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This unique selection presents the essential elements of Sartre's lifework -- organized systematically and made available in one volume for the first time in any language. ... Read more

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Fair and far-reaching overview of Jean-Paul Sartre's work
(I was introduced to philosophy through the work of Thomas Nagel andJean-Paul Sartre.)

An excellent introduction to Jean-Paul Sartre's work, both chronologically and conceptually. Sartre has much to say about everything from love and art to consciousness and personal identity. His insights are profound and in many ways have much relevance to every day life. I would recommend his work to anyone, but especially philosophers, psychologists and ministers/priests.

Wonderful Sartrean examinations and crituques
This volume contains exceptional philosophical articles on the philosophy of Sartre.It covers every and all aspect of his life and thoughts. The critiques pull no punches and omit nothing.This work takes a hard look at the soundness of Sartre's philosophy.To find out if they hold up, readthis volume.p.s. The interview with Sartre durring his later years isworth the price of the book alone.If you like Sartre, you will love thisbook. ... Read more

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An extraordinary picture of life in France during the critical eight days before the signing of the fateful Munich Pact and the subsequent takeover of Czechoslovakia in September 1938.Translated from the French by Eric Sutton. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Many Brilliant Characters Bring a Historical Crisis to Life
In THE REPRIEVE, Sartre follows the actions and thoughts of roughly 20 major characters from September 23rd to September 30th 1938. This is the week when the Sudeten crisis--Hitler's bullying scheme to annex part of Czechoslovakia---reached its climax and the French were mobilizing for war.

In THE REPRIEVE, Sartre goes at his charactes from all directions. Sometimes, he contrasts their reactions to this crisis. At one point, for example, the college boy Boris romanticizes a war to preserve Czechoslovakia, calmly considering death in battle his destiny. Meanwhile, Mathieu, a professor, believes the war has annulled his life, making his past a lie. Other times, Sartre raises a theme--innocence, martyrdom, or existential freedom. Then, his characters, through their actions, reveal the fullness of these themes. For example, the issue of martyrdom in THE REPRIEVE is embodied in the stories of Charles (a disabled veteran of The Great War), Gomez (a Republican soldier returning to the lost Spanish Civil War), and Philippe (a confused teenage pacifist who takes pointless risks to express his conscience).

Adding to the richness of THE REPRIEVE are roughly 10 couples, whose relationships range from passionate (Maurice and Zezette) to sterile (Jacques and Odette) and in which the experiences of partners range from empowered (Ivich) to powerless (Mathieu). Sartre moves the effects of the Sudeten crisis through these relationships as well, giving added depth to his characters.

In THE REPRIEVE, Sartre consistently employs a technique that is like cross-cuts in the movies. In the introduction to my edition , David Caute, observes: "Sartre now unveils the formidable resources of the modern novel (and indeed modern cinema...) to move from one location to the next with lightning rapidity, often in mid-sentence. What emerges is a collective stream of consciousness fashioned out of a mosaic of individual lives, each thrashing to be free of the looming... war."

To illustrate how this works, I open THE REPREIVE at random to page 211, where Sartre cuts back and forth between three characters that are on trains. These are: the gurney-bound Charles, who is being evacuated in a freight car from the frontier; Georges, a thirty-something bourgeois father who is reporting to military duty and finding the experience surprisingly benign; and Maurice, a working class man and communist who, for nationalistic reasons, is joining his unit to fight in a war that communists then considered just-deserts for capitalism. Certainly, it's impressive that Sartre is able to maintain absolute clarity of character and situation as he cuts from train to train. But what's really impressive is his control of the narrative, which has enabled him to put three contrasting characters and stories on trains at the same moment. Throughout, THE REPREIVE has this amazing layering of complementary incident. But its effects may culminate as Karl, a young German, and Ella, a young French Jew, listen to the broadcast of Hitler's Big-Lie speech, when he justifies Nazi aggression toward Czechoslovakia.

Sartre's writing in THE REPRIEVE is exceptional. Usually, this takes the form of incredible precision. Even so, Sartre does put the character Mathieu at a midnight outdoor table at the Cafédes Deux Magots. There, he observes: "A woman clattered along in a hurry... a harassed mortal denizen to time, devoured by a thousand little schemes, she lifted a hand and smoothed back a stray lock of hair. I was like her once: a hive of schemes... The darkness swallowed her up as she pattered into the rue Bonaparte... clacking heels were silent."

A great novel and highly recommended.

A philosophical potboiler...
*The Reprieve* is the second book in Sartre's epic World War II trilogy, which starts with *The Age of Reason* and ends with *Troubled Sleep.* Because it happened to be the one I found in the library, I started in medias res, so to speak, with *The Reprieve.*

Maybe the greatest compliment that I can pay this novel is thateven after 450 pages I immediately ordered the other two in the trilogy and can hardly wait to start *The Age of Reason.* It's hard to believe that the same author who, in *Being and Nothingness,* gave the world what is probably the most turgid philosophical masterpiece since the works of Hegel can write a novel as quickly paced, as compulsively readable, and as utterly absorbing as *The Reprieve.* Indeed I'd been prejudiced for years against reading this trilogy because I couldn't imagine it being anything but the dullest sort of fictional clunker.

I couldn't have been more wrong!

The war hasn't even started in *The Reprieve* and yet the drama is perhaps all the more intense for the oppressive sense of the storm of blood and steel about to break. The novel covers about a week in France during which the major European powers attempt a last-minute negotiation with Hitler to maintain the peace. Sartre tells the story of this tense week through the viewpoints of a wide variety of characters from every strata of French society. In doing so, he dramatizes the impact the shadow even a looming war can throw over individual lives--paradoxically defining and negating the very concepts of freedom and individuality. On the verge of being swept into history, Sartre's characters are also on the verge of being annihilated...and on some level, whether it's instinctual, intellectual, or emotional, each of them know it and each experience a kind of terrified exhilaration.

This is a deeply philosophical novel but not in a heavy-handed or didactic way. There are very few "philosophical digressions" in the true sense in *The Reprieve*; rather Sartre's philosophy permeates the entire novel from beginning to end in so seamless and un-intrusive a fashion that you experience an understanding of existentialism from the gut. And this is perfectly as it should be; for existentialism is a response as well as a manifestation of a felt sense of being, the nausea resulting from the absurdity of human life, not an arid and wholly theoretical intellectual exercise. What is so riveting, rare, and admirable about *The Reprieve* is that Sartre--a bona-fide major philosopher--was able to repackage his ideas with the skill of a first-rate novelist.

Sorry Jean-Paul. I had you pegged wrong. You beat the pants off Camus hands-down.

why appeasement doesn'twork
this is sartre's 2nd book in the "roads to freedom" series. i stongly suggest that you read them in order as one builds off the other. i liked this book alot, but it was not as powerful as "the age of reason"(see my review).

the books tells of the 5 days preceeding the munich agreement when all of europe was gearing up for war. a general knowledge of that historical moment would be very beneficial in understanding the book. unlike the 1st book which follows the traditional storytelling mode, this book jumps from scene to scene with great rapidity. these jumps can occur in the middle of a paragraph and sometimes in the middle of a sentence. this kaleidoscopic effect can be frustrating at first, but as you get comfortable with it and the various characters and story lines, it is very easy to catch the jumps. as a matter fact, it actually gives the storyline a much greater sense of movement and action than without it.

the title comes from the fact that the munich agreement does not really prevent the war as it was first thought it would do by the signators. it simply put off the inevitable. as a matter of fact, europe's giving up of czechoslovakian territory to hitler may have actually emboldened him to grab more territory, thereby starting the war. appeasement didn't work then either.

the individual stories cover a myriad of issues from cowardice to duty from both men's and women's perspectives. since it involves mainly the french, it even gives some historical insight into why the french are the way they are today.

both of these books show sartre as an excellent story teller who incorporates challenging and thoughtful themes that keep you pondering long after you have turned the last page.

There is no fog in Paris in this novel
However one disagrees with Sartre's philosophy, his Marxism, and his anti-Americanism, it is difficult to argue against his personal involvement in what he believed in. Sartre was no pipe-smoking, arm-chair academic content to let others do his fighting. He was always there on the front-lines, perhaps bellicose in his utterings, but always visible. An issue he disagreed with never experienced-his-absence, and Sartre did not hesitate to also be a novelist-philosopher, and as such, he showed more moral courage than perhaps any 20th century philosopher. The equality of idea and action was perhaps an axiom for Sartre, and his life was definitely an empirical validation of such.

