The revolution of everyday life: a new translation by Donald Nicholson-Smith with a [new] preface by the author

One of the most important exponents of Situationist ideas, this treatise presents an impassioned critique of modern capitalism and serves as a cornerstone of modern radical thought. Originally published in early 1968, the book both kindled and colored the May 1968 upheavals in France that captured the attention of the world. In the political climate of today, Raoul Vaneigem's important work of radical anticapitalist thought has struck a new chord with the worldwide Occupy Movement. Naming and defining the alienating features of everyday life in consumer society–survival rather than living in full, the call to sacrifice, the cultivation of false needs, the dictatorship of the commodity, subjection to social roles, and the replacement of God by the economy–the book argues that the countervailing impulses that exist deep within this alienation, such as creativity, spontaneity, and poetry, present an authentic alternative to nihilistic consumerism. This carefully edited new... There Is A Grain Of Truth In The Simplified Notion That Guy Debord And Raoul Vaneigem Represented Two Poles Of The Situationist International: The 'objective' Debord Versus The 'subjective' Vaneigem; Marxism Versus Anarchism; Icy Cerebrality Versus Sensualism. In Short, The Society Of The Spectacle Versus The Revolution Of Everyday Life - The Two Programmatic Books Of The Situationists, Written Independently, Both Published In 1967 Just Months Before The May 1968 Upheavals In France, Each Serving In Its Own Way To Kindle And Colour That Revolutionary Moment. The Revolution Of Everyday Life Offers A Lyrical And Aphoristic Critique Of The 'society Of The Spectacle' From The Point Of View Of Individual Experience. If Debord's Analysis Armed The Revolutionaries Of May With Theory, Vaneigem's Book Described Their Desperation Directly And Armed Them With 'formulations Capable Of Firing Point-blank On Our Enemies'. Vaneigem First Defines The Alienating Features Of Everyday Life In Consumer Society: Survival Rather Than Life, The Call To Sacrifice, The Cultivation Of False Needs, The Dictatorship Of The Commodity, Subjection To Social Roles, And Above All The Replacement Of God By The Economy. The Second Part Of The Work, 'reversal Of Perspective', Explores The Countervailing Impulses That, In True Dialectical Fashion, Persist Within The Deepest Alienation: Creativity, Spontaneity, Poetry, And The Path From Isolation To Communication And Participation. This Is A Completely Revised Translation Intended To Capture The Period Flavour As Well As The Continuing Pertinence Of Vaneigem's 'classic Of Subversion'. Translator's Acknowledgements -- Author's Preface To The Present Edition -- The Revolution Of Everyday Life -- Introduction -- Part 1. Power's Perspective -- I. The Insignificant Signified -- The Impossibility Of Participation: Power As Sum Of Constraints -- Ii. Humiliation -- Iii. Isolation -- Iv. Suffering -- V. The Decline Of Work -- Vi. Decompression And The Third Force -- The Impossibility Of Communication: Power As Universal Mediation -- Vii. The Age Of Happiness -- Viii. Exchange And Gift -- Ix. Technology And Its Mediated Use -- X. The Reign Of Quantity -- Xi. Mediated Abstraction And Abstracted Mediation -- The Impossibility Of Fulfilment: Power As Sum Of Seductions -- Xii. Sacrifice -- Xiii. Separation -- Xiv. The Organization Of Appearances -- Xv. Roles -- Xvi. The Fascination Of Time -- Survival And Its Pseudo-negation -- Xvii. Survival Sickness -- Xviii. Unbuttressed Refusal -- Part 2. Reversal Of Perspective -- Xix. Reversal Of Perspective -- Xx. Creativity, Spontaneity And Poetry -- Xxi. Masters Without Slaves -- Xxii. The Space-time Of Lived Experience And The Rectification Of The Past -- Xxiii. The Unitary Triad: Fulfilment, Communication, Participation -- Xxiv. The Interworld And The New Innocence -- Xxv. You Won't Fuck With Us Much Longer! -- Postscript (1972): A Toast To Revolutionary Workers -- Appendix 1. Author's Preface To The First French Mass-market Edition (1992) -- Appendix 2. Concerning The Translation -- Index. Raoul Vaneigem ; A New Translation By Donald Nicholson-smith ; With A Preface By The Author. Includes Index.

