We hereby present a set of documents relative to the bar “La Methode”, located at 2 Rue Descartes in Paris. Michèle Bernstein ran the bar from 10 to 29 October 1958. While her tenure was short-lived, it was productive: along with her husband Guy Debord, she produced a series of leaflets promoting the bar.

BERNSTEIN, Michèle; DEBORD, Guy. [La Méthode] Florencie, l’Idole de la Nouvelle Vague… n.p. [Paris]: n.p., n.d. [October 1958]. 1 p.; ill.; 13 x 27 cm; black ink on cream stock 

The text reads: “Florencie L’Idole de la Nouvelle Vague après avoir coulé trois boîtes en dix-huit mois Le Moineau-Bistro, Le Manouche, Le Mont-Blanc, s’attaque maintenant à La Méthode 2, rue Descartes. Hâtez-vous d’y boire un verre avant la fermeture” (Trans: Having driven three bars to bankruptcy – Le Moineau-Bistro, le Manouche, Le Mont-Blanc – Florencie, Star of the New Wave, is now taking on La Methode, located 2 rue Descartes. Come have a drunk before it closes permanently.”).

BERNSTEIN, Michèle; DEBORD, Guy. [La Méthode] N’essayez plus d’entrer a Polytechnique mais en face a La Méthode… n.p. [Paris]: n.p., n.d. [October 1958]. 1 p.; ill.; 28 x 22 cm.; black ink on yellow stock

The text reads: “N’essayez plus d’entrer à Polytechnique mais en face à La Méthode 2, rue Descartes où vous pourrez voir Florencie le guitariste de l’intelligenstia. Ouverture le vendredi 10 octobre à 20 heures. Consommations à partir de 300 frs.” (Trans: “Don’t try to get into Polytechnique – instead, come across the street to ‘La Methode’, 2 Rue Descartes, where you can see Florencie, the intelligentsia’s musician. Opening Friday, October 10 at 8pm. Drinks from 300 Francs.”). Polytechnique, France’s top engineering school (which also happens to be run by the military) was formerly located at 2, rue Descartes.

BERNSTEIN, Michèle; DEBORD, Guy. [La Méthode] Rarement la carence intellectuelle et la veulerie morale… n.p. [Paris]: n.p., n.d. [October 1958]. 1 p.; 5.5 x 12.5 m.; black ink on thin yellow stock

The text reads: “Rarement la carence intellectuelle et la veulerie morale d’une génération perdue ont été si manifestes que dans cette irritante jeunesse, aussi étrangère à tout art véritable qu’à l’enthousiasme nouveau de la rénovation française, qui affiche chaque soir son mépris des valeurs occidentales et sa malsaine tristesse à « La Méthode », de la rue Descartes” (Trans: Seldom have the intellectual deficiency and moral cowardice of a lost generation been so manifest as they are in this irritating youth. It is as divorced from any true art as it is in the new enthusiasm brought about by French renovation. Every evening, this youth displays its contempt for Western values and its unhealthy sadness at ‘La Methode’, on Descartes street”)

And this is what the bar looks like today