Michèle Bernstein

Guy Debord, Michèle Bernstein and Asger Jorn (L-R), 1960.

Michèle Bernstein (28 April 1932, Paris) is a French novelist, critic, a founding member of the Situationist International and one of its influential thinkers. She was also part of the Lettrist International and married fellow member Guy Debord in 1954.

Bernstein was a contributor to Potlatch, the bulletin of the Lettrist International, the journal Internationale Situationniste and published two détourned novels in the early 1960s. She resigned from the Situationist International in 1967.

Bernstein divorced Debord in 1972 and moved to England where she became the companion of Ralph Rumney. For a few years, starting in 1982, she held a literary column in Libération.

Publications

Books

• Tous les chevaux du roi, Paris: Buchet-Chastel, 1960; repr., Paris: Allia, 2004, 128 pp. Novel. [1] (French)
  • All the King's Horses, trans. & intro. John Kelsey, afterw. Odile Passot, Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2008, 143 pp. [2]. Reviews: Baum (TDR), Kinkle (Hist Mat), Reed (Lemon Hound), Egger (Spike), Complete Rev. (English)

• La Nuit, Paris: Buchet-Chastel, 1961; repr., Paris: Allia, 2013, 160 pp. Novel. [3]. Reviews: Not Bored! (en), Chroniques critiques. (French)
  • The Night, trans. Clodagh Kinsella, ed. Everyone Agrees, London: Book Works, 2013. [4]. Reviews: Home (ArtReview), Reed (Lemon Hound). (English)

Articles

• co-author, "Le Guatemala perdu", Potlatch 3, Paris, 6 Jul 1954, p 1, PDF.
  • "Guatemala is Lost", n.d. (English)
• co-author, "Le Minimum de la vie", Potlatch 4, Paris, 13 Jul 1954, p 1, PDF.
  • "The Minimum Life", n.d. (English)
• co-author, "Le Bruit et la fureur", Potlatch 6, Paris, 27 Jul 1954, p 1, HTML, PDF.
  • "The Sound and the Fury", n.d. (English)
• co-author, "Une idée neuve en Europe", Potlatch 7, Paris, 3 Aug 1954, p 1, PDF.
  • "A New Idea in Europe", n.d. (English)
• co-author, "Les Barbouilleurs", Potlatch 8, Paris, 10 Aug 1954, pp 1-2, PDF.
  • "Daubers", n.d. (English)
• "La dérive au kilomètre", Potlatch 9-11, Paris, 17-31 Aug 1954, p 2, PDF.
  • "Dérive by the Mile", n.d., HTML. (English)
• co-author, "La ligne générale", Potlatch 14, Paris, 30 Nov 1954, p 1, HTML, PDF.
  • "The General Line", n.d. (English)
• "La fleur de l’âge", Potlatch 15, Paris, 22 Dec 1954, p 1, PDF.
• with Dahou, "Lettre à M. Michel-Erstov Gengis-Khan, secrétaire général du Centre International de Recherches esthétiques", Potlatch 16, Paris, 26 Jan 1955, p 2, PDF.
• "Le square des Missions Étrangères", Potlatch 16, Paris, 26 Jan 1955, p 3, PDF.
  • "Square des Missions Étrangères", trans. Gerardo Denís, n.d. (English)
• co-author, "Quart de finale", Potlatch 17, Paris, 24 Feb 1955, pp 2-3, PDF.
• co-author, "Apothéose d'un veau", Potlatch 18, Paris, 23 Mar 1955, p 1, PDF.
• co-author, "Les distances à garder", Potlatch 19, Paris, 29 Apr 1955, pp 2-3, PDF.
• with Jacques Fillon, "Un dernier mot", Potlatch 20, Paris, 30 May 1955, PDF.
• co-author, "Le Comble", Potlatch 22, Paris, 9 Sep 1955, p 8, PDF.
• co-author, "Intervention lettriste", Potlatch 23, Paris, 13 Oct 1955, p 1, PDF, HTML (en); repr. in Spur 5, Jun 1961. (English)/(French)
• co-author, "Lettre à M. André Chêneboit, à la rédaction du Monde", Potlatch 23, Paris, 13 Oct 1955, pp 2-3, PDF.
  • "Letter to Mr André Chêneboit, editor of Le Monde", n.d.
• "In Praise of Pinot Gallizio" [1958], trans. John Shepley, n.d. (English)
• "Pas d'indulgences inutiles", Internationale situationniste 1, Paris, Jun 1958, pp 25-26, HTML.
  • "No Useless Leniency (excerpts)", trans. Ken Knabb, in Situationist International Anthology [1981], rev. & exp. ed., ed. Ken Knabb, Berkeley, CA: Bureau of Public Secrets, 2006, pp 58-59, HTML. (English)
  • "No Useless Indulgences", trans. Not Bored!, Jul 2007.
• "The Long Voyage" [1960], trans. Not Bored! and Phil Edwards, Jul 1999. (English)
• "Sunset Boulevard", Internationale situationniste 7, Paris, Apr 1962, pp 42-46, HTML.
  • "Sunset Boulevard", trans. Not Bored!, Aug 2007. (English)
• "The Situationist International", The Times Literary Supplement, 2 Sep 1964. (English)
  • "Note on the Situationist International", trans. Not Bored!, 4 Nov 2014. Trans. of the manuscript. (English)

Interviews

• Gavin Everall, "The Game: An interview with Michèle Bernstein, novelist and founding member of the Situationist International", frieze, Sep 2013. (English)

Literature

• Odile Passot, "Portrait of Guy Debord as a Young Libertine", trans. Paul Lafarge, SubStance, 90, 1999, pp 71-88. Analyses two Bernstein's novels as 'autofictions'. (English)
  • "Porträt von Guy Debord als junger Libertin", in Das große Spiel. Die Situationisten zwischen Politik und Kunst, ed. Roberto Orth, Hamburg: Nautilus, 2000, pp 27-60. (German)
• Bernadette Corporation, Reena Spaulings, Los Angeles: Semiotext(e), 2004. Inspired by Bernstein's Tous les chevaux du roi. (English)
• Everyone Agrees, After the Night, London: Book Works, 2013. Homage to Bernstein's La Nuit. [5]. Reviews: Home (ArtReview), Reed (Lemon Hound). (English)
• Ella Mudie, "‘They Were Jokes’: The Situationist Fiction of Michèle Bernstein", Journal of European Popular Culture 6:2, Oct 2015, pp 87-101. (English)

Links

• Bernstein on Not Bored
• Wikipedia