Lipstick Traces

by Greil Marcus

  pp. 300–301. See various reports from Cannes by R.-M. Arlaud, Combat (14–22 April 1951), p. 2.

  p. 300. Isou, Oeuvres de spectacle, p. 15. Maurice Scherer, “Isou, ou les choses telles qu’elles sont,” Cahiers du cinéma no. 10 (Paris, March 1952), pp. 27–32.

  p. 302. Photograph of Berna from Ion, courtesy Luc Sante.

  p. 303. Photograph of Pomerand from Ion, courtesy Luc Sante.

  p. 307. Photograph of Debord from Ion, courtesy Luc Sante.

  p. 308. Atkins, pp. 57–58.

  pp. 309–312. Debord, Hurlements, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, pp. 11–18.

  p. 311. Debord and Wolman, “Pourquoi le lettrisme?,” Potlatch, no. 22 (9 September 1953).

  pp. 316–317. “Finis les pieds plats,” I.L. no. 1 (November 1952); Berréby, pp. 147, 262 (reprint of leaflet). Trans. Sophie Rosenberg. See also Wolman, Résumé, pp. 26–29; Combat (30 October 1952), p. 1; and Combat (1 November 1952), p. 2. The LI’s critique of Chaplin and Limelight was matched a few months later by Pauline Kael, in “Some Notes on Chaplin’s Limelight,” her first published review: “The minority audience was always fascinated by the stills which revealed the beauty of Chaplin—the depth and expressiveness beneath the tramp make-up; the majority was perfectly satisfied with the mask of comedy. In a chance glimpse we thought we perceived a tragic countenance under the mask. Now Chaplin has given us too long a look—the face has been held in camera range for prolonged admiration—and the egotism of his self-revelation has infected the tragic beauty. The illusion, the mystery, are gone—and with them, possibly a good section of the minority audience as well.” City Lights no. 3 (San Francisco, Spring 1953), p. 56; reprinted in Artforum (March 2002), pp. 123-24, with note by GM.

  pp. 317–318. “Position de l’Internationale lettriste,” letter refused by Combat (2 November 1952), in I.L. no. 1; Berréby, p. 151. Trans. Sophie Rosenberg.

  p. 318. Jim Ryan, “Fast Living Update,” reprinted by permission of the artist, all rights reserved.

  p. 319. I.S. no. 1 (June 1958), facing p. 30.

  LIPSTICK TRACES (ON A CIGARETTE)

  p. 320. Frame enlargement of Michèle Bernstein from Debord’s film Sur le passage, Contre le cinéma.

  p. 321. Vaneigem, Traité, p. 186; Revolution, p. 138.

  p. 321. “the violence of the delinquents.” “Les Mauvais Jours finiront,” I.S. no. 7 (April 1962), p. 16.

  pp. 321–322. “. . . une idée neuve en Europe,” Potlatch, no. 7 (3 August 1954).

  p. 323. Wolman to Brau, in Brau, Cours, camarade, p. 66. Trans. Sophie Rosenberg.

  p. 323. “the first revolution, the LI told itself.” “The Apostles were devoted to each other because they felt they were discovering truths hitherto unknown . . . of such groups Isaiah Berlin has written: ‘Those who have never been under the spell of this kind of illusion, even for a short while, have never known true intellectual happiness.’ ” Noel Annan, “Et Tu, Anthony,” New York Review of Books (22 October 1987), p. 6.

  p. 324. Photograph of Mension and Fred by Ed van der Elsken, from Parijs!, reprinted by permission of the photographer.

  p. 325. “the catacombs of visible culture.” “L’Aventure,” I.S. no. 5 (December 1960), p. 3.

  p. 326. “A la Porte,” Potlatch, no. 2 (29 June 1954).

  p. 326. Debord, In girum, Oeuures cinématographiques complètes, pp. 240, 248.

  p. 327. “leaving traces.” “manifeste,” I.L. no. 2 (February 1953); Berréby, p. 154.

  p. 328. Vanderhaeghe, pp. 90–91.

  p. 331. Debord, “Déclaration sur l’experience de la dérive,” quoted in Jorn, Pour la forme, p. 126; Berréby, p. 539.

