Psychogeography

By Merlin Coverley

In recent years the term "psychogeography" has been used to illustrate a bewildering array of ideas from ley lines and the occult, to urban walking and political radicalism. But where does it come from and what exactly does it mean? This book examines the origins of psychogeography in the Paris of the 1950s, exploring the theoretical background and its political application in the work of Guy Debord and the Situationists. Psychogeography continues to find retrospective validation in much earlier traditions, from the visionary writing of William Blake and Thomas De Quincey to the rise of the flâneur and the avant-garde experimentation of the Surrealists. These precursors to psychogeography are discussed here alongside their modern counterparts, for today these ideas hold greater currency than ever through the popularity of writers and filmmakers such as Iain Sinclair, Will Self and Patrick Keiller. From the urban wanderer to the armchair traveller, psychogeography provides us with new ways of experiencing our environment, transforming the familiar streets of our everyday experience into something new and unexpected. Merlin Coverley conducts the reader through this process, providing an explanation of the terms involved and an analysis of the key figures and their works.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pocket Essentials
• Release date: Jun 28, 2018
• ISBN: 9780857302724

Merlin Coverley

Merlin Coverley is the author of seven books: London Writing, Psychogeography, Occult London, Utopia, The Art of Wandering, South and Hauntology. He lives in London.

Reviews for Psychogeography

[colinsky_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book got off to a slow start and I worried that the author may have left out too much in the effort to conform to the 'essentials' format. But the second half of the book contains some pricelessly funny judgements of an intellectual movement that, despite having promise, had a hard time getting off the ground because most of the main proponents were, well, nuts. The idea that cities have secret organic properties that transcend time and influence the behaviour of their occupants is one that I find extremely compelling, though I'd want to put it on more of a scientific basis than a mystical one. This book also made me want to read JG Ballard and Peter Ackroyd's Hawksmoor.

[steve38 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A really good little guide and introduction to the pseudo-science ( or is it an art form?) of psychogeography. Dr Coverley has produced a readable guide with plenty of references that tempt you to look further. He flecks it with little spots of mildly cynical humour that keeps everything in perspective. When I put it down I was immediately tempted to pick up my notebook, pencil and camera and go for an aimless wander around the city seeing and recording whatever turned up or whatever caught my eye.