Everyday Life : Theories and Practices From Surrealism to the Present

The notion of the everyday is at the heart of modern French cultural and Anglo-American cultural studies. Since the 1960s numerous writers, artists, philosophers, and social theorists have tried to home in on the patterns and rhythms of our daily activities. This book provides a detailed map of this territory, linking the pioneering work of such key figures as Georges Perec and Michel de Certeau, to currents in Surrealism, ethnography, fiction, film, and photography. Cover......Page 1 Copywright......Page 5 Acknowledgements......Page 7 List of Illustrations......Page 8 Contents......Page 10 Introduction......Page 12 ‘The Hardest Thing to Uncover’: Blanchot with Lefebvre......Page 27 The Ambiguity of the Everyday......Page 33 Types of Ambiguity: Lukacs, Heidegger, and Heller......Page 42 Genre and the Everyday: Resisting the Novel......Page 50 The Essay and the Everyday: Perec with Adorno......Page 59 From Baudelaire to Dada......Page 70 ‘Plutot la vie’: Surrealist Vitalism......Page 77 In the City Streets: Experience and Experiment......Page 82 Everydayness and Self-Evidence......Page 89 The Photograph as Trigger and as Trace......Page 97 Boiffard’s Big Toes: The Challenge of Documents......Page 106 The Beneficence of Desire......Page 114 Michel Leiris and the Sacred in Everyday Life......Page 119 Andre Breton and the ‘Magique-circonstancielle’......Page 126 Queneau and the quotidien......Page 132 Coda: Walter Benjamin and the Everyday Legacies of Surrealism......Page 142 The 1947 Critique de la vie quotidienne......Page 145 The 1958 ‘Avant-propos’......Page 148 The 1961 Critique: Fondements pour une sociologie de la quotidiennete......Page 154 The Freedom of the City: Lefebvre, Debord, and the Situationists......Page 169 Beyond Mythologies......Page 186 Envisioning Fashion: Barthes, Benjamin, Baudrillard, and Others......Page 189 Changing Scale, Resisting Function......Page 204 Towards a new ‘art de vivre’......Page 208 ‘Comment vivre ensemble’......Page 212 ‘Chronique’ and Everyday Writing......Page 218 6. Michel de Certeau: Reclaiming the Everyday......Page 223 Consumption as Production......Page 224 The Power of the Ruse......Page 227 Practical Memory......Page 230 The Logic of Everyday Practices: Walking, Talking, Reading......Page 232 Narrativity, Historicity, Subjectivity: Certeau, Wittgenstein, and Cavell......Page 238 The Conservatoire of Ritual: Certeau and Maffesoli......Page 244 L’Invention du quotidien II: Habiter, Cuisiner......Page 248 7. Georges Perec: Uncovering the Infra-Ordinary......Page 259 Fables of Disconnection: Les Choses and Un Homme qui dort......Page 261 The Matrix of Lieux......Page 268 Three Days in the Place Saint-Sulpice......Page 272 Dispersal: Places and Memorie......Page 282 The Everyday in La Vie mode d’emploi......Page 290 8. After Perec: Dissemination and Diversification......Page 303 Proximate Ethnographies......Page 304 Urban Trajectories: Auge, Maspero, Ernaux, Reda......Page 316 The Proliferation of the Everyday: Mutation, Enunciation, and Genre......Page 345 9. Configuring the Everyday......Page 371 The Space of the Day......Page 375 Street Names......Page 386 Projects of Attention......Page 397 Bibliography......Page 410 Index......Page 426 Cover 1 Copywright 5 Acknowledgements 7 List of Illustrations 8 Contents 10 Introduction 12 1. The Indeterminacy of the Everyday 27 ‘The Hardest Thing to Uncover’: Blanchot with Lefebvre 27 The Ambiguity of the Everyday 33 Types of Ambiguity: Lukacs, Heidegger, and Heller 42 Genre and the Everyday: Resisting the Novel 50 The Essay and the Everyday: Perec with Adorno 59 2. Surrealism and the Everyday 70 From Baudelaire to Dada 70 ‘Plutot la vie’: Surrealist Vitalism 77 In the City Streets: Experience and Experiment 82 Everydayness and Self-Evidence 89 The Photograph as Trigger and as Trace 97 3. Dissident Surrealism: The Quotidian Sacred and Profane 106 Boiffard’s Big Toes: The Challenge of Documents 106 The Beneficence of Desire 114 Michel Leiris and the Sacred in Everyday Life 119 Andre Breton and the ‘Magique-circonstancielle’ 126 Queneau and the quotidien 132 Coda: Walter Benjamin and the Everyday Legacies of Surrealism 142 4. Henri Lefebvre: Alienation and Appropriation in Everyday Life 145 The 1947 Critique de la vie quotidienne 145 The 1958 ‘Avant-propos’ 148 The 1961 Critique: Fondements pour une sociologie de la quotidiennete 154 The Freedom of the City: Lefebvre, Debord, and the Situationists 169 5. All that Falls: Barthes and the Everyday 186 Beyond Mythologies 186 Envisioning Fashion: Barthes, Benjamin, Baudrillard, and Others 189 Changing Scale, Resisting Function 204 Towards a new ‘art de vivre’ 208 ‘Comment vivre ensemble’ 212 ‘Chronique’ and Everyday Writing 218 6. Michel de Certeau: Reclaiming the Everyday 223 Consumption as Production 224 The Power of the Ruse 227 Practical Memory 230 The Logic of Everyday Practices: Walking, Talking, Reading 232 Narrativity, Historicity, Subjectivity: Certeau, Wittgenstein, and Cavell 238 The Conservatoire of Ritual: Certeau