Definitely introspective to extremes, this novel, the second in his series "The Roads to Freedom", is the ultimate portrayal of life in France before the Munich Pact and the takeover of Czechoslovakia in 1938. As a reader, it is easy to get trapped in the stream of consciousness approach that Sartre takes in his novel. Each character is not to be found alone, but immersed in the quagmire of panic, and for some, exhiliration, at the prospect of wartime conflict. The characters define themselves by the instant, their attitudes caught in the flux, that flux impossible to arrest, but their choices completely free nonetheless. Their individuality is sometimes robbed by the gaze of the other, but captured again by choice. Ideology has a short time scale for them.

Sartre does not really shout at the reader through his characters. But their predicament is believable. Their anxiety sometimes familiar, but they also have a perhaps hidden optimism. They know it is themselves, and no other, that determines their future history. The (burden?) of choice is with them always, and they understand fully the power of consequences. But choice works for them as well as against. This makes the appreciation of these characters easy and familiar.

the collective consciousness.
The only thing I will comment (because I do not give away the book) is the writing style.If you are expecting "Age of Reason" part II, then you will not get what you were looking for...the writing style or mode is very different.The way the book is put together is there aremany characters all in different parts of French territory in different walks of life, ages, sexes, etc.Often times when you are reading you will lose sight of where one character speaks or thinks and the next one.you will have to go line by line in the same paragraph, where a sentence ina paragraph represents a though of a different character and that character will not be identified...but you will know...but it becomes irrelevant who says or feels what because it is about the collective consciousness of french people in the midst of war...and this is the biggest success of the book is that this technique so succesful and masterfully implemented.It makes the book feel like events are happening so quickly and things are moving so fast which lends to the urgency of the situation in France.I feel like its a forrest fire...that starts with a brush and picks up momentum until its raging!There are new characters in this book and he has carried the old characters over.Please do yourself a favor and do not read the series out of order. ... Read more

Product Description
The classic Existentialist novel, with a new introduction by renowned poet, translator, and critic Richard Howard.Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature, Jean-Paul Sartre, Frenchphilosopher, critic, novelist, and dramatist, holds a position ofsingular eminence in the world of letters. Among readers and criticsfamiliar with the whole of Sartre's work, it is generally recognizedthat his earliest novel, La Nausée (first published in 1938), ishis finest and most significant. It is unquestionably a key novel of thetwentieth century and a landmark in Existentialist fiction.

Nauseais the story of Antoine Roquentin, a French writer who is horrified athis own existence. In impressionistic, diary form he ruthlesslycatalogues his every feeling and sensation. His thoughts culminate in apervasive, overpowering feeling of nausea which "spreads at the bottomof the viscous puddle, at the bottom of our time—the time of purplesuspenders and broken chair seats; it is made of wide, soft instants,spreading at the edge, like an oil stain." Roquentin's efforts to cometo terms with life, his philosophical and psychological struggles, giveSartre the opportunity to dramatize the tenets of his Existentialistcreed. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (99)

Eh...
If you've read Sartre, then I don't think there are any surprises to be found here. Similar motifs at work, it's just I thought this would be a little more interesting than what it ended up being. Again, if you are a Sartre fan, then you will probably enjoy this book, but I don't know if you will learn anything new from it. If you haven't ever read Sartre, then don't start here. Maybe try No Exit.

Beautifully written, bad philosophy
Sartre seems to have made a point in his life obscuring his philosophical standpoints by giving sparse and rather farfetched metaphorical argumentation.
I kept on thinking Antoine Roquentin was having a crazy, paranoid trip; not that he was realizing absurdity of life. This is accentuated by hallucinatory descriptions of the world. When he finally realizes, I was inclined to slap him around, scream 'DUH'. He's whiny all the way through, though I still found him rather likeable. Yet I hated his criticism of other people, like he was saying "nothing matters, but I still thoroughly hate everyone who I think disagrees like it does matter", unconvincingly portraying realists or idealists like infantile fats. But I guess those were different times.
There's not much of a plot in here, but I enjoyed the Autodidact's character and the pure literary aspect of it. By way of philosophy it's rather weak. It makes me glad analytic philosophy happened.

STAY AWAY P.O.S. BOOK ALERT!!!!
I gave up on page 92 when I noticed I kept rereading the same pages again and again not retaining anything from the previous time.....this book is terrible to the core......its the same problem I have with Camus you have The Stranger on one hand, then The Rebel in the other.....these pussyass frenchman questioning their existence because of WWI is annoying....grow some balls and become an alchoholic like the post war American Writers did.

You want the plot a guy is writing a book, or maybe he isnt, he meets people, or maybe he just looks at them..they talk....he listens......he describes things.....he walks around....he sees a pederast with his hands down his pants looking at a little girl it might have been a boy I dont remember he did say something funny to him though.....he tries to write his book, he hates his book....he hates life....he hates himself....he has a girlfriend I think....he hates her...they have a picnic....the food disgust him.....he skips the bill at a Cafe...he makes 90 year old refrences to france....I think his city is fictional, I bet he hates that to...he hates forks.....blah blah blah...

If you want good french writers stick with Celine and Genet or

And the Point is...?

Antoine Roquentin is writing an historical novel. He wonders about the person he is ressurecting from scattered accounts and documents. Who is he bringing into existence?. He ponders his own life, the existence all around him,his existence. All created and recreated every minute. 'I think therefore I am' or is it 'I am therefore I think'? Does our will determine what our existence is? He feels nausea at the futility of existence and its creation.....
Maybe if I'd read this as a teenager it might have made some impression, though I doubt it. I never bought into existentialism and found discussions on it tedious to the extreme. To me it was a philosophy with a gaping hole; a turkey of an idea waiting to be shot at! For pseuds only!
Written in the 1930's, this certainly had an impact on intellectual thought, but so many better propositions have been put forward on the nature of being and reality coupled with the fact you never see any socialogical or psychological premises explained with; 'The existential view point is...' means it is (rightfully to my mind) very old hat and passe.
The idea that individual will forms our existence is only ok up to a point. Humans exist in societies. we are social animals. Environment, disability, culture etc all influence and add to our 'existence' and I've always been cynical of the concept that nothing exists until we create or know about it (its just a childish mind game devoid of merit) For eg-Austrailia was 'discovered' (and therefore existed) in and since 1769. So what were the Aborigines doing for 10,000 years? Wondering where the bloody hell they were till Cook arrived ?!
Also existentialism is very old hat, pre dated by socialization models and also the great eastern philosophies that 3000 years before Sartre considered the role of free will in determining our actions as the old idea of cause and affect didn't explain things.
I love philosophy and thought, but existentialism leaves me with nothing fresh to contemplate. Rather it justs invokes the response; 'Yeah? So?'.
'Nausea is a tedious pretentious book, unsatisfying as both a piece of literature and philosophical treatise.
Sartres truly great work emerges in his 'Roads to Freedom ' trilogy, which are pregnant with ideas and as a piece of literature, 'The Reprieve' is one of the most fabulous books I have ever read. I would strongly recommend you read these three books and totally forget this piece of embarrassing drivel.
Sartre deserves his place, but not for this.

Good philosophy doesn't have to be boring
This is a seminal book on existentialism in particular and philosophy in general. Unfortunately, Sartre didn't make it as interesting as it could have been. He painstakingly describes every surrounding object or person in order to convey his sense of 'nausea'. But in doing so he bores the reader at times.

You don't have to be boring to write a good philosophical book. Some philosophers seem to be afraid of actions and events. Perhaps to them events represent something ephemeral, childish, something that would belittle them if they descend and discuss it. I think that no good philosopher should avoid dipping himself in the world with its events and details; this world is the only world we've got after all...
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Concise account of Sartre
Its thesis, that what we call freedom is the irreducibility of cultural order to natural order, forms the basis for an examination of contemporary Marxism, which Sartre calls "arrested."

What does that mean, cultural order irreducible to natural order? For one thing, a la Kierkegaard, we don't see consciousness thru the lens of a microscope; we see brain cells. For another, people are not compelled by their drives or their DNA to be farmers, stock brokers, or thieves. @The same time, life choices are not the sole domain of operant conditioning. The more desperate of us choose that way to spend our lives that has not been cut off to us by others.

