society of the spectacle - best english translation?

Perlman. It's literal but exact. DNS makes Debord read like Vaneigem. Knabb's renderings are dumb-downed.

I actually prefer the 'Practical Pirate' edition put out by BM Mattoid in 1981, which itself is a reprint of the 'Practical Paradise' edition which came out in 1969. Paul Sieveking was one of the translators - I haven't a copy handy to see who the other translator was. It might not be the most 'correct' translation, but I think it reads better than Perlman's and DNS's, more 'quotable'. Haven't seen the Knabb one (didn't know he'd done one, to tell the truth).

the translation I have is an AK Press reprint of the revised Black & Red 1977 edition; not sure who the translator is, but compared to the French original I'd say it is a pretty damn good translation; plus it has pictures!

Yes, go with Perlman.:)

Vlad, Black and Red = Perlman. I believe he started that publishing group, or something like that. I know his wife, Lorraine, still continues Black and Red.

I actually prefer the 'Practical Pirate' edition put out by BM Mattoid in 1981, which itself is a reprint of the 'Practical Paradise' edition which came out in 1969. Paul Sieveking was one of the translators - I haven't a copy handy to see who the other translator was. It might not be the most 'correct' translation, but I think it reads better than Perlman's and DNS's, more 'quotable'. Haven't seen the Knabb one (didn't know he'd done one, to tell the truth).

Just found the 'Practical Pirate' edition of '81 - it's actually based on Perlman's translation, 'extensively revised by Tony Verlaan and Paul Sieveking...final corrections by Michel Prigent, Colin Carsten and John Fullerton...' There's not that much between the two, with certain passages in one being more lyrical than in the other, and vice versa. Both these I much prefer to DNS's translation. Compare these bits from Thesis 118:

'Historical consciousness, which knows that this is the only milieu where it can exist, can now recognize this reality, no longer at the periphery of what is ebbing, but at the center of what is rising' (Black and Red 1983 edition).

'The historical consciousness which knows that this is the only milieu where it can exist can now recognise it, no longer at the periphery of what is ebbing, but at the centre of what is rising' (Practical Pirate 1981).

'historical consciousness, aware that this is the only environment in which it can thrive, now perceives the councils as situated historically not at the periphery of an ebbing tide but rather at the center of a rising one' (DNS 1994).

That last one seems so clunky to me, and less faithful to the original (according to my 'schoolboy French' grasp of it):
La conscience historique qui sait qu'elle a en lui son seul milieu d'existence peut le reconnaitre maintenant, non plus a la peripherie de ce qui reflue, mais au centre de ce qui monte

The DNS translation seems to fit, it's just less clunkily literal, and clearer about what "it" ("son") is referring to.

I have only read this translation, so I can't tell you if it's "the best". But I can tell you that it's free, and was pleasant to read:

http://www.zinelibrary.info/society-spectacle

triple post

see above

*edit* I would go with Perlman.

IMO, Nicholson-Smith's is the most Situationisty and probably the best for citing in a scholarly essay. Perlman's is spot on and one can't help but respect the classics.