I will expect you on 8 July, and we will speak in detail about all the affairs that might still arise, but I will write to you in advance concerning a single, urgent and very precise question.
You've informed me that Berreby[1] intends to publish a follow up[2] to his previous work, which was greatly deprived of rigor: Documents relatifs a la fondation d'une Internationale Situationniste, which ends at 1957. But what followed 1957 was in fact the SI. What could his intentions be? Is this another "Pompidou Center" operation?[3]
Don't speak to me of anonymous texts or texts claimed later on. The I.S. was a journal that had a completely legal existence; I was its editor. In the past, I refused translation rights to the Stalinist Feltrinelli,[4] and he renounced his project. Inversely, I once sold the rights in Holland to Van Gennep,[5] and then to Editions Champ Libre,[6] which was continued for a long time by the Lebovicis. But I do not want to cede them to Editions Allia: never, no matter what the price. Insofar as you are also my publisher, I ask you to formally inform him of this, if need be through the intermediary of Madame Deluc. From the start, we must not leave this person any doubts.
I have several reasons, all very good. Among others: when young Berreby was parachuted into publishing or, as you perhaps too amiably say, when he "made his debut,"[7] he committed the imprudence of writing me a letter[8] of an imbecilic insolence. He has already had several occasions to regret it.
Very amicably,[1] Gerard Berreby, Editions Allia.
[2] Translator's note: it appears that this follow up wasn't published or, if it was, it was limited to Jean-Michel Mension's The Tribe and Ralph Rumney's The Consul.
[3] Translator's note: the exhibition of works by and about the Situationist International in Paris in 1989.
[4] Translator's note: see these texts, which date from 1972.
[5] Translator's note: published in 1970.
[6] Translator's note: published in 1975. See letter to Gerard Lebovici dated 16 March 1975.
[7] Translator's note: the French here, faisait ses premiere armes d'editeur, has a military resonance, as does Debord's "parachuting" metaphor.
[8] In 1985, as a cover letter to [the first edition of] Documents relatifs a la fondation d'une Internationale Situationniste.
(Published in Guy Debord Correspondance, Vol 7: Janvier 1988-Novembre 1994 by Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2008. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! June 2009. Footnotes by the publisher, except where noted.)