Leaving the Twentieth Century by McKenzie Wark recasts the Situationist International not as Guy Debord's personal project but as a sprawling, fractious ensemble — tracing its arc from bohemian Paris through May '68 and into the movement's long aftermath.
About This Book
The Situationist International remains one of the most contested and consequential radical movements of the twentieth century, yet it is too often reduced to a single text and a single name. Wark corrects this, moving across the lives and ideas of figures including Constant, Asger Jorn, Michèle Bernstein, Alex Trocchi, and Jacqueline de Jong to reveal an organisation riven with conflicting passions and genuinely plural in its intellectual reach. Drawing on biography, theory, and counter-history, Wark charts the movement's development from the 1950s through the explosive days of 1968, then follows the thread further — into Raoul Vaneigem's Fourierist utopianism, Debord's late films and game design, and Gianfranco Sanguinetti's provocations against the Italian ruling class. For anyone serious about radical praxis, avant-garde theory, or the politics of everyday life, this is the essential single-volume account.
Key Features
- 416 pages of biographical, historical, and theoretical analysis of the Situationist International
- Author: McKenzie Wark
- Published by New Left Books Ltd, ISBN 9781804294864
What You'll Discover
- How the Situationist International operated as a collective creation, with distinct contributions from artists, theorists, and provocateurs across Europe
- The movement's trajectory from the bohemian Paris of the 1950s through the political rupture of May 1968 and beyond
- The divergent paths taken after the movement's disintegration — from Vaneigem's utopianism to Debord's surprising late work as a game designer
- The breadth of Situationist practice, including cinema, language, urbanism, and sustained critique of spectacular society
About the Author
McKenzie Wark is the author of this highly acclaimed history of the Situationist movement, bringing a biographically and historically rich perspective to the subject. Wark presents the International as an ensemble rather than the dominion of any single figure, and reads the movement's legacy as a continuing call to arms in an era of financial crisis and resurgent street politics.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 416
- Dimensions: 21.0 x 14.0 x 2.72 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781804294864
- Publisher: New Left Books Ltd
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects, designers, and theorists interested in the Situationist International, avant-garde urbanism, radical praxis, and the political and cultural history of twentieth-century Europe.