Name: The society of the spectacle
Rating: 4.2 (30 reviews)
ISBN: 0942299795

Guy Debord

The society of the spectacle

Society of the Spectacle

I would very much like to revisit this not as an audiobook but in print as it is quite dense and gives a lot to chew on. But even so, it is scarily relevant to the current condition. The sense of inevitability of the society at which we have arrived, though, is downright depressing. 

iamazoo

sorry to say this but it’s probably best the author didn’t live long enough to witness ~social media~ because it would’ve made him so upset.

Donald

Goodreads doesn't allow me to enter this book multiple times, despite the existence of three different translations. I like the Donald Nicholsan-Smith translation the best, followed by Ken Knabb's work and finally the first English translation by Fredy Perlman.

I first read this book around the time I left highschool, and it hit me like a brick. Rereading it a few years after that I got more from it, and I would like to read it again in a group at some point.

eris

riya ☆

lilgramps

Chris Zhu

Literary Nonfiction. Politics. Critical Theory. Art. Translated from the French and annotated by Ken Knabb. Guy Debord (1931-1994) was the founder and most influential member of the Situationist International, the notorious avant- garde group that helped trigger the May 1968 revolt in France. THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE, originally published in Paris in 1967, has been translated into more than twenty other languages and is arguably the most important radical book of the twentieth century. This is the first edition in any language to include extensive annotations, clarifying the historical allusions and revealing the sources of Debord's "détournements."

The Society of the Spectacle

Jawad

Debord describes and critiques the way we live. The power in these ideas lies in their ability to question, identify, and name the common assumptions of the present. Developing the concept of The Spectacle, he describes the “gaze” of contemporary society. From its publication just before, and ultimately influencing the May 1968 revolt in Paris and Occupy Wall Street, this book continues to transform a wide range of progressive philosophical and political movements, most notably anti-capitalism, postmodernism, marxism, and anarchism. This new translation brings a concrete edge to the text, elaborating upon the original, and adding annotations. Bringing fifty years of prominent radical thinking back to the text, from Baudrillard to Odell to Zuboff—it’s clear that Debords’ book is more relevant in the era of social media, the attention economy, and the emergence of Surveillance Capitalism than ever before.

0xADADA

"The Society of the Spectacle" by Guy Debord (translated by Ken Knabb). Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

'The Debordian analysis of modern life resonates more deeply and darkly than perhaps even its creator thought possible...' - The New Yorker 'Never before has Debord's work seemed quite as relevant as it does now' - The Guardian 'Guy Debord is a time bomb, and a difficult one to defuse.' - Michael Löwy First published in 1967, Guy Debord's stinging revolutionary critique of contemporary society, The Society of the Spectacle has since acquired a cult status. The Das Kapital of the 20th century. An essential text, and the main theoretical work of the Situationists. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative. From its publication amid the social upheavals of the 1960's up to the present, the volatile theses of this book have decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism, and everyday life. 'In Society of the Spectacle, Debord sets out his best-known statement of how the categories of capitalism colonise everyday life to such an extent that we can barely imagine an existence beyond them.' - Sydney Review of Books 'The Society of the Spectacle [is] about not just the clamor of images but also the silence of power, a silence which, since the seventies, has become deafening.' - McKenzie Wark 'Never before has Debord's work seemed quite as relevant as it does now, in the permanent present that he so accurately foretold? Open his book, read it, be amazed, pour yourself a glass of supermarket wine - as he would wish - and then forget all about it, which is what the Spectacle wants.' - Will Self 'In The Society of the Spectacle, Debord made plain that a 'unified critique of culture' implied a critique of the social totality. This was his practico-theoretical method throughout his career as a revolutionary: he saw no distinction between cultural work and political work.' - Bruce Russell 'I read [The Society of the Spectacle] again and I thought, "This is a fucking amazing book!" I had forgotten how terrific it was, and it was actually quite different to how I remembered it. I insist that the key chapter is not the first one, on the spectacle itself, but the second to last - the chapter on détournement. To me, that concept is the great gift of the Situationists. [They] realized that one can exploit this critically - one can copy and correct in the direction of hope.' - Los Angeles Review of Books About the author Guy Debord (1931-1994) was a Marxist theorist, writer, poet, filmmaker, hypergraphist, cultural revolutionary and a founding member of the Lettrist International and Situationist International - groups that fused avant-garde art and politics as an anti-capitalist weapon. Few works of political and cultural theory have been as enduringly provocative as Debord's Society of the Spectacle, which decisively transformed debates on the shape of modernity, capitalism and contemporary life.

The society of the spectacle

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