Critiques of two recently published books on the S.I. From Internationale Situationniste #12 (September 1969).
NOTICE
This translation is a first draft, and has not been independently proofread. However, to the best of my knowledge this text has never been translated into English. Therefore I am making it available in this form with the caveat that there are likely to be mistakes in it. PLEASE APPROACH IT WITH CAUTION!
Draft 0.0 (15 January 2016)
The history of the SI will be written later
A number of Braus seem to wish to write books concerning the SI. But they haven’t yet been successful. One has to be a critic of the caliber of Maurice Joyeux (La Rue, No. 4, 2nd Qtr. 1969) to think, or to pretend to think, that these authors were ever part of the SI. And one must, no doubt, be a student to believe that they might have understood the slightest thing about what we are. In this case the teachers themselves obviously lack education, and all of their pedagogical good will remains insufficient to deal with this new subject of study. In his book, Watch out, Camarade, The Old World is Behind You! 1 (Albin Michel, 4th Quarter, 1968), Jean-Louis Brau has clumsily scratched the surface of the subject in one or two ill-informed chapters which are even more deficient in questions of methodology. Worse still, Mrs. Eliane Brau has, in Situationism or The New International 2 (New Editions Debresse 4th Quarter, 1968), produced an incomprehensible compilation of situationist texts, where even knowledge of how to use inverted commas escapes her: her quotations begin very often, but don’t end. On the evidence of such “extracts” debased by such commentary, one is bound to wonder what could “worry the Interior Ministries of every country” (using the words of the provocative advertising for the book) about this Situationist movement.
In November 1968 a book devoted to the SI, L’estremismo coerente dei siluazionisti, was published in Milan, Italy by Editions Ed 912. Being of a much higher standard, it presents an intelligent choice of well-translated texts, coupled with commentary that testifies to a partial understanding.
Translated by Ian Thompson. From https://isinenglish.com/12-8-20-the-history-of-the-si-will-be-written-later/
Comments