The Consul

Throughout his adventurous life, Ralph Rumney was in constant flight from the wreckage of postwar Europe. Crossing paths with every avant-garde of the past fifty years, he was one of the founding members of the Situationist International. Rumney’s traveling companions — Guy Debord, Pegeen Guggenheim, Asger Jorn, Michèle Berstein, Bernard Kops, Yves Klein, Marcel Duchamp, Georges Bataille, William Burroughs, Félix Guattari, E.P. Thompson, Victor Brauner, and many others — are recalled in the oral history with sharp intelligåence and dry wit. Profusely illustrated with Rumney’s own photos, paintings, and collages and other documentary materials. ” The Consul regains that magnificent freedom that a handful of people enjoyed and shared with artists, writers and others, in a world whose password was total, unfailing rejection of the world.” —Judith Brouste, Art Press “…fine compendium of the most poetic of political writings, albeit still a partial measure for fans, followers and future revolutionaries awaiting the complete translations of the journal Situationist Internationale.” — Publishers Weekly Ralph Rumney (1934 – 2002), was the sole member of the London Psychogeographical Society, a founding organization of the Situationist International (1957). He is the author of The Leaning Tower of Venice , a fabled psychogeographical exploration of that city. Malcolm Imrie is a literary agent and translator whose translations include Guy Debord’s Comments on the Society of the Spectacle and Josè Pierre’s Investigating Surrealist Discussions 1928 – 1932 .