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 intelligence 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 Sex: Surrealist Discussions 1928 - 1932.

Translated by: Malcolm Imrie