  p. 332. Colin Newman and Graham Lewis, “I am the Fly,” copyright © 1978 by Carlin Music Corporation, used by permission of Carbert Music Inc. and Carlin Music Corporation (U.K.), Administration, all rights reserved.

  p. 332. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, “Theme from The Monkees,” copyright © 1966 by Screen Gems–EMI Music Inc.

  p. 332. Mension, “grève générale,” I.L. no. 2; Berréby, p. 155.

  p. 333. Debord, “La Valeur éducative,” Potlatch no. 16 (26 January 1955), no. 18 (23 March 1955).

  p. 333. Debord, In girum, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, p. 244.

  p. 334. Debord and Wolman, “Pourquoi le lettrisme?,” Potlatch no. 22 (9 September 1955). Trans. Sophie Rosenberg.

  p. 335. Chtcheglov, “Formulaire,” I.S. no. 1, p. 15.

  p. 335. “36 rue des Morillons,” Potlatch no. 8 (10 August 1954).

  p. 335. Debord, In girum, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, p. 251.

  pp. 335–336. Auster, In the Country of Last Things, pp. 6–7.

  p. 336. Chtcheglov, “Lettres de loin,” I.S. no. 9 (August 1964), p. 38.

  p. 337. Debord, In girum, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, pp. 250–251.

  p. 337. LI sticker, courtesy Michèle Bernstein.

  p. 338. Debord, Société, no. 12.

  pp. 339–340. Quotes from “manifeste,” I.L. no. 2 (February 1953); Berréby, p. 154.

  p. 341. Page from Wolman, Duhring Duhring, courtesy Jacques Spiess.

  p. 342. “He was twenty-seven.” “La Rétraite,” Potlatch no. 28 (22 May 1957).

  p. 342. Wolman, “Intervention de Wolman” (September 1956); Berréby, pp. 596–598.

  p. 343. “the new beauty.” Debord, contribution to “fragments de recherches pour un comportement prochain,” I.L. no. 2 (February 1953); Berréby, p. 155.

  p. 344. Le Corbusier drawing, courtesy Fondation Le Corbusier.

  p. 345. Chtcheglov, “Formulaire,” I.S. no. 1, pp. 15–17.

  p. 347. Wolman, scotch art, courtesy Michèle Bernstein and the artist.

  p. 350. “La Division du travail,” Potlatch no. 22 (9 September 1955).

  p. 353. Photograph of Colin Donellan by Slim Hewitt, Picture Post (London, 10 October 1953), courtesy Jon Savage and Bettmann Archives/BBC Hulton.

  p. 354. Debord, “Pour en finir avec le confort nihiliste,” I.L. no. 3 (August 1953); Berréby, p. 156.

  p. 355. Photograph of Moineau’s by Ed van der Elsken, from Parijs!, reprinted by permission of the photographer.

  p. 356. Debord, Sur le passage, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, p. 29.

  p. 357. Potlatch no. 8 (10 August 1954).

  p. 358. Trocchi, Cain’s Book, pp. 236, 218.

  p. 360. Debord, “Théorie de la dérive,” Les Lèvres nues no. 9 (November 1956), p. 10; Berréby, p. 316. See Theory of the Dérive.

  pp. 360–361. De Quincey, pp. 80, 81.

  p. 361. Debord, “Théorie,” p. 6; Berréby, p. 312. See Theory of the Dérive.

  p. 361. Debord, “Introduction à une critique de la géographie urbaine,” Les Lèvres nues no. 6 (September 1955), p. 14; Berréby, p. 291.

  p. 362. “an atmosphere.” Debord, “Théorie,” p. 9; Berréby, p. 315. See Theory of the Dérive.

  p. 362. “the greatest difficulty.” Debord, “Introduction,” pp. 12, 13; Berréby, pp. 289, 290.

  pp. 362–364. Adorno, p. 51.

  pp. 363, 365. Illustrations: Debord, “The Naked City” (Paris: MIBI, May 1957), in Jorn, Pour la forme, and Berréby, pp. 536–537, courtesy Mark Francis and the Musée national d’art moderne, Paris; illustration from I.S. no. 1 (June 1958), p. 28; Alfred Wegener’s concept of continental drift, adapted from Claude Allègre, The Behavior of the Earth (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988), p. 6.

