thesocietyof thespectacleguydebord
by Guy Debord
The Society of the Spectacle
Hobgoblin PressCanberra2002
Translator’s Note
There have been several previous English translations of
The Society of the Spectacle
. I have gonethrough them all and have retained whatever seemed already to be adequate. In particular, I haveadopted quite a few of Donald Nicholson-Smith’s renderings, though I have diverged from him inmany other cases. His translation (Zone Books, 1994) and the earlier one by Fredy Perlman andJohn Supak (Black and Red, 1977) are both in print, and both can also be found at the SituationistInternational Online website (http://situationist.cjb.net).I believe that my translation conveys Debord’s actual meaning more accurately, as well as moreclearly and idiomatically, than any of the other versions. I am nevertheless aware that it is far from perfect, and welcome any criticisms or suggestions.If you find the opening chapters too difficult, you might try starting with Chapter 4 or Chapter 5. As you see how Debord deals with concrete historical events, you may get a better idea of the practical implications of ideas that are presented more abstractly in the other chapters.The book is not, however, as difficult or abstract as it is reputed to be. It is not an ivory-tower academic or philosophical discourse. It is an effort to clarify the nature of the society in which wefind ourselves and the advantages and drawbacks of various methods for changing it. Every singlethesis has a direct or indirect bearing on issues that are matters of life and death. Chapter 4, whichwith remarkable conciseness sums up the lessons of two centuries of revolutionary experience, issimply the most obvious example. —Ken KnabbFebruary 2002
P.S. (March):
In answer to a number of queries I have received: At the moment I have no plans to publish this translation in book form. For one thing, I’m not yet completely satisfied with it, andwill be fine-tuning it over the next few months. Then I may start considering different publication possibilities, depending on what sort of interest has been expressed.Another reason is that Alice Debord has asked me to prepare new translations of all of Debord’sfilms, to be used in subtitling them for English-speaking audiences. One of those films, of course, is based on this book, so I will want to get that taken care of (which may involve minor last-minutechanges in the portions of the book that are used in the film) before thinking about book publication.
P.P.S. (July):
During the last few weeks I have made a considerable number of stylistic revisionsin the
Society of the Spectacle
translation. Although I will continue to make any improvements thatoccur to me, the translation as it now stands is probably pretty close to final.This translation of
The Society of the Spectacle
published November 2002 by Hogoblin PressFirst published online at http://www.bopsecrets.orgThis translation is not copyrighted.It may be freely reproduced, translated or adapted,even without mentioning the source.
Contents
1. The Culmination of Separationpage 72. The Commodity as Spectacle123. Unity and Division Within Appearance164. The Proletariat as Subject and Representation215. Time and History376. Spectacular Time437. Territorial Domination468. Negation and Consumption Within Culture499. Ideology Materialized56Index59
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The Society of the Spectacle
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