The subsequent installments of my Panegyric will have to wait.[1] First of all because I have a few more urgent projects. And also because I am far less productive than you might think.
I have already worked on this project, and had almost gotten half-way through it, when we last saw each other. But then you posed such pertinent questions about the past that we have hardly had any time to speak of the present and the future. And, with respect to the past, we spoke a little hastily. I am reminded that I had begun, but without concluding, to tell you about the "Hamburg Theses,"[2] which assuredly is the most mysterious and most formally experimental text in the entire history of the SI. I will write a note to you about it.[3] It will be a scoop.[4]
Thanks for the letter from [Greil] Marcus, who is likable. I will respond to him[5] that there is no time to alter or change anything before the second edition [of his book]; but I will also send him my most recent book to serve as documentation for his future research.[6]
No longer think about that Nashist cretin.[7] You will see more of them, and I personally have seen so many (and not all Nashists) that I am perfectly mithdridated.
December is no longer far off. And we rejoice at the idea of seeing you as soon as you return to Paris. Alice embraces you.
Cordially,[1] Guy Debord envisioned several more volumes, of which the second appeared in 1997, published by Fayard.
[2] Translator's note: dated September 1961 and authored by Guy Debord, Raoul Vaneigem and Atila Kotanyi, this text was never written down. In sum it said: "Now the SI must realize philosophy."
[3] See text dated November 1989.
[4] Translator's note: English in original.
[5] Translator's note: see letter dated 2 September 1989.
[6] Translator's note: Greil Marcus would later write about Panegyric in an essay called "You Could Catch It," which was included in The Dustbin of History (Harvard University Press, 1997).
[7] Translator's note: Roberto Ohrt, author of Phantom Avant-Garde.
(Published in Guy Debord Correspondance, Vol 7: Janvier 1988-Novembre 1994 by Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2008. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! December 2008. Footnotes by the publisher, except where noted.)