from Guy Debord

To Annie Le Brun
15 March 1992
Dear Annie:


My "isolationism"[1] and my absence from Paris are two different phenomena, although no doubt linked to the unfortunate half-century [since the end of WWII]. The destruction of Paris has led me to feel, even more keenly, each time that I'm there, the disgust justified by the place: the diverse marvels that I knew there, contrasted with the ceaselessly worse existence that I see there, makes the current town [called Paris] the least supportable place in the world.

This isolationism derives more directly from the fact that the people who understand the majority of the things that I consider to be essential have apparently disappeared from the world. In this respect, your Depraved Perspective[2] is a precious sign of life. I also think that the catastrophe that we are told to expect has already arrived, and even that the complete list of its manifestations surround all of life, from the most elevated to the most trivial. I would also love to speak to you of these questions, that is to say, not the past but the future (supposing that there is one for us).

For a long time, I have wanted to invite you to stay at Champot, when it suits you, during the spring or summer. We could also see each other before, if you have a few [free] days. For the next few weeks, we are closer to Paris, at a place where we squat another kind of little house of subversion, which, although it now belongs to Alice's brother,[3] is in no way what one would call a "family house." Jean-Jacques [Pauvert] has already been here once. Would this be possible?

With all my heart and catastrophically,
Guy

[1] Translator's note: the word isolisme was apparently coined by the Marquis de Sade, in whom both Debord and le Brun were very interested.

[2] Perspective depravee: Entre catastrophe reelle et catastrophe imaginaire (Paris, 1991).

[3] Translator's note: Eugene Becker.


(Published in Guy Debord Correspondance, Vol 7: Janvier 1988-Novembre 1994 by Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2008. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! June 2009. Footnotes by the publisher, except where noted.)




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