Sartre's example was the Royal Air Corps Negro airplane mechanic: the profession of pilot was cut off to people of African descent because it was believed that they lacked, as baseball exec. Al Campanis said years later, the necessities (natural attributes). This mechanic stole a plane & flew it to France. Of course, he went to prison, even while the Air Corps brain trust wondered how he'd flown the plane anyway: could they have been wrong?

The "method" that Sartre chooses after his search is one developed by an old Sartre foil, Henri Lefebvre: the progressive-regressive method. What are people doing? What are their present circumstances? What are their historical antecedents? Sartre concludes that this method offers the most accurate account of why people are doing whatever they're doing (living la vida loca, fomenting revolution, or fouling up the economy) @any particular moment. Sartre expanded on this method in the sequels to "Search," Critique of Dialectical Reason I & II & in his multi-volume biography of Flaubert.

The Dawn of Marxist Existentialism
As the quote on the cover suggests, this may very well be "the most important work of Sartre's to be translated since Being and Nothingness."To be sure, The Critique of Dialectical Reason may be also, or even The Family Idiot.But it must also be recalled that Search for a Method, while first published as an occasional piece for a Czech journal, was latter published as the introduction to The Critique, and, moreover, Sartre states that The Family Idiot is in fact the sequel to Search in the preface of the former tome.Indeed, both of these works are much more comprehensible after having read Search.The reason being is that Search outlines the method and general strategy utilized in both of those books (and in Saint Genet to some extent even though it came out prior).The method is of course the progressive regressive method and the strategy is a quasi anthropology mixed occasionally with a new hybrid of existential psychoanalysis.As the two major works that came out of Search can attest - those being The Critique and FI - his method is equally accessible to both large scale cultural descriptions (the Critique) and in depth profiles of a single individual.The former case asks 'what are the conditions that have created modern western man as we know him,' the latter asks what are the conditions that have created this particular individual.'

For those who are aquainted with Sartre's earlier existential writings, this kind of thinking may seem altogether foreign.The old Sartre would have been loathe to suggest any form of conditioning or that one has been made in some way or other.But, this is part of the reason why many feel he abandoned his existentialism.I, on the other hand, do not feel that he did at all.In fact I suggest his existentialism is richer and his arguments more tenable in his later phase.As Sartre himself suggested in an interview late in his life, "life taught me the force of circumstances."It will be circumstances, both grand and minute, that all go into forming the people we are, both collectively and individually.Circumstances are, in other words, the factical moments out of which our contingent choices are made.Thus, Search sets out to examine a methodology that can account for both the factical and contingent, the necessary and the random, in the making of a people, person, or culture.

By Sartre standards this is a relatively easy read with a big payoff.As I mentioned, it is crucial to understanding the major works that would follow, as well as the occasional and literary works that would follow, e.g. his many writings on politics and even plays such as Condemned of Altona.But I also feel it stands well by itself and I do not feel that the reader necessarily have a background in Being and Nothingness or earlier Sartre to get something out of it.Indeed, it is also an excellent source for those seeking alternatives to the various more popular forms of psychoanalysis as well as cultural studies.Sartre was a maverick, no doubt, and often he failed in his attempts to construct a solid theory.But here, in Search, I believe that Sartre is at his best and most profound.

wonderfully evinced
Professor Barnes easily makes clear Satre's works even through his haze of Extentialism.As Sartre gave us his posture of dialectical materialism, Professor Barnes clearly explains Sartre. Thank you Professor Barnes, and, do it again and again, please.

This is the best and most concise intro to Sartre.
"Search for a Method" was originally intended as a postcript tothe 1960 "Critique of Dialectical Reason," but it became theintro & then was published separately. Its thesis, "Cultural orderis irreducible to natural order," forms the basis for an examinationof contemporary Marxism, which Sartre calls "arrested." Between"Being and Nothingness" and the often puzzling posthumousmaterial, this is the best and most concise intro to Sartre by Sartre.Kudos to Professor Barnes for another outstanding translation! ... Read more

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In this book, France's leading existentialist writer examines the function of consciousness in creating a world of unrealities. Sartre reveals a new way of conceiving of consciousness, the nature of psychic life, and the mind's complex relationship with the external world. ... Read more

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Examination of human consciousness; philosophy, metaphysics, semantics, existentialism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Skip the Tintoretto
Rather than tackle Being & Nothingness (B&N) straightaway, the curious reader interested in exploring Sartre may find this volume a good introduction and preparation before deciding to take on B&N. In fact the first section of this book is actually taken from B&N. The Citadel Press version of B&N is definitely a more reader-friendly book than the Washington Square Press version: the type is cleaner and bigger; the paper is better quality; and the book is just overall better-looking. Unfortunately, it is an abridged version. One entire beginning section has been excised and placed into this volume as Section I. The rationale for this move (as far as I can tell) was that Sartre had republished this particular section at a later date in another volume of essays, incorporating some minor revisions. It amounts to some 60 or so pages of text. Citadel apparently chose to publish only the later version of the text in this volume of essays and cut it out of their edition of B&N. At any rate, reading this first section will give you a generous foretaste of B&N.

The second section is titled "A Sketch on the Theory of Emotions", an early essay that pre-dates B&N by some ten years. As Robert Solomon has written in his excellent book of essays, "From Hegel to Existentialism", this essay provides acomprehensive introduction to B&N in its own right, and is far clearer than the "oqaque" Introduction of B&N itself. It explains Sartre's theory of emotions, a theory he continued to hold throughout his life, even though he never got around to fleshing it out. (Incidentally, Solomon's book provides a penetrating critique of this essay, and is highly recommended.)

The third section is on mental imaging. I found this particular essay to be fascinating reading. It is an exploration of how the mind grapples with difficult concepts by creating mental images of them to help it conceptualize and assimilate them.

The final section of essays is on aesthetics, and was for me the most tedious and uninteresting of the lot. In particular the essay on the Renaissance painter Tintoretto was an absolute chore to read. Sartre psychoanalyses Tintoretto, and really seems to go over the top in analyzing his mind and historical situation. The essay seems to go on forever, is repetitious, and drifts aimlessly.

Jean Wahl's Introduction to Existentialism appears at the beginning of this volume. It was an address which he delivered to various professors in 1946. It is a gentle, sympathetic, non-rigorous introduction, covering all the major figures and themes. Wahl does an excellent job of explaining just what existentialism is. You will, for example, learn exactly what is meant by the phrase "existence precedes essence."

All in all, this book provides a great introduction to Sartre's writing.

Don't miss this book, it will change your life!!!
The scientific study of human nature is primarily a semantic one. This book is a wonderful analysis of consciousness and existence. Check this one out. To Sarte, tally hoe!!!!!! ... Read more

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"What is Literature?" remains the most significant critical landmark of French literature since World War II. Neither abstract nor abstruse, it is a brilliant, provocative performance by a writer more inspired than cautious.

"What is Literature?" challenges anyone who writes as if literature could be extricated from history or society. But Sartre does more than indict. He offers a definitive statement about the phenomenology of reading, and he goes on to provide a dashing example of how to write a history of literature that takes ideology and institutions into account.

This new edition of "What is Literature?" also collects three other crucial essays of Sartre's for the first time in a volume of his. The essays presenting Sartre's monthly, Les Temps modernes, and on the peculiarly French manner of nationalizing literature do much to create a context for Sartre's treatise. "Black Orpheus" has been for many years a key text for the study of black and third-world literatures.

Customer Reviews (2)

empty philosophizing
I couldn't get over 20 pages of this essay without groaning from exasperation. The famous philosopher is presenting such a silly argument trying to distinguish prose from poetry equaling poetry to painting and music and for some reason leaving out prose as a special art which uses words to convey messages and opinions while poetry employs words to create an image not unlike the painting. For anyone more or less acquainted with the best works of literature, such separations would seem silly. Would we consider then Hemingway's short stories written with paratactic barren phrases prose or poetry? would would Sartre say about Nabokov's novels? the border between prose and poetry, literature and painting, literature and music is not that defined. different arts use different languages and codes ad are limited in their own way but it is impossible and ultimately unwise to try to create a theory separating poetry from prose on the basis of how the writers use language and what the ultimate goal of writing is. There are poetic novels that are written in such a way a mere glance at any paragraph would betray the hand of a writer, there are novels in verse like Eugene Onegin, there are finally poetry of thought dwelling on abstract ideas.

