arguably the most important radical book of the twentieth century.

Comments on the society of the spectacle