Anne de Launay [RAOUL VANEIGEM?]. L’Ile aux Delices. Paris: Bebe Noir, 1979. 191 p.; 18 x 10 cm.; ill. cover with photography of a scantily-clad woman, text in white.

Published under the pseudonym of Anne de Launay – the famous Marquis de Sade character – this pornographic novel is generally attributed to Raoul Vaneigem, though there is no clear consensus. Shige Gonzalvez, the author of a Debord Bibliography (Guy Debord ou la Beaute du Negatif – Mille et une Nuits, 1998), states on his internet blog that this pornographic novel was written by of one of Vaneigem’s friends. Laurent Six, author of Raoul Vaneigem, L’éloge de la vie affinée (Luce Wilquin, 2004), believes it was written jointly by Vaneigem and Marie-France Planeix.

LIle aux Delices is a pastiche on many levels. Its title is a reference to l’Ile des Escalves, Marivaux’s famed 1725 play about a shipwreck. It is also a parody of British adventure novels, with a cast of characters that includes a British Lord, a drunken captain, a fiery redhead maid and more. Together, this ragtag cast attempts to build a life of debaucherie away from civilization – a theme cherished by Vaneigem.

Gonzalvez 214. Scarce in the trade, with a single OCLC copy at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France.

Vaneigem, Raoul. Voyage a Oarystis: Roman.  Blandain-Tournai (Belgium): Estuaire (Coll. Carnets Litteraires), April 2005. 187 p.; profusely ill.; 18.5 x 13 cm. Ill. grewy cover with text in black and brown. Illustrations by Giampiero Caiti.

Voyage a Oarystis is Raoul Vaneigem’s first fiction published under his real name – in 1979 and 1981, Vaneigem had authored two erotic novels pseudonymously – and brings to life the concepts developed by the theorician in his 40+ year career. The title of the work refers to the ancient Greek play by Theocritus, The Oarystis.

In Note Preliminaires au Projet de Construction d’Oarystis, la Ville des Desirs  (published online by bon-a-tirer.com; translated by Not Bored!) the former member of the SI details the inspiration behind this projet and how it relates to his oeuvre.

In addition to the regular edition, Voyage…was released in a limited commercial edition of 40, numbered and signed by the authors. 10 additional copies (numbered I-X) were made available but reserved to the publisher and the authors.

Once readily available in the trade, the book is now scarce and has remained out-of-print for several years.

[Schiz-Flux] Smile 1-7. Madison, WI: n.p. [Schiz-Flux], 1987-1991. 24-48p..; ill.; 21 x 29.5 cm; ill. wrappers in different colors for each issue.

Launched in 1984 by Stewart Home, SMILE magazine was originally the organ of “Generation Positive”. Soon thereafter, the SMILE concept was appropriated by artists around the world, all writing anonymously (often under the pseudonym of Karen Eliot, a shared nom de plume used that originated within Home’s Neoist movement) and about various topics. It is estimated that over 100 different issues of this magazine of multiple origins have been issued in the UK, the United States, Germany, Italy, Spain, South Africa and other countries. An exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1992, curated by Simon Ford, institutionalized SMILE. The catalogue of the exhibition also includes a non-exhaustive bibliography of SMILE magazines to 1992. For more information on SMILE, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile_%28art_magazine%29

This series of SMILE is by Schiz-Flux, out of Madiscon (WI). It tackles a variety of topics, but the Situationist influence is strong. Issue #2 is essentially devoted to the SI, and contains “Socialism or Barbarism”; “The Totality for Kids”; “Festival of the Swamps”; “Situationist matter”; “Bolshevism matter” and other such articles.There were seven issues published, with the last issue released in 1993 (SQUIRTS: A Children’s Journal of Flows). We hold issues 1-6, but are missing issue 7.

Ford 152, Ford 207. Rare in the trade, with five OCLC holdings (MOMA, Michigan, Wisconsin Historical Society, LSU, Utah State)

[March 2019 update: we were able to secure the final issue (#7), courtesy of E.G. Many thanks!]

Lemoine, Randal and Ghislain de Marbaix. Monsieur Gontran, avril 1960-avril 1963. Paris: Julliard, 1968. 318 p.; 20.5 x 13.5 cm.; ill. dustjacket with text in white.

Ghislain de Marbaix co-owned the bar “L’Homme de Main” (1960-1962) – a favorite of the Situationist crew – alongside his companion Maryse Lucas. He was also a pimp. Monsieur Gontran offers us a glimpse into the life of a man who lived on the fringes of society, and whom Debord very much appreciated

Artus de Lavilleon, a contemporary artist and Maryse’s son, helped release a documentary entitled Les Enfants de la Societe du Spectacle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=FR&hl=fr&v=jJoAmRn7uwE&fmt=18

Artus also discusses the book here: http://www.artusdelavilleon.com/blog/2010/03/18-341-526-millions-de-visites/

Gonzalvez 234. Pictures courtesy of Gonzalvez.

[Tiffen, David and James, Andrea] Certain Gestures no.7. n.p. [Hamtpon, United Kingdom]: n.p. [Aldershot], n.d. [1980s]. n.p. [16p.]; ill.; 29.5 x 10.5 cm. Illustrated B&W wrappers with text in black. Profusely illustrated.

This publication is your typical librarian / cataloguer’s nightmare: no stated author, publisher, place or date of publication. Our investigations have yielded the above outcomes, but we would welcome any comments or corrections.

This issue of the pro-situationist zine contains two pieces. “Global Options” is a matter-of-fact description of a typical middle-class evening at home, with an emphasis on the objects (microwave, television, etc.) that the bourgeois couple and their child derive pleasure from. “The Adventures of a Dining Chair” (no doubt a nod to “The Adventures of Dialectic”) is an attempt to both mimic and pastiche Situationist detournement by mixing detective-novel writings with Situ-inspired political commentary.

Three copies on OCLC (Oxford, Cambridge, UCL) and one incomplete set in the trade. Not in Ford.

Lewino, Walter. L’Imagination au Pouvoir.  Paris: Eric Losfeld / Le Terrain Vague, June 1968. n.p. [50 p.]; ill.; 22 x 24 cm. Illustrated red cover with text in black. Includes 41 B&W photographies by Jo Schnapp.

Just a few days after the May uprisings in France, writer and journalist Walter Lewino joined forces with photographer Jo Schnapp to produce a volume devoted to the political slogans that filled the walls of the Left Bank and the Sorbonne. These ephemeral works of art – many of which the work of Christian Sebastiani – were heavily inspired by the Situationists. When Lewino realized that, he offered to share the proceeds of his book with the Internationale Situationniste, something Guy Debord very much appreciated (“Camarade Lewino…Merci pour la Phynance. Sans temps mort, sans entraves”). This anecdote is documented in Lewino’s autobiography, Pardon, pardon mon pere (Paris: Grasset, 2001) as well as in Christophe Bourseiller’s Vie et Mort de Guy Debord (Paris: Plon, 1999)

Gonzalvez 217 and Voyer 144. Readily available in the trade.