Moulin reviewed The Book of Pleasures by Raoul Vaneigem
None
2 stars
It is an ok book. But Vaneigem is trying to hard to find nice catch-phrases in this book. The excitement I felt at reading short, eye-opening, poetic sentences, interspersed in deep analysis is lost when the deep analysis is removed.
Vaneigem does a big turn from collective action to individual change in this book compared to "The Revolution of Everyday Life". Vaneigem now see change originating from individuals who start living for pleasure. Not from collective action to change institutions and the world. I believe this is a mistake on Vaneigems part.
I guess this book may be an eye-opener for people who never read any situationist text or books. But I think it is better expressed in other works. For example in his own earlier mentioned book; "The Revolution of Everyday Life".
Vaneigem had of course left the Situationist International when this was written. But, although he take some …
It is an ok book. But Vaneigem is trying to hard to find nice catch-phrases in this book. The excitement I felt at reading short, eye-opening, poetic sentences, interspersed in deep analysis is lost when the deep analysis is removed.
Vaneigem does a big turn from collective action to individual change in this book compared to "The Revolution of Everyday Life". Vaneigem now see change originating from individuals who start living for pleasure. Not from collective action to change institutions and the world. I believe this is a mistake on Vaneigems part.
I guess this book may be an eye-opener for people who never read any situationist text or books. But I think it is better expressed in other works. For example in his own earlier mentioned book; "The Revolution of Everyday Life".
Vaneigem had of course left the Situationist International when this was written. But, although he take some swings on SI, the perspectives from his time in the organisation largely remains the same.