Better than i expected
Like most other people, I first read Sartre early in my time at college- Nausea, Being & Nothingness, Words. And I was, of course, smitten by this man who understood so well my experience of isolation, freedom and how irritating it is when tools don't work properly and when other young men and women looked at me. And then, like (I hope) most other people (including, it must be said, Sartre), I got over it, realized that the world existed neither to irritate me nor to coddle me, and that there were more important things than the state of my Existence.

So I didn't exactly have high expectations of this, and was very pleasantly surprised. Sartre's argument is based on a pretty dodgy philosophy, but quite valid feelings: anger at injustice, love of literature. Like most philosophies of literature, he makes absurd and stupid generalizations (the poet 'considers words as things, not signs' and so isn't like a 'writer'), but at least his largest generalization isn't an insult to human beings: the act of writing, he argues, is an act of freedom addressed to other free humans who happen at present to be in terrible situations of unfreedom. The relation between writer and reader can be an ideal image of a world in which people aren't forced to work in jobs they hate, or do anything else they hate for that matter. I'll take that over 'the act of writing is the putting into question of literature' any day. "The work of art, from whichever side you approach it, is an act of confidence in the freedom of men." And, I assume, women.

So Sartre argues that the writer is addressing both a real public - the people who do actually read her - and a virtual public, the people who could conceivably read her. In different historical periods these two audiences will more or less match up: when the society is one of minimal freedom for most people (Sartre's example is the 17th century), the virtual audience is more or less absent; when the society has the potential for greater freedom, the virtual audience expands (e.g., modernity.) But in any case, the writer must address her 'virtual' public through her real one. Abstract palaver has no place in Sartre's theory.

He follows this up with a great history of 20th century literature in France, which is basically a critique of surrealism and the communist party (it's important to note the latter, since everyone - including myself up till now - seems to think Sartre was a Stalinist), and the last chapter is a rousing call for writers to care about what they do. ... Read more

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In 1952, Jean-Paul Sartre engaged Albert Camus in a celebrated and bitter public confrontation that had wide-ranging cultural significance. This book contains the first English translation of the five texts constituting this famous philosophical quarrel. Personally animated, passionately argued, polemically focused, this confrontation was as much a personal encounter as it was a theoretical debate. Alternating between stylistic brilliance and stinging sarcasm, each draws upon their years of past involvement as former friends both to make their criticisms more pointed and their theoretical critique more challenging. At the same time, their views serve as lightning rods for the wider cultural forces of which they are partial expressions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Is there a third way?
Not only does this book contain the original articles that comprise one of the great intellectual debates of the last century, it also has very helpful contextual commentary by the editors.

One can substitute terrorism for Stalinism and the debate is, if you will forgive the cliche, as current as the headlines. But it most certainly is not at all like the sound bite debates of Cross Fire. Great breath and depth in the arguments of the participants - anguished arguments about the relationships betweenmeans and ends, justice and freedom; and finally personal responsibility.

Camus corectly sees Stalinism, read terrorism, an an unmitigated evil. Yet, he sought to live as neither victim nor executioner. That caused him no end of grief, especially as he confronted the Algerian situation. Nevertheless his arguments call to mind the views of the Polish and Czech dissidents in the 80s. An anti-politics, a living "as if" one were free. No crusade to eliminate evil from the earth, no war; rather a third way.

Sartre on the other hand saw Stalinism as an understandable, even necessary, response to the injustice inflicted on the wretched of the earth. His understanding of human nature, dare one use that term in discussing Sartre, was such that chioce was required in all circumstances. By this time, in Sartre's thinking, no third way was possible. If the choice is between victim or executioner, he would choose executioner.

Sartre is correct, one must choose. Camus is correct, there is a third way. Enter the debate if you dare. There is no easy exit.

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The first novel of Sartre's monumental Roads to Freedom series, The Age of Reason is set in 1938 and tells of Mathieu, a French professor of philosophy who is obsessed with the idea of freedom. As the shadows of the Second World War draw closer -- even as his personal life is complicated by his mistress's pregnancy -- his search for a way to remain free becomes more and more intense.

"Entertaining...the characters are well observed and conscientiously and intelligently studied."

-- Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

High-Minded Egoist in Domestic Crisis (and Astonishing Insect Metaphors)
Mathieu Delarue, a 34-year old philosophy professor, has led his life so that he has maintained complete freedom, which he defines as closing off no possibilities in his future. This makes philosophical sense to Mathieu, who wants his freedom in place, if and when he is required to perform a great act of conscience or begin a mission of self-fulfillment. It's 1938 and going to Spain to fight the Fascists has been tempting but not quite right. Meanwhile, Mathieu remains interested in the life of Gauguin, who, in his forties, left a Sunday-painter's life in France to become a great painter in Tahiti.

While Mathieu has lofty philosophical ideas, the effect of his freedom, he admits, has been to "dexterously construct an undistinguished but solid happiness upon the basis of inertia and to justify himself from time to time on the highest moral grounds." He is, in the words of other characters, a small-time government official, a solid member of the bourgeoisie, and a person whose relationship with Marcelle, his long-time girlfriend, is indistinguishable from a marriage.

Then, Marcelle becomes pregnant and Mathieu, who wastes his money drinking with students in bars, has to choose. Will there be an abortion, enabling Mathieu to preserve his so-called freedom? Or, will Mathieu marry Marcelle and basically recognize the nature of the prosaic life he has made?

Then, add to this dynamic an evil and manipulative friend who resents Mathieu's bogus sense of freedom, a childish female student who has come to represent freedom in Mathieu's mind, and a lack of money to pay for a safe abortion. The effect of this literary concoction is an absolutely great and riveting tale, where Mathieu comes to terms with his illusions and responsibilities. And, it has a surprise ending!

But say you don't like novels in which a protagonist confronts the nature and limits of his or her life? Then, read THE AGE OF REASON anyway, simply to enjoy Sartre's amazing writing. In this case, read with a ready eye for his numerous descriptions of light in Paris or for his amazing facility with similes and metaphors. You're only in Chapter 1, for example, when you read:

"Her mouth snapped out the last words: a varnished mauve-tinted mouth, like a crimson insect intent upon devouring that ashen visage."

"She collapsed on to his shoulder, sobbed a little, but she did not cry. It was all the she could allow herself: a rainless storm."

A great book and highly recommended.

If only for Ivich, this book is worth it.
Ivich is amazing. She has haunted me. I've chased her down the street in a hundred cities.

Defective Book Shipped by Amazon
The first 3-5 lines of the following pages were poorly printed and the remainder of the pages were blank. The defectively printed pages were 291, 292, 293, & 294 plus pages 299, 300, 301, & 302. I have never before received a defective book from Amazon, in spite of the large number of books that I have purchased from them.

Something like a French Dostoyevsky...
Having already read *The Reprieve,* I have now finished two-thirds of Sartre's "Roads to Freedom" trilogy--that's over 800 pages--and I cannot wait to begin the third volume...that's how compelling I find these novels. It's difficult to explain their appeal. In *The Age of Reason,* a philosophy professor discovers his lover is pregnant and spends the next two days frantically trying to raise enough money for an abortion. His life zigzags haphazardly through a rich cast of characters whose stories and intertwined fates--complex, tragic, absurd--continue in the next volume.

What Sartre does is immerse us in the struggles of these characters as they each attempt to define and make sense of their lives...this struggle informed, of course, by the existential principles of Sartre's own philosophy. What Sartre does so well in *The Age of Reason* is to portray the psychological torment of men and women under even fairly ordinary circumstances. Here is the quiet drama of consciousness, the sufferings of daily life...at least as it is experienced by those who give it any thought.

What does it mean to be free--to have a life that means something? These are the questions that obsess Mathieu as he runs into one dead-end after another in his search for the abortion fee and at the same time wallows in a hopeless erotic obsession with a self-destructive young female student. All the distinctive trappings of a French existential novel are here--the drinking, the brooding, the café's, the jazz bars, the intellectual dissection of every act and motive, the relentless self-analysis...it's a riveting read if you don't require a lot of explosions, kidnappings, and sordid murders to entertain you.