  p. 364. Debord, “Le Rôle de ‘Potlatch’ autrefois et maintenant,” Potlatch no. 1, new series (Amsterdam, 15 July 1959); Berréby, p. 253.

  p. 366. D. H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (New York: Viking, 1964, orig. 1923), pp. 44–45.

  p. 366. Mauss, p. 103, n. 128; p. 108, n. 171.

  pp. 366–368. Bataille, “The Notion of Expenditure,” pp. 78, 63, 72–74, 64.

  p. 369. Croce, p. 35.

  pp. 371–372. “Les Cathares avaient raison,” Potlatch no. 5 (20 July 1954).


  p. 372. Debord and Wolman, “Mode,” pp. 4–5; Berréby, pp. 304–305.

  pp. 373–374. Le Roy Ladurie, pp. 332, 325, 252–353, 327.

  p. 376. Front page of Potlatch, courtesy Gil J Wolman.

  p. 377. Vaneigem, in “La Cinquième conférence de l’I.S. a Göteborg,” I.S. no. 7 (April 1962), p. 27.

  p. 378. Bernstein, Tous les chevaux du roi, p. 43 (1960), p. 34 (2004).

  p. 378. “Géopolitique de l’hibernation,” I.S. no. 7 (April 1962), p. 9; Knabb, p. 81.

  p. 379. Illustration from “Géopolitique de l’hibernation,” I.S. no. 7, p. 4.

  pp. 380–381. “Le Monde dont nous parlons (‘La Technique de l’isolement’),” I.S. no. 9 (August 1964), pp. 6–7; Gray, p. 82.

  p. 381. Breton, contribution to “Sur certaines possibilities d’embellissement irrationnel d’une ville,” Le Surréalisme au service de la révolution no. 6 (Paris, May 1933), p. 18. See Stuart Wise’s photomontage realization of André Breton’s suggestion for Notre Dame in Poetry Must Be Made by All! Transform the World! (Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 1969), p. 91.

  pp. 382–383. “Project d’embellissements rationnels de la ville de Paris,” Potlatch no. 23 (13 October 1955). Trans. Adam Cornford.

  p. 385. Gray, p. 84.

  pp. 385–386. Gray, unpublished notes, courtesy Alexander Trocchi.

  p. 386. Debord, “For a Revolutionary Judgment of Art” (February 1961); in Knabb, p. 312.

  p. 387. AFGES, Le Retour de la colonne Durutti, p. 4.

  pp. 387–388. AFGES, De la misère en milieu étudiant, Knabb, pp. 319–337.

  pp. 389–390. Judge Llabador quoted in SI (U.K.), Ten Days, p. 1.

  p. 390. “They believe.” SI, Ten Days, p. 24, taken from Norman Cohn.

  p. 394. Bernstein, Tous les chevaux du roi, pp. 29–30 (1960), p. 26 (2004), and as in SI, Ten Days, p. 18.

  p. 395. Viénet, p. 15.

  p. 395. Morin quoted in “Le Commencement d’une epoch,” I.S. no. 12 (September 1969), pp. 20–21; Knabb, pp. 243–244.

  p. 396. Bertrand, Le Retour de la colonne Durutti, p. 3, courtesy Steef Davidson.

  p. 398. “POLITBURO.” Viénet, p. 275; Knabb, p. 345.

  p. 399. “What we have done.” Comité Enragés-Internationale situationniste, Conseil pour le maintien des occupations, “Addresse à tout les travailleurs” (20 May 1968), Viénet, pp. 283–284; Knabb, p. 350.

  pp. 399–400. “Le Commencement,” pp. 3–4.

  p. 400. Debord, Sur le passage, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, pp. 32, 33.

  p. 400. “Le Commencement,” p. 34.

