Ken Knabb

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Ken Knabb
Ken Knabb 2003.jpg
Knabb in 2003
Born1945 (age 7879)
Louisiana, United States
Alma mater Shimer College
Occupation(s)Writer and translator
Movement Situationist International
Website bopsecrets.org

Ken Knabb (born 1945) is an American writer, translator, and radical theorist, [1] known for his translations of Guy Debord and the Situationist International. His own English-language writings, many of which were anthologized in Public Secrets (1997), have been translated into over a dozen additional languages. [2] He is also a respected authority on the political significance of Kenneth Rexroth. [3]

Contents

Early life

Knabb was born in Louisiana in 1945 and raised in Missouri. He attended Shimer College from 1961 to 1965, then moved to Berkeley, California, where he took part in the countercultural and radical adventures of the 1960s. [4] In 1969, having become disillusioned with the increasingly authoritarian tendencies in the New Left movement, he became an anarchist. Later that same year, he discovered some pamphlets by the Situationist International and was so struck by them that he began experimenting with critiques and interventions in a style similar to that of the situationists. Over the next few years, he taught himself French in order to read the original situationist writings (most of which were then unavailable in English) and made several extended visits to France to meet various situationist groups and individuals, as well as shorter trips to meet contacts in other European countries and in Japan and Hong Kong. [4]

Works

In 1981, Knabb published the Situationist International Anthology, a large collection of articles drawn mostly from the French journal Internationale Situationniste. His other translations include Guy Debord's film scripts (Complete Cinematic Works), Debord's The Society of the Spectacle , and Ngo Van's In the Crossfire: Adventures of a Vietnamese Revolutionary. Knabb's own writings include leaflets, comics, pamphlets and articles on Wilhelm Reich, Georges Brassens, Gary Snyder, the 1960s hip counterculture, the 1970 Polish revolt, the 1979 Iranian revolution, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2006 anti-CPE revolt in France, the 2011 Occupy movement, the 2016 Trump election, and the 2020 covid crisis. Longer works include The Relevance of Rexroth (a study of the anarchist poet and essayist Kenneth Rexroth), Gateway to the Vast Realms (a reader's guide to 500 recommended books), and The Joy of Revolution (an examination of the pros and cons of diverse radical tactics followed by some speculations on how a nonstate and noncapitalist postrevolutionary society might function). [5]

Perspectives

Although Knabb has remained in substantial agreement with most of the situationist perspectives, some of his writings can be seen as attempts to meld, or at least to juxtapose, those perspectives with the rather different tone and scope of Kenneth Rexroth and with the experiential insights of Zen Buddhism (he is a long-time Zen practitioner). In a 1977 pamphlet, for example, he critiqued what he saw as the situationists' blindspot regarding religion. [6] Conversely, he has also criticized the political naiveté of "socially engaged" Buddhists. [7] Another of his recurring themes is the importance of paying attention to the psychological or "subjective" aspect of radical activities. [8]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Situationist International</span> International organization of social revolutionaries (1957–72)

The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution in 1972. The intellectual foundations of the Situationist International were derived primarily from libertarian Marxism and the avant-garde art movements of the early 20th century, particularly Dada and Surrealism. Overall, situationist theory represented an attempt to synthesize this diverse field of theoretical disciplines into a modern and comprehensive critique of mid-20th century advanced capitalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Debord</span> French philosopher and Marxist theorist

Guy-Ernest Debord was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International. He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Détournement</span> Artistic style

A détournement, meaning "rerouting, hijacking" in French, is a technique developed in the 1950s by the Letterist International, and later adapted by the Situationist International (SI), that was defined in the SI's inaugural 1958 journal as "[t]he integration of present or past artistic productions into a superior construction of a milieu. In this sense there can be no situationist painting or music, but only a situationist use of those means. In a more elementary sense, détournement within the old cultural spheres is a method of propaganda, a method which reveals the wearing out and loss of importance of those spheres."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letterist International</span> Parisian collective of radical artists and cultural theorists, precursor to Situationists

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychogeography</span> Creative view of the built environment that emphasizes playfulness and dérive

Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutionary groups influenced by Marxist and anarchist theory as well as the attitudes and methods of Dadaists and Surrealists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raoul Vaneigem</span> Belgian philosopher (born 1934)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Rexroth</span> American poet (1905–1982)

Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth was an American poet, translator, and critical essayist. He is regarded as a central figure in the San Francisco Renaissance, and paved the groundwork for the movement. Although he did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the "Father of the Beats" by Time magazine. Largely self-educated, Rexroth learned several languages and translated poems from Chinese, French, Spanish, and Japanese.

<i>Dérive</i> Unplanned urban exploration tour

The dérive is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, in which participants stop focusing on their everyday relations to their social environment. Developed by members of the Letterist International, it was first publicly theorized in Guy Debord's "Theory of the Dérive" (1956). Debord defines the dérive as "a mode of experimental behaviour linked to the conditions of urban society: a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances."

<i>The Society of the Spectacle</i> 1967 book by Guy Debord

The Society of the Spectacle is a 1967 work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory by Guy Debord where he develops and presents the concept of the Spectacle. The book is considered a seminal text for the Situationist movement. Debord published a follow-up book Comments on the Society of the Spectacle in 1988.

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<i>The Society of the Spectacle</i> (film) 1973 film by Guy Debord

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The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages is Norman Cohn's study of millenarian cult movements.

Gérard Lebovici was a French film producer, editor and impresario.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spectacle (critical theory)</span> View of media, markets and commodities as sovereign, central to Situationist thought

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<i>Mémoires</i> 1953 book by Guy Debord and Asger Jorn

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Situationist prank</span> Practical joke intended to subvert media culture

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialisme ou Barbarie</span> French socialist group known for their magazine of the same name

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustapha Khayati</span>

Mustapha Khayati is a Tunisian social critic, and was a member of the Situationist International in the 1960s. Though collaborating with other Situationists, he was the chief author of the pamphlet De la misère en milieu étudiant considérée sous ses aspects économique, politique, psychologique, sexuelet notamment intellectuel et de quelques moyens pour y remédier. This pamphlet has been translated into English by Chris Gray and Ken Knabb.

References

  1. Knabb, Ken. "Reflections on the Uprising in France"
  2. Guy Debord; Ken Knabb (2003). Complete Cinematic Works: Scripts, Stills, Documents. p. 262. ISBN   1-902593-73-1.
  3. Morgan Gibson (2007). "Thou Shalt Not Kill". Encyclopedia of Beat Literature. p. 310. ISBN   978-1-4381-0908-4.
  4. 1 2 Knabb, Ken (1997). "Confessions of a Mild-Mannered Enemy of the State (contents)". www.bopsecrets.org. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  5. Knabb has published all of his writings without copyright. Most are included in his book Public Secrets. All are online at his "Bureau of Public Secrets" website . For bibliographical information, see . For diverse reviews and reactions to his works, see
  6. "The Realization and Suppression of Religion"
  7. "Strong Lessons for Engaged Buddhists"
  8. "Double-Reflection"