Unlike his stylistic experimentation in *The Reprieve,* Sartre narrates *The Age of Reason* in a traditional, straightforward style, but it's no less briskly-paced; if anything, there is a higher pitch of emotional intensity in this novel and less ennui than in *The Reprieve.* Its not absolutely necessary to read *The Age of Reason* first,I didn't, but I would definitely recommend doing so, as it enriches vastly your understanding of the characters in the second book.

As I mentioned in my review of *The Reprieve,* I can hardly believe that the Sartre of *Being and Nothingness* famewas capable of writing in such a lively and entertaining manner, *Nausea* aside. So this series has so far come as one of the most pleasant literary surprises I've had in years. If the French, their philosophy, or existentialism appeal to you at all--or just a good novel about interesting characters facing the void within life--then I'd unreservedly recommend you take a look at *The Age of Reason.*

Obnoxious Characters Make for Masochistic Reading
If this novel had been my only exposure to existentialist thought, I never would have considered the philosophy seriously.The characters in this novel are so obnoxious I'd feel more comfortable hanging out with Dick Cheney in a dungeon full of scorpions, and I feel sorry for anyone who identifies with them or knows people who are like them.Sartre intentionally makes the characters so hateable because he wants to show us the necessity of taking responsibility for one's freedom, but I'm not sure his point works; such people may decide that they willfully want to own up to their whimsically obnoxious ways.If you want to read novels that present existentialist issues, I would recommend Virginia Woolf, especially works like "To the Lighthouse." ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Alternative compendium of "the 60s"
Sartre scholar Ronald Aronson errs immediately in his intro to Hope Now: The 1980 Interviews by writing that questions about these interviews can be "posed dispassionately" now, meaning, of course, that they can be posed objectively & thereby synopsizes all that has made American liberal education the grand failure that it is. Moreover, Sartre might have disapproved. What did he write about "committed literature?"

In the weeks before his death, Sartre and long-time personal secy Benny Levy recorded a series of discussions, in the form of interviews, some of which were published in a Paris weekly newspaper. Levy, a former Maoist student leader (for the contemporary American student, Maoist student leader is probably as archaic or unknown a term as internal combustion engine) & ardent student of Sartre, fairly attacked the blind & aging writer/philosopher, at times engaging him, at times bullying him.

Thruout the interviews (which take up, really, just one-fourth of the entire book [hence 3 stars]; the rest is all intro commentary & postscripts), Sartre seemed to hold his own, citing the errors of Marxism, existentialism, & the left-wing political movements of the 60s & early 70s. I think the interviews offer the reader a good feel for that period (fondly known in the USA as "the 60s"), when Levy was known as Pierre Victor, Sartre was backing all kinds of radical & left-wing endeavors, & the 1968 student rebellions thruout Europe but especially in Paris threatened to topple the whole knowledge-is-power façade.

In the end, the students failed, but the student uprisings in the USA, then & after, were a mere burlesque of those in Europe: certainly, the knowledge-is-power concept was never questioned (US students just wanted more power with their knowledge), & the smugness that allows Mr. Aronson to pose questions dispassionately has enveloped every succeeding academic iteration.

The famous quote from Sartre's one-act play, "No Exit," was "Hell is other people." Sartre was almost 75 when these interviews took place, and then he said, "It's other people that are my old age...Old age is a reality that is mine but that others feel..." The topics that disturbed so many after the interviews were published were Judaism and Jewishness.

Levy generalizes that Jews fear the revolutionary mob because it may become the pogrom mob; Sartre counters that "there were a considerable number of Jews in the Communist Party in 1917 [in Russia]." Personally, I am at a loss to explain why Levy was reviled by Sartre scholars: Sartre states that he was profoundly influenced by the "Jewish reality" that confronted him after the war, when he met Jews that he saw as having a destiny "beyond the ravages [of] anti-Semitism."

Hope Now seems to me to be more of a coda to the 1972 documentary, "Sartre: By Himself," where he chatted amiably with the editorial staff of Le Temps Moderne and Simone de Beauvoir. That film depicted a leisurely afternoon with friends. Sartre with Levy seems more like colleagues at work. Unlike the current crop of celebrity academics, Sartre always appeared, to appropriate Harry Stack Sullivan's comment about schizophrenics, "simply human." ... Read more

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First published in France in 1937, this important essay marked a turning point in Sartre’s philosophical development. Before writing it, he had been closely allied with phenomenologists such as Husserl and Heidegger. Here, however, Sartre attacked Husserl’s notion of a transcendental ego. The break with Husserl, in turn, facilitated Sartre’s transition from phenomenology to the existentialist doctrines of his masterwork, Being and Nothingness, which was completed a few years later while the author was a prisoner of war.

This student-friendly edition of The Transcendence of the Ego also includes an introduction and notes/annotations by the translators.
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Customer Reviews (3)

The turning point in the thought of Sartre
The Transcendence of the Ego is Sartre's refutation and response to the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and his idea that a transcendental ego stands behind consciousness. Reading Being and Nothingness is tremendously aided by this short work, and the thought inside is tremendously exciting, because Sartre refutes solipsism and finally brings consciousness outside into the world. This book is highly recommended to those interested in Existentialist Philosophy.

An Existential Classic
The Transendence of the Ego is the heart and soul of Sartre's philosopy.It is a classic and a must for anyone who wants to delve deeper in his/her understanding of Sartre's other philosophical views.It is a wonderfulthesis, more or less an expanded introduction to Being and Nothingness.

mind blowing
transcending the ego, is the state to which 'organized' religions preach, whether christian, jew, muslim, hindu, buddhist, shamin. this little book is so deep, with so few words, it is astounding.read this and the secondhalf of Flatlander by Abbott. ... Read more

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This is the first English translation of Sartre's unfinished fourth volume of "Roads to Freedom", exploring the interrelations of politics, responsibility; friendship and freedom - themes central to Sartrean existentialism. "Last Chance" brings to an English-speaking audience for the first time the unfinished fourth volume of Jean-Paul Sartre's hugely important "Roads to Freedom cycle". "Sartre's Roads to Freedom" is generally read and regarded as a trilogy, made up of "Age of Reason", "The Reprieve" and "Troubled Sleep". In fact, Sartre began a fourth volume and, although he never finished the work, two chapters, "Strange Friendship" and "Last Chance", were published in French by Gallimard after his death. Set in a German prisoner of war camp, these chapters continue the story of Roads to Freedom, exploring the interrelations of politics, responsibility, friendship and freedom - themes central to Sartrean existentialism. The Pleiade edition published by Gallimard included a previously unpublished interview with Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir's account of his plans for the unfinished fourth volume, and an introduction to the unfinished fragments by the editor, Michel Contat.All this material is translated and published here in this, the first English-language edition of a work that makes an enormous contribution to our understanding of Sartre's hugely influential "Roads to Freedom" cycle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fascinating Look at Satre's Unfinished Novel
A blurb on the back of THE LAST CHANCE: ROADS OF FREEDOM IV calls this book a scholarly edition of the fourth and unfinished volume of Sartre's ROADS OF FREEDOM series. The completed novels in this series, which is usually considered a trilogy, are the terrific THE AGE OF REASON, THE REPRIEVE, and TROUBLED SLEEP, and conclude with Mathieu, a philosophy professor, fighting bravely against Nazi troops and Brunet, an I-do-what-they-tell-me communist, organizing POWs and readying them to manage their imprisonment.

In TLC:RoF IV, the Continuum imprint provides two stories, only one printed in Sartre's lifetime, that explore the fates of Mathieu and Brunet. In "Strange Friendship", Brunet, a loyal communist, finds his personal instincts in disagreement with the Party's ideological line. This provokes an ambiguous crisis of belief and leads to an inept and deadly attempt to attain freedom. Meanwhile, "The Last Chance" shows Mathieu and Brunet, each transformed in war, exploring another dangerous road of freedom.To avoid spoilers, I'll simply say that Mathieu was paralyzed by freedom in peacetime while Brunet had surrendered his freedom to the Party. But in this story, powerful logic and experiences have made them different men.

