Society of the Spectacle [Paperback]

De Bord is not an easy read. Locked into that European, let's make it as hard as possible to understand language of the left. Take a bow Deleuze, Guattari, Althusser, Marcuse, Habermas et al.

Unlike the above with the exception of Marcuse, who is a kindred spirit, the effort is worth it. More kernels of knowledge tumble out of De Bord than Nietzsche. The difference is, Nietzsche is a wade through a swamp of reaction to find the uncut diamonds. These need to be prised away from his misanthropy. De Bord is a streamlined philosopher in comparison.

He has more to say and conceptualises it succinctly when the language is decoded. Whilst Marx concentrated on economics, De bord analyses the banality of everyday life. He paints a vision of a poetic existence,a Dyonisian fusion of art and living derived from the imaginative desires.

A huge impact on punk, live this day as though it is your last. Drawing on energy to invigorate rather than destroy. This little package sent shockwaves throughout the 80's.

Rebellion succumbs to mammon, the lure of cars, men/women/s available bodies, houses, the appollonian stability enticed many to lay down their cultural cudgels.

How they rue the days when Dionysius, the pipes of Pan and the intoxication of Bacchus were consigned to under the bed shoe boxed? Constant substance use fuelled intoxication leads to eventual disaster but De bord was calling for a revolution of everyday life not for alcoholism.

Instead in the UK the grinding treadmill consumed young bodies and spat out dull grey lives. The lesson of tedium encased in this book, the Dionysian life, is not a template for a slow form of suicide. It is about undertaking a personal revolution in spirit, form, belief and understanding to create a society/soviet of young gods. It is the opposite of the open plan office, the chicken factory, the Vauxhall Vectra/Ford Mondeo, Neighbours, x factor, big brother, holby city, saatchi annoited piece of art nonsense, turner prize, grammy award, oscar nominated, critic directed , designer label alienated piece of trash.

Take up a brush, spray can, guitar, computer and recreate the world in your image but also learn about yourself and others in the process. Never be consumed with hubris. This is the root of all descending lives based on an essential lack of self security.

The book is a guide to change, hidden amongst the many mediocre tomes clamouring to subsume the individual in a morass of mediocrity.

This book - in conjunction with some secondary literature and other NOT RANDOM situ texts - is one of the few which can come to revolutionise your perception ALL THE WAY DOWN. Of course : it is obscure and relies on a familiarity with alot of marxist terminology - but it bares, and demands, repeated readings which demonstrates how these concepts have alot of life in them! If I was to formulate its thesis then today it would be : you are always watching others do things instead of doing something which would exceed the gaze of another watching you. This is the road towards de-reification et al...

As trenchant as Foucault and as dogmatic as Wittgenstein, rarely has a work of political or cultural criticism provided such a thorough-going and penetrative exposition of the modern world's formulation of life as commodity. Debord's approach is refreshingly independent of conventional leftist thought, owing little to the positivist teleolgy of Marx of the ruralistic utopianism of Kropotkin. Though not without its faults, especially his sometimes confused and overly 'clever' prose, Debord's work is a true modern classic, a revolutionary text for the consumer age. Far from seeming dated it becomes more relavent with time - witness the growth of surrogate programming (gardening programmes, cooking programmes and 'fly-on-the wall' documentaries) of fabricated experience as commodity. I reccomend this book to anyone who feels bemused by the banality of everyday life.