and Maffesoli 244 L’Invention du quotidien II: Habiter, Cuisiner 248 7. Georges Perec: Uncovering the Infra-Ordinary 259 Fables of Disconnection: Les Choses and Un Homme qui dort 261 The Matrix of Lieux 268 Three Days in the Place Saint-Sulpice 272 Dispersal: Places and Memorie 282 The Everyday in La Vie mode d’emploi 290 8. After Perec: Dissemination and Diversification 303 Proximate Ethnographies 304 Urban Trajectories: Auge, Maspero, Ernaux, Reda 316 The Proliferation of the Everyday: Mutation, Enunciation, and Genre 345 9. Configuring the Everyday 371 The Space of the Day 375 Street Names 386 Projects of Attention 397 Bibliography 410 Index 426 In the last twenty years the concept of the quotidien, or the everyday, has been prominent in contemporary French culture and in British and American cultural studies. This book provides the first comprehensive analytical survey of the whole field of approaches to the everyday. It offers, firstly, a historical perspective, demonstrating the importance of mainstream and dissident Surrealism; the indispensable contribution, over a 20-year period (1960-80), of four major figures: Henri Lefebvre, Roland Barthes, Michel de Certeau, and Georges Perec; and the recent proliferation of works that investigate everyday experience. Secondly, it establishes the framework of philosophical ideas on which discourses on the everyday depend, but which they characteristically subvert. Thirdly, it comprises searching analyses of works in a variety of genres, including fiction, the essay, poetry, theatre, film, photography, and the visual arts, consistently stressing how explorations of the everyday tend to question and combine genres in richly creative ways. By demonstrating the enduring contribution of Perec and others, and exploring the Surrealist inheritance, the book proposes a genealogy for the remarkable upsurge of interest in the everyday since the 1980s. A second main objective is to raise questions about the dimension of experience addressed by artists and thinkers when they invoke the quotidien or related concepts. Does the'everyday'refer to an objective content defined by particular activities, or is it best thought of in terms of rhythm, repetition, festivity, ordinariness, the generic, the obvious, the given? Are there events or acts that are uniquely'everyday', or is the quotidien a way of thinking about events and acts in the'here and now'as opposed to the longer term? What techniques or genres are best suited to conveying the nature of everyday life? The book explores these questions in a comparative spirit, drawing new parallels between the work of numerous writers and artists, including André Breton, Raymond Queneau, Walter Benjamin, Michel Leiris, Maurice Blanchot, Michel Foucault, Stanley Cavell, Annie Ernaux, Jacques Réda, and Sophie Calle. In the last twenty years the concept of the quotidian, or the everyday, has been prominent in contemporary French culture and in British and American cultural studies. This book provides the first comprehensive analytical survey of the whole field of approaches to the everyday. It offers, firstly, a historical perspective, demonstrating the importance of mainstream and dissident Surrealism; the indispensable contribution, over a 20-year period (1960-80), of four major figures: Henri Lefebvre, Roland Barthes, Michel de Certeau, and Georges Perec; and the recent proliferation of works that investigate everyday experience. Secondly, it establishes the framework of philosophical ideas on which discourses on the everyday depend, but which they characteristically subvert. Thirdly, it comprises searching analyses of works in a variety of genres, including fiction, the essay, poetry, theatre, film, photography, and the visual arts, consistently stressing how explorations of the everyday tend to question and combine genres in richly creative ways.; By demonstrating the enduring contribution of Perec and others, and exploring the Surrealist inheritance, the book proposes a genealogy for the remarkable upsurge of interest in the everyday since the 1980s. A second main objective is to raise questions about the dimension of experience addressed by artists and thinkers when they invoke the quotidian or related concepts. Does the 'everyday' refer to an objective content defined by particular activities, or is it best thought of in terms of rhythm, repetition, festivity, ordinariness, the generic, the obvious, the given? Are there events or acts that are uniquely 'everyday', or is the quotidian a way of thinking about events and acts in the 'here and now' as opposed to the longer term? What techniques or genres are best suited to conveying the nature of everyday Life? The book explores these questions in a comparative spirit, drawing new parallels between the work of numerous writers and artists, including Andre Breton, Raymond Queneau, Walter Benjamin, Michel Leiris, Maurice Blanchot, Michel Foucault, Stanley Cavell, Annie Ernaux, Jacques Reda, and Sophie Calle Michael Sheringham. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [399]-414) And Index.