TLC:RoF IV is a hybrid. Besides its two stories, which are pieces of the unfinished novel, the book contains various fragments. These are interesting, especially when they show Sartre trying to discover how the trauma of killing in warfare has affected Mathieu. Here, for example, is the troubled Mathieu in reverie: "Chalot sighed, and Mathieu slipped the blade in, without hate or cruelty... If he hadn't killed those Germans, he'd never have known how naked men are. Their mortality was a new dimension of intimacy."In addition, TLC contains a 1945 interview with Sartre, where he discusses his intentions in THE AGE OF REASON and THE REPRIEVE, which had just published. And, this book contains Beauvoir's overview of the unfinished novel and some critical commentary.

TLC is certainly an interesting package for those who enjoyed THE ROADS OF FREEDOM trilogy, as well as a disheartening indication of what was lost when Sartre decided to abandon this novel. Recommended.
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Both volumes of Sartre's intellectual masterpiece, introduced by Fredric Jameson

At the height of the Algerian war, Jean-Paul Sartre embarked on a fundamental reappraisal of his philosophical and political thought. The result was the Critique of Dialectical Reason, an intellectual masterpiece of the twentieth century, now published as a two-volume set with a major new introduction by Fredric Jameson. In it, Sartre set out the basic categories for the renovated theory of history that he believed was necessary for post-war Marxism.

Sartre's formal aim was to establish the dialectical intelligibility of history itself, as what he called 'a totalisation without a totaliser'. But, at the same time, his substantive concern was the structure of class struggle and the fate of mass movements of popular revolt, from the French Revolution at the end of the eighteenth century to the Russian and Chinese revolutions in the twentieth: their ascent, stabilisation, petrification and decline, in a world still overwhelmingly dominated by scarcity.

The second volume of Sartre's Critique of Dialectical Reason was drafted in 1958 and published in France in 1985, first appearing in English in 1991. As in Volume One, Sartre proceeds by moving from the simple to the complex: from individual combat (through a perceptive study of boxing) to the struggle of subgroups within an organized group form and, finally, to social struggle, with an extended analysis of the Bolshevik Revolution. The book concludes with a forceful reaffirmation of dialectical reason: of the dialectic as 'that which is truly irreducible in action'.

Customer Reviews (6)

A Negation of a Negation
Marx takes an exterior view. Economics which is exterior shapes social relations which then shape the individual. Basically huge weights are placed on the individual by Marx. Individuals are shaped by exterior forces that crush the individual now but which will eventually lead to the 'promised land' - the communist state. Sartre turns Marxism on it's head. All social groupings are a function of the praxis of individuals as individuals. For Sartre in 'Critique of Dialectical Reason' as in 'Being and Nothingness' man is free.

Who wins between Marx and Sartre? Clearly Sartre. The individual examiming thematerialist world which is basically a Presence for Sartre rather than a substratum has to examine the materialist world as an individual or bascially become stone-like and sink into silence. Sartre's starting point, the individual as an individual and as free is inescapable for the individual. Between Marx and Sartre Sartre wins hands down. After Sartre communism and Marxism are no longer viable intellectual endeavors for individuals must start from the fact of being individuals. Sartre's 'Marxism' is anti-Marxist.

Sartre's terminology is heavily dependent on Marxism and basically makes no sense except as a critique of Marxism and so 'Critque of Dialectical Reason' though it destroys Marxism hardly is a replacement for Marxism. 'Critique of Dialectical Reason' is ladder which is thrown away after climbing. So Sartre 'only' undermined communism as a viable intellecual enterprise and opened up a World rather than set a new World in place.

Sartre has to be viewed ss the most succesful philosopher of the 20th century. Yes, there are no Sartrean schools but then again there is no communism either.

(Heidegger did metaphysics. When one leaves Being behind as did Heidegger one exits philosophy and enters metaphysics. Wittenstein was philosophically mediocre - Wittgenstein put forward one clearly false theory the picture theory of language and one clearly useless theory -'language as use'. The metaphyscians have no problem with 'language as use' andmetaphysics was Wittgenstein's target. The uselessness of 'Philosophical Investigations' via the goal of undermining metaphysics which was the 'use' of language of 'Philosophical Investigations' strictly speaking proves language as use is fallacious. Robert Brandom does metaphysics, everything is transcendent vis-a-vis Brandom. 'Philosophical Investigations' is no problemo for Brandom, of course, even though Brandom focuses on language.Language as use is quite conistent with metaphysics as Brandom shows so 'Philosophical Investigations' is useless therefore fallacious. All Brandom has to say is 'this had best be dialogued and metaphysics goes on and on and on, which is, of course, the point. Quine proves 'Philosophical Investigations' fallacious. Vis-a-vis Quine there is this mysterious hidden totality which is clearly transcendent but which one must grasp to grasp anything at all.Quine never attempted to delineate this totality, of course. Vis-a-vis Quine it is transcendent and isn't to be spoken of.Quine focuses on language and Quine did metaphysics and again 'Philosophical Investigations' was no problemo.Once again 'Philosphical Investigations' is proved useless and therefore fallacious. Wittgenstein's language arguments are completely ineffective against metaphysics. There are three pre-requisites for proving 'Philosophical Invstigations' fallacious, (1) doing 'language philosophy' (this shows analysis of word meanings is not a problem as language is being closely examined) (2) being successful and (3) doing metaphysics at the same time. Such has been done many times in the 20th century)


China holds out as being communist but China is actuallycompletely divorced from Marxism which was basically an economic theory. China has a mixed economy with a large government component and a one party system and plans to keep it that way but that is hardly communism or Marxism.China is kind of Sartrean but all nations are kind of Sartrean and that was a point of 'Critique of Dialectical Reason'.

A Foundation for the New Marxism, Towards a Philosophy of Totality
The CDR is by far Sartre's most original work, for beyond Being and Nothingness. As a theory of ensembles, the various groupings and reinterpretations of historical events and phenomena strike me as a call to re-evaluate our current situation. Though written in the 60s, and I am only referring to Volume 1, the chapter which is entitled "Matter as Totalized Totality" is the greatest articulation and criticism of Marxist materialism with regard to the environment, meaning, we are not merely determined by our materiality and circumstances, there is an interdependence between the person/group and the world: We mediate the world as the world mediates us. Nevertheless, the language is quite turgid, with a focus on praxis and the practico-inert, interiority/exteriority, etc. In the end at least this volume can constitute a building of a new method which is yet to be realized.

Sartre's Inimitable Greatness - One response to the above reviews
Sartre was primarily a moral philosopher - not a metaphysician, epistemologist, or political philosopher. Yet, he was a bit of all these. He is a political thinker by way of his profoundly thought moral philosophy. Thus, I claim: 1) While it may be his last extensive philosophic work, Sartre's CDR is not his "last great philosophic work" - big is not always best. The tragically neglected, "Saint Genet: Actor & Martyr" is perhaps the most important book of moral philosophy since Kant's "Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals". This book was published in French in 1953, but for reasons evident to me but obscure to many, was not published until 1963 in English (i.e., America of the 1950's was for all it's extroversion, an uptight place - for all its "loss of innocence" - still is). There is a magnificent review of Saint Genet on this site to which I could not add more. Saint Genet, not Being and Nothingness is Sartre's magnum. 2) We're dealing with a generation who grew up in the heyday of Reagan's media robots - not only do they not understand Marx, his enormous stature and insight - they haven't dared to read him. The fact is the corporate/service divide which is really central to all our problems today - is none other than the reappearance of the old bourgeois/proletariat divide, "the antagonism of capital and wage labor" once again. Think about it at the pump. 3) Sartre was left with the problem of trying to reconcile his Marxism, with his very egocentric existentialism - really a syncretism - and he tries in this huge tome. (I am always amazed at how prolific Sartre was - and how good!) 4)Oddly, although existentialism conflicts with Marxian utopianism and its vision of unity (after all one could call many of our contemporary corporate anarchists existentialist), it radically opposes statism which Marx notoriously failed to do, allowing his ideas to serve as justifying ideologies for some of the worst human rights transgressions in history, in Russia, China, Cambodia, etc., transgressions which most certainly have Marx and those who truly understood him in his time "turning over in their graves". This insight, leads Sartre into a radically deep (hundreds of pages) analysis of the roots and manifestations of statism in our civilization. 5) The reviewer is right in saying that few manage to wend their way through Sartre's Critique. Rather, he wrote a neat, user-friendly Introduction, much more feasible for the general reader, covering in some depth all the main points in the argument, and his thinking as a whole. This exordium, originally a postscript to it - was published separately and went through a number of revisions - and is now available in English under the title, "Search for a Method". But please - please, do yourself a favor - before you attempt Being In Nothingness (Heidegger's Being and Time - is more essential - and in many ways "the original version" of Sartre's epistemology and metaphysics) or CDR - read Saint Genet - a masterpiece of honesty and critical investigation.

