Have you seen Thierry [Levy]? He has still not responded to my question on the amount of space that we can obtain for the sum of 7,000 francs, nor has he sent me the second judgment pronounced against Le Journal du dimanche. Thus judgment is, moreover, quite mitigated: it retains the public insult but sets aside the defamation. It is necessary to confess that the passages cited were quite badly chosen: as a lawyer would say, "we have chosen badly."[1] Especially see to it that Thierry does not publish in any newspaper a text that he himself has selected, with the customary clarity and precision of his personal style!
I saw our novelist[2] here for three days. Naturally, we have much sympathy. He does not want to use a pseudonym, which he judges to be inefficacious and perhaps even rather compromised (the image of a kind of transparent clandestinity?) and I agreed with his reasons all the more because, as you know, I myself have not been quite convinced of the value of such a display. He does not think he can bring his wife[3] in the current period. He asked my advice concerning a trust letter, which he seems to want to show that his "work" has been real. I have not seen this letter. I told him that, in this matter, he must do everything that you advise him to do, and that he must consider you exactly as he considered Gerard [Lebovici], although in a less easy situation. He will go to see you.
We embrace you.[1] Allusion to "We will do them," pronounced by a lawyer whose client was sentenced to many years in prison.
[2] Mezioud Ouldamer.
[3] Who remained in Kabylia [Algeria].
(Published in Guy Debord Correspondance, Vol 5: Janvier 1979-Decembre 1987 by Librairie Artheme Fayard, 2006. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! May 2007. Footnotes by Alice Debord.)