Henri Lefebvre, Boredom, and Everyday Life

Patrick Gamsby is scholarly communications librarian at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

• Chapter 1: The Birth of Boredom in ModernityChapter 2: The Absence of Style in Everyday LifeChapter 3: The Incredible Dullness of UrbanismChapter 4: The Endless Yawn of the SuburbsChapter 5: The Emptiness of ConsumptionChapter 6: The Numbness of Work

Perhaps a book about boredom should be boring. Much of the text summarizes writings by other scholars, with whom few readers will be familiar, although Gamsby's presentation of Henri Lefebvre’s critique of everyday life within modern capitalism as generating boredom is interesting. However, contemporary life is hardly unique in its boredom. Medieval peasants faced repetitious tedium as they continually tilled the soil. Their boredom was punctuated with frequent festivals. As Gamsby details, industrial capitalism brought scientific management, which stripped production workers of creativity and independence.Even for middle managers and professionals, leisure became routinized and required for keeping up with theJoneses through conspicuous consumption. Corporations doubly profit by exploiting employees and selling them back the latest styles. Urban planners, real estate developers, and companies with indistinguishable branches have destroyed the unique character of most cities. However, the boredom of the city is dwarfed by the monotony of the suburb, a relatively recent creation of the same institutions that ruined urban vibrancy. There, residents who have supposedly achieved the capitalist dream either creep along in rush-hour traffic jams or fill empty hours staring at the television. Recommended. Graduate students and faculty.