Sartre's Inimitable Greatness - One response to the above reviews
Sartre was primarily a moral philosopher - not a metaphysician, epistemologist, or political philosopher. Yet, he was a bit of all these. He is a political thinker by way of his profoundly thought moral philosophy. Thus, I claim: 1) While it may be his last extensive philosophic work, Sartre's CDR is not his "last great philosophic work" - big is not always best. The tragically neglected, "Saint Genet: Actor & Martyr" is perhaps the most important book of moral philosophy since Kant's "Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals". This book was published in French in 1953, but for reasons evident to me but obscure to many, was not published until 1963 in English (i.e., America of the 1950's was for all it's extroversion, an uptight place - for all its "loss of innocence" - still is). There is a magnificent review of Saint Genet on this site to which I could not add more. Saint Genet, not Being and Nothingness is Sartre's magnum. 2) We're dealing with a generation who grew up in the heyday of Reagan's media robots - not only do they not understand Marx, his enormous stature and insight - they haven't dared to read him. The fact is the corporate/service divide which is really central to all our problems today - is none other than the reappearance of the old bourgeois/proletariat divide, "the antagonism of capital and wage labor" once again. Think about it at the pump. 3) Sartre was left with the problem of trying to reconcile his Marxism, with his very egocentric existentialism - really a syncretism - and he tries in this huge tome. (I am always amazed at how prolific Sartre was - and how good!) 4)Oddly, although existentialism conflicts with Marxian utopianism and its vision of unity (after all one could call many of our contemporary corporate anarchists existentialist), it radically opposes statism which Marx notoriously failed to do, allowing his ideas to serve as justifying ideologies for some of the worst human rights transgressions in history, in Russia, China, Cambodia, etc., transgressions which most certainly have Marx and those who truly understood him in his time "turning over in their graves". This insight, leads Sartre into a radically deep (hundreds of pages) analysis of the roots and manifestations of statism in our civilization. 5) The reviewer is right in saying that few manage to wend their way through Sartre's Critique. Rather, he wrote a neat, user-friendly Introduction, much more feasible for the general reader, covering in some depth all the main points in the argument, and his thinking as a whole. This exordium, originally a postscript to CDR - was published separately and went through a number of revisions - and is now available in English under the title, "Search for a Method". But please - please, do yourself a favor - before you attempt Being In Nothingness (Heidegger's Being and Time - is more essential - and in many ways "the original version" of Sartre's epistemology and metaphysics) or CDR - read Saint Genet - a masterpiece of honesty and critical investigation.

For Sartrists and Satirists
You must have read Being and Nothingness if you are considering this book so I won't describe Sartre's scholastic interest in preliminary formal considerations; as usual it takes up 3/4 of the total work. Sartre is also an imaginative writer, however, and his analyses of group terror, top-ten lists, and respectability (in vol 2) almost make up for it. I find Sartre's apparent devotion to Marxism troubling in an "objective" philosophical work, especially since much of Marx is obsolete. In other words, I don't know why you would buy this book. It used to be tedious; now it's just interesting to specialists. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (9)

Pretty but not worth it
I'll give this to you--the cover of this book is designed very well: hip lower case type, mysterious empty chair, and all those pebbles make for an alluring product. But the content didn't stand up to the cover. At one point perhaps this was an important, necessary work--but now this is Sartre defending his philosophy against claims no one is making to people who are soaked in existentialism from a young age. This is not Sartre giving a great introduction to his philosophy--that was not his goal: he sought to defend existentialism from its detractors, not to explain the niceties of the theory to them. If you want a primer on Sartre's philosophy and existentialism as a whole you would be better looking at the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy online (Sartre: [...]; existentialism: [...]).

What you're paying for here is a well-designed cover.

An overview
This lecture gave me a better overview compared to other books I've read on the philosophy. It's worth buying, although it is a little short.

The Clearest Statement yet of Sartre's Version of Existentialism
This short but extremely clear volume was one of the first opportunities after the war for Sartre to explain to a lay audience his version of Existentialism. It took place on October 29, 1945 when the then already very famous French philosopher was invited to the "Club Maintenant" to "promote literary and intellectual discussion." Sartre used this lecture as an opportunity to settle scores and to set the record straight by answering all his critics at once. They had, among many other charges, leveled the uncomfortable charge that Existentialism showed only the negative and pessimistic side of human nature, and therefore as a philosophy (concerned mostly with abandonment, anguish and anxiety), was thus itself very much devoid of humanity. Sartre took these charges rather personally and to better make his points, pitched the lecture to the least sophisticated of the audience. What results is a beautifully articulated and clearly translated formulation of Sartre's basic philosophy. He answers his critics with a biting flourish, in what is not only a clear exposition, but also a penetratingly coherent piece.

To wit: Existence precedes essence, and in any case is arbitrary. In this world, man is defined by the choices he makes and by his commitments to those choices. He does not define himself prior to his existence and exists only in the present, well beyond any concept of natural determinism. In Sartre's view, there is no human nature superior to that described here.

In short, there is no God; we have been abandoned to our fate. That point however should not be misconstrued as that Existentialism is only about Atheism. It simply affirms that even if a God existed, it would make no difference to our humanity. Human nature is not a self-congratulatory condition, but rather a fearful, uncertain, anguished and forlorn condition. Thus the real problem with our humanity is not with God's existence, but with man's own existence. Existentialism argues that man does not need a God so much as he needs to rediscover himself and to comprehend that nothing can save him from himself -- not even proof of the existence of a god. In Sartre's view, this understanding alone makes Existentialism, not only profoundly human, but also optimistic about human nature and the human condition.

But more to the point, according to this formulation, anyone who believes otherwise is actually acting in "bad faith." From the Existentialist's point of view, once man is abandoned to his own fate he can have only one true goal: freedom for its own sake. That is to say, he is abandoned to his own fate with freedom (and his commitment to it) as his only universal project. At the bottom of this project, choice becomes the root node of the human condition, and the very basis of his primary reality. And because there is no god, there can be no pre-determined good. Good, like meaning, morality, judgment and values, all must be constructed from scratch as an existential project. That is to say, these all emerge directly from having made the choice and commitment to be free. Thus man has another important choice to make: to proceed through his world in either "good, " or "bad" faith.

If he proceeds in "good faith, he will discover that life has no a priori meaning. In our quest for freedom we must make committed choices that result in the invention of meaning and values as we go. Life itself is nothing until (and unless) it is lived. It is we (and not our gods or our dreams and wishes) that gives life it's meaning. And values are nothing more than the meaning we ascribe to them through our actions.Thus proceeding in "good faith" means that things must be accepted as they are; one must learn to live an authentic life of action, taking responsibility for his own existence -- without the need for either crutches or excuses.

Proceeding in "bad faith," on the other hand, means living an inauthentic life, one based on fantasy, excuses, wishes, promises and mythology. According to this formulation, God is seen as the "grand executor" and "creator" of all meaning. And as a result, man's only responsibility (both to himself and to his god) is obeying God's will and edicts. From the Existentialist point of view this approach is a barren and a coward's way out, because it forces man to shrink from being responsible for his own existence. He chooses instead a kind of self-congratulatory fetishsized life of fantasized meanings.

The last chapter of the book also has a critique of Camus' "The Stranger," but I will leave that aspect for my own review of that book. Five Stars

A Great First Hand Introduction to Existentialism
This book is really good for anyone who is interested in getting a solid understanding of the French school of Atheist Existentialism from a firsthand source.If you are like me, you hate reading primers, and other secondhand attempts to interpret or reduce a philosopher's work to simple arguments.This is a simple straight forward explanation, straight from the mouth of one of the foremost figures of Existentialism.I highly recommend it for anyone interested in getting to know about Existentialism without having to read an Existentialism for dummies guide.Sartre gives a clear and concise argument for his theories that should be understandable to most anyone, with or without a background in philosophy.Sartre's whole speech only goes on for about sixty pages, so this is by no means a difficult mountain of a work.At the same time, if you are already pretty familiar with Existentialism and the work of Sartre, this might very well feel like it adds nothing significantly new to the debate.