Originally published just months before the May 1968 upheavals in France, Raoul Vaneigem’s The Revolution of Everyday Life offered a lyrical and aphoristic critique of the “society of the spectacle” from the point of view of individual experience. Whereas Debord’s masterful analysis of the new historical conditions that triggered the uprisings of the 1960s armed the revolutionaries of the time with theory, Vaneigem’s book described their feelings of desperation directly, and armed them with “formulations capable of firing point-blank on our enemies.”

“I realise, ” writes Vaneigem in his introduction, “that I have given subjective will an easy time in this book, but let no one reproach me for this without first considering the extent to which the objective conditions of the contemporary world advance the cause of subjectivity day after day.”

Vaneigem names and defines the alienating features of everyday life in consumer society: survival rather than life, the call to sacrifice, the cultivation of false needs, the dictatorship of the commodity, subjection to social roles, and above all the replacement of God by the Economy. And in the second part of his book, “Reversal of Perspective, ” he explores the countervailing impulses that, in true dialectical fashion, persist within the deepest alienation: creativity, spontaneity, poetry, and the path from isolation to communication and participation.

For “To desire a different life is already that life in the making.” And “fulfillment is expressed in the singular but conjugated in the plural.”

The present English translation was first published by Rebel Press of London in 1983. This new edition of The Revolution of Everyday Life has been reviewed and corrected by the translator and contains a new preface addressed to English-language readers by Raoul Vaneigem. The book is the first of several translations of works by Raoul Vaneigem that PM Press plans to publish in uniform volumes. Vaneigem’s classic work is to be followed by The Knight, the Lady, the Devil, and Death (2003) and The Inhumanity of Religion (2000).

Originally published just months before the May 1968 upheavals in France, Raoul Vaneigem's The Revolution of Everyday Life offered a lyrical and aphoristic critique of the "society of the spectacle" from the point of view of individual experience. Whereas Debord's masterful analysis of the new historical conditions that triggered the uprisings of the 1960s armed the revolutionaries of the time with theory, Vaneigem's book described their feelings of desperation directly, and armed them with "formulations capable of firing point-blank on our enemies." "I realise," writes Vaneigem in his introduction, "that I have given subjective will an easy time in this book, but let no one reproach me for this without first considering the extent to which the objective conditions of the contemporary world advance the cause of subjectivity day after day." Vaneigem names and defines the alienating features of everyday life in consumer society: survival rather than life, the call to sacrifice, the cultivation of false needs, the dictatorship of the commodity, subjection to social roles, and above all the replacement of God by the Economy. And in the second part of his book, "Reversal of Perspective," he explores the countervailing impulses that, in true dialectical fashion, persist within the deepest alienation: creativity, spontaneity, poetry, and the path from isolation to communication and participation. For "To desire a different life is already that life in the making." And "fulfillment is expressed in the singular but conjugated in the plural." The present English translation was first published by Rebel Press of London in 1983. This new edition of The Revolution of Everyday Life has been reviewed and corrected by the translator and contains a new preface addressed to English-language readers by Raoul Vaneigem. The book is the first of several translations of works by Raoul Vaneigem that PM Press plans to publish in uniform volumes. Vaneigem's classic work is to be followed by The Knight, the Lady, the Devil, and Death (2003) and The Inhumanity of Religion (2000). One of the most important exponents of Situationist ideas presents an impassioned critique of modern capitalism in this cornerstone of modern radical thought. Originally published in early 1968, it both kindled and colored the May 1968 upheavals in France, which captured the attention of the world. Naming and defining the alienating features of everyday life in consumer societysurvival rather than living in full, the call to sacrifice, the cultivation of false needs, the dictatorship of the commodity, subjection to social roles, and the replacement of God by the economythe book argues that the countervailing impulses that exist within deep alienationcreativity, spontaneity, poetrypresent an authentic alternative to nilhilistic consumerism. This carefully edited new translation marks the first North American publication of this important work and includes a new preface by the author Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski, or Pyat, that charming but despicable mythomaniac who first appeared in Byzantium Endures, is back in this second book of the Pyat quartet. Having fled Bolshevik Russia in late 1919, Pyat's progress is a series of leaps from crisis to crisis, as he begins affairs with a baroness and a Greek prostitute while undertaking schemes to build flying machines in Europe and the United States. His devotion to flamboyantly racist, particularly anti-Semitic doctrines-like his devotion to cocaine-remains unabated, and he both sings the praises of Mussolini and lectures across. Cover; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Introduction by Alan Wall; Introduction by Michael Moorcock; The Laughter of Carthage; About the Author; Bibliography.