STRATFORD, Mar (ed.)
“The Misery of Love” & other essays from Social Disease / “Misère de l’amour” & autres textes du Fléau Social

From 1972 to 1974, the anonymous writers of Le Fléau Social – members of group 5 of FHAR (Front Homosexuel d’Action Révolutionnaire) – offered groundbreaking, incisive, and sweeping critiques of social relationships through the lens of Situationism. Arguing that true revolution – the kind of complete and irreversible revolution longed for in the wake of such revolutionary moments as the May 1968 student uprisings and the 1969 Stonewall riots – would change every aspect of society, it was clear that affective relationships – how we love, how we feel pleasure – would necessarily be changed as well, and thus deserved examination as much as the traditional questions of labor or politics. The voices in the essays speak with urgency, and do not compromise in their expression. Beyond the theoretical insights of the text, the emotional truth of history comes through in the spaces of contradiction, and allusions to intercommunity conflicts. These essays were written without constraints for an immediate audience of comrades and peers; with this translation of the collection, that audience now includes us. [publishers’ note]

Includes: “The Misery of Love” / “Misère de l’amour” from Fléau Social #2, 1972; “The Little Penguins” / “Les Pingouines” from Fléau Social #3, 1973; “Put an End to Sex,” from Fléau Social #4, 1973; “The Dance Macabre of Sex Around the Icy Blades of Ennui,” from Fléau Social #5-6, 1974; “Several Propositions: Excerpt from Run, Comrade, The Old World Is Behind You” / “Quelques propositions: Extraits de Cours, camarade, le vieux monde est derrière toi,” from Fléau Social #1, 1972.

Translated & edited by Mar Stratford. 32 pgs, bound with Chicago screws. Covers printed on French Pink Lemonade card stock, interiors printed on off white French text weight paper. Printed and assembled in ”Kingston, New York,“ the unceded and occupied lands of the Haudenosaunee, Mohican, Munsee Lenape, and Schaghticoke tribes. First printing, edition of 150.

English only.

Published by Spiral Editions, 2024
Design by The Aliens
Anthologies / Queer Culture