  EPILOGUE

  p. 401. Debord, Critique, Oeuvres cinématographiques complètes, p. 49.

  pp. 401–402. Mekons (Mark White), “The Building,” copyright © 1982 by CNT Productions.

  pp. 402–403. Abiezer Coppe, A Fiery Flying Roll (1649), quoted in Norman Cohn, p. 321.

  p. 406. “Last Days” sticker, courtesy Jon Savage.

  p. 409. Lewis, pp. 71–73.

  p. 413. Debord, “La Valeur éducative,” quoting Bossuet, Bernard, que pretendstu dans le monde? (1653), Potlatch no. 16 (26 January 1955).

  p. 413. Huelsenbeck, “On Leaving America for Good,” in Memoirs, p. 189.

  p. 413. Ray Lowry, first panel of “note oilskin base,” New Musical Express (19 May 1984), reprinted by permission of the artist.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Over the last years I benefited from the generosity of many people. For their support; their provision of hard-to-find books, articles, handbills, posters, artworks, comics, documents, records, and tapes; their readings of drafts; their hospitality, conversation, or doubts, I thank Dave Alien, the late Thomas Ammann, the late Andrew Baumer, Jonas Bernholm of Mr R&B Records, Sara Bershtel and Wendy Wolf of Pantheon Books, Paule-Léon Bisson-Millet, the late Adam Block, Liz Bordow, Bill Brown, Denis Browne, Mattias Bruner, Bart Bull, Hugo Burnham, Robert Christgau, Bob Cobbing, Michael Conen and Lexy Green of Asta’s Records in Oakland, Michael Covino, Elvis Costello, Jean-Paul Curtay, Steef Davidson, Paul de Angelis of E. P. Dutton, Carola Dibbell, Down Home Music of El Cerrito, the late Melanie Fechner, Dan Franklin and David Godwin of Secker & Warburg, Ken Friedman, Gill Frith, Bernard Gendron of the Center for Twentieth Century Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Andy Gill, John Goddard of Village Music in Mill Valley, Matt Groening, Lawrence Grossberg, Tristan Haan of the International Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis in Amsterdam, Niko Hansen, A. Hares of Mattoid in London, Dick Hebdige, Marina Hirsch, Peter Howard of Serendipity Books in Berkeley, Klaus Humann, David Joselit and Elisabeth Sussman of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Scott Kane and Robin Schorr of KALX-FM in Berkeley, Elisabeth Kauffmann of Elisabeth Kauffmann Zürich, Mick Kidd of Biff Comics in London, Jon King, Phoebe Kosman of Harvard University Press, Doug Kroll, John Lee of Moe’s Books in Berkeley, Michael Lesy, Tom Levin, W. T. Lhamon, Lora Logic, Ray Lowry, Tom Luddy, Daniel Marcus, the late Eleanore Marcus and Gerald Marcus, Marlene Marder, Dave Marsh, Bruce McGregor, B. K. Moran, Lynda Myles, Scott Piering, Carolyn Porter, Cynthia Rose, Jim Ryan, Luc Sante, Berigan Taylor of Berigan’s in Oakland, Paul Thomas, Lang Thompson, Nanos Valaoritis, Anne Wagner, Ed Ward, Steve Wasserman, Muddy Wehara, Larry Wendt, Dave Wheeler and B. George of the ARChive of Contemporary Music in New York, the late Tony Wilson of Factory Records, and Langdon Winner. I remember the encouragement of my dear friend and editor, the late Bill Whitehead.

  I would never have gotten anywhere without the aid, the bookshelves, and the translations, written or person to person, of Frances Cahn, Adam Cornford, Jeffrey Faude, Jo Anne Fordham, Alice Yaeger Kaplan, Marian Kester, Michelle Krisel, Sophie Rosenberg, Kristin Ross, Fred Vermorel, and Tom Ward. Nor without the scrutiny of the producers and magazine editors who gave me a chance to fool with my themes in public: at Another Room, Lucy Childs and Michael Mallery; at Artforum, Ingrid Sischy, David Frankel, and Melissa Harris; at the Boston Phoenix (and later at the Village Voice), Kit Rachlis; at the LA Weekly, Michael Ventura; the staff of Music Magazine in Tokyo; the staff of New Formations in London; at New West/California, Jon Carroll, Nancy Friedman, Janet Duckworth, and Bill Broyles; the staff of “Nightline”; at Raw, Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly; the staff of Rock & Roll Confidential; at Rolling Stone, Barbara Downey Landau and Jann Wenner; with “Surface Tension” in Sydney, Tony MacGregor and Virginia Madsen; at Touch in London, Jon Wozencroft; at Threepenny Review, Wendy Lesser; at Triquarterly, Jonathan Brendt, Jon Schiller, and Anne-Marie Zwierzyna; at the Village Voice, M. Mark and Doug Simmons. I received sober advice and undreamed-of enthusiasm from my agent, Wendy Weil, and her coworkers Julian Bach and Norin Lucas. Nancy Laleau, my typist, was a good sport.

  Were it not for Lindsay Waters of Harvard University Press I doubt this book would have been finished. Joyce Backman edited it and Gwen Frankfeldt designed it in the spirit in which it was written. I value the support of Paul Adams, Nancy Clemente, the late Susan Metzger, and Claire Silvers; most of all I value the fact that they had a more than merely professional interest in what I tried to do. For the 2009 edition, I thank art director Tim Jones, cover artist Chuck Sperry, production editor Adriana Kirilova, and indefatigable indexer Ruth Elwell.

  I have had the luck to see this book travel. In the United Kingdom, my thanks go to David Godwin and Dan Franklin of Secker and Warburg, Jon Riley of Penguin, Picador, and Faber & Faber, Tony Lacey of Penguin, Lee Brackstone and Helen Francis at Faber & Faber, and Anthony Goff of the David Higham Agency in London. In Germany, to Niko Hansen of Rogner & Bernhard and Rowohlt of Hamburg, translator Fritz Schneider, and Peter Fritz of the Paul and Peter Fritz Agency in Zurich. In Italy, for Tracce di rossetto, to Leonardo Editore and Antonella Antonelli of Agenzia Litteraria in Milan. In Spain, for Rastros de carmín, to Jorge Herralde of Editorial Anagrama in Barcelona. In France, to Gérard Berréby and François Escaig of Editions Allia, my translator and dear friend Guillaume Godard, the late Raymond Hains, Eric Vigne of Gallimar
d, and Mary Kling and Maggie Doyle of La Nouvelle Agence in Paris. In Turkey, for Ruj Lekesi, to Ayrinti Yayinlari of Istanbul. I will never forget the shock of seeing the theatrical adaptation of this book by the Rude Mechanicals of Austin, Texas, in 1999; director Shawn Sides, playwright Kirk Lynn, producer and prestidigitator Lana Lesley, and a shocking crew of performers in Austin, at the Foundry Theatre in New York, and then in productions across the country found a way to stage the book I wanted to write.

  I owe a special debt to those members of the Lettrist International and the Situationist International who offered me friendship, papers, artifacts, and querulousness: T. J. Clark, Donald Nicholson-Smith, the late Alexander Trocchi, the late Gil J Wolman, and most of all Michèle Bernstein. I owe a great deal to the late David Orr of the Pace Trust in Louisville; to Robin Cembalest, for her indefatigable photo research and her charming presence; to the libraries of the University of California at Berkeley; to Toru Mitsui; to Howard Hampton; to Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records in London; to Emily and Cessie; and to Jenny.

  A few people did not simply help, give advice, read drafts, or come up with documents, though they did all of that; in the words of one of them, they were co-conspirators. They are Simon Frith, Jim Miller, John Rockwell, and Jon Savage. They can’t be thanked, only recognized.

  INDEX

  Page numbers in italics indicate illustrations.

  A&M Records, 9

  Abend, Der, 168

  Acraman, Bob, 114–115, 213, 383

  Action française, 264, 268, 269

  Adorno, Theodor, 64, 67–68, 70, 74, 158, 253, 330, 364

  Adverts, 5, 62–65, 70, 188, 405

  Age d’Or, L’ (Buñuel), 288, 289

  Agrégation d’une nom et d’un messie, L’ (Isou), 233

  Aktion, Die (journal), 199

  Albertine, Viv, 35

  Albigensian Crusade, 357, 374

  All About Eve (Mankiewicz), 301

  Allman Brothers, 61

  “All the Water in the Sea Couldn’t . . .” (Debord), 371

  Altamont rock festival, 83