Is Existentialism a Humanism?
Is Existentialism a Humanism?

"Is Existentialism a Humanism?" was the title of Sartre's famous lecture in October 1945 given to an overflow crowd and rapidly to become the talk of the left-bank cafes, then all of Paris and Europe.The talk started by proclaiming "existence precedes essence" which meant, he explained, that individuals create their own values because there is no moral order in the universe.This freedom is the ultimate value.The talk went on by echoing his book "Being and Nothingness".He gave the lecture to answer his critics among the communists and catholics.He needed to present a viable and relevant social philosophy in order to stand comparison with these two groups.He based his appeal on Kant's ethic of universal principles.He continued by arguing that we need a sense of responsibility for other people and society as a whole (which was different from his previous contentions).In asserting that Existentialism is a Humanism Sartre means that it places the human being at the center of its attention and at the apex of its value hierarchy. Our ultimate goal should be to foster the freedom of the individual.To read more about Existentialism see Thomas R. Flynn(2006) "Existentialism: A Very ShortIntroduction", Oxford University Press.
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A cornerstone of Sartre’s philosophy, The Imaginary was first published in 1940. Sartre had become acquainted with the philosophy of Edmund Husserl in Berlin and was fascinated by his idea of the 'intentionality of consciousness' as a key to the puzzle of existence. Against this background, The Imaginary crystallized Sartre's worldview and artistic vision. The book is an extended examination of the concepts of nothingness and freedom, both of which are derived from the ability of consciousness to imagine objects both as they are and as they are not – ideas that would drive Sartre's existentialism and entire theory of human freedom.

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One of Sartre’s greatest existentialist works of fiction, The Wall contains the only five short stories he ever wrote. Set during the Spanish Civil War, the title story crystallizes the famous philosopher’s existentialism.'The Wall', the lead story in this collection, introduces three political prisoners on the night prior to their execution. Through the gaze of an impartial doctor—seemingly there for the men's solace—their mental descent is charted in exquisite, often harrowing detail. And as the morning draws inexorably closer, the men cross the psychological wall between life and death, long before the first shot rings out. This brilliant snapshot of life in anguish is the perfect introduction to a collection of stories where the neurosis of the modern world is mirrored in the lives of the people that inhabit it . This is an unexpurgated edition translated from the French by Lloyd Alexander. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Great work of existentialism
What a phycological journey Sartre is presenting us in every little story of this book. Wow! All the stories are perfectly written. My favorite ones are "The Wall", "The room", and "Erostratus". I must admit though, I found "Intimacy" a bit hard to follow.
I recommend this book to everyone who wanna read a unique piece of work of existentialism. You won't regret :)

In depth study of human psychology
This particular work of J P Sartre should be ranked as one of the masterpieces in modern literature...The author used to possess a penetrating insight in the complex mind and behaviours of a modern human being...It is true that he analyses different reactions of any human mind on the basis of the doctrine of existentialism, of which he is one of the main proponents...However one should not look upon his judgement as biased as the celebrated basis of his philosophical doctrine, ie. "Existence should precede the essence " is really logical and highly optimistic as well as humanistic....All the five stories that are presented in this book bear the mature signature of an efficient interpreter of human mind along with it's anxieties and the decisions and choices taken at such critical moments,eg., when a man is condemned to die.....It seems the stories in this book imply that one should always consider those anxious moments,those contradictions that are constantly perturbing the man and only his response and choices that he make, ultimately defines him and give him a relative meaning in this otherwise meaningless world..I feel this book should be read by those who are aware of the divine futility of human life but still are optimistic about the triumph of human mind and creativity.....

Who didn't feel the fear and smelled the sweat of Pablo Ibbieta?
In fact "The wall" was one of the best stories in the book along with "Erostratus" where once more Sarte makes his claim on the proof of freedom, and how most of us tend to pretend we are not that free and crawl behind our available and yet limited choices.

Rationalization of marginality
The wall gives the reader the chance to infuse into the consciousness of characters with, seemingly, absurd & extreme behaviors. The depiction of the inner world of these marginal people, rationalize their conduct by using some common humane themes like willingness to survive, fear, submission to power, altruism etc.

A Mesmorizing Journey.Extreme Psychological Insight
"The Wall and other short stories" is a triumph in literature.Each story explores the depths of human thought and reason through an existential point of view.Each story can be interpreted different by all readers, therefore making this a great book for discussion.

"The Wall" is the first story presented.It consumes the reader because of its brilliant writing style. The story is narrated by a man named Pablo Ibbieta, who is in a jail cell with 2 others awaiting execution the following morning. Every event that transpires that particular night is analyzed almost too thoroughly thus leaving the reader in a trance. I wont get into it too deeply, but believe me, this story is worth reading...i guarentee it will have to be read again. After finishing the story, I felt as though nothing mattered.Who cares if the dishes were not washed, who cares if I would be late for work. Believe me, this story will have a profound impact on the way you think.Don't be surprised if you have a new appreciation for life.This story enlightens the mind.

Another great story from this book is called "Erostratus". Erostratus was a character who wanted to be famous, so he burned down the temple of Ephesus, which was one of the 7 wonders of the world.This is the central symbol of the story, the quest for glory.It also brings up an interesting point when the narrator asks one of his colleagues "Who built Ephesus?" and the colleauge did not know, he only knew who burned it. "Erostratus" in short is one mans decent into madness because of his quest to be remembered. The ending of "Erostratus" is filled with suspense and makes your heart beat in fear.It serves as a grim reminder that there are people of this type, and we should be prepared at any time for them to strike.

There are also 3 other stories, that being "The Room", "Intimacy", and "The Childhood of a Leader", which also draw the reader inside the workings of the mind through an existential window (ie: we are all here by accident, man is condemned to choose).

In short, these stories are all perfect, and leave the reader with a feeling of enlightment.Sartre is an extremely intelligent and clever writer.This is evident in these short stories.So turn off the television, buy this book, and start questioning your existence, you owe it to yourself. Besides, they are short stories, so you will be able to get through at least one a day...that isnt much to ask considering the benefits you will reap by reading them. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of letters by the author of Being and Nothingness depicts Sartre as a soldier, a prisoner of the Germans, and a man of Resistance and charts his path to fame with the publication of his major works. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Mesmorizing Journey...Extreme Psychological Insights
"The Wall and other short stories" is a triumph in literature.Each story explores the depths of human thought and reason through an existential point of view.Each story can be interpreted different by all readers, therefore making this a great book for discussion.

"The Wall" is the first story presented.It consumes the reader because of its brilliant writing style. The story is narrated by a man named Pablo Ibbieta, who is in a jail cell with 2 others awaiting execution the following morning. Every event that transpires that particular night is analyzed almost too thoroughly thus leaving the reader in a trance. I wont get into it too deeply, but believe me, this story is worth reading...i guarentee it will have to be read again. After finishing the story, I felt as though nothing mattered.Who cares if the dishes were not washed, who cares if I would be late for work. Believe me, this story will have a profound impact on the way you think.Don't be surprised if you have a new appreciation for life.This story enlightens the mind.

Another great story from this book is called "Erostratus". Erostratus was a character who wanted to be famous, so he burned down the temple of Ephesus, which was one of the 7 wonders of the world.This is the central symbol of the story, the quest for glory.It also brings up an interesting point when the narrator asks one of his colleagues "Who built Ephesus?" and the colleauge did not know, he only knew who burned it. "Erostratus" in short is one mans decent into madness because of his quest to be remembered. The ending of "Erostratus" is filled with suspense and makes your heart beat in fear.It serves as a grim reminder that there are people of this type, and we should be prepared at any time for them to strike.

There are also 3 other stories, that being "The Room", "Intimacy", and "The Childhood of a Leader", which also draw the reader inside the workings of the mind through an existential window (ie: we are all here by accident, man is condemned to choose).

In short, these stories are all perfect, and leave the reader with a feeling of enlightment.Sartre is an extremely intelligent and clever writer.This is evident in these short stories.So turn off the television, buy this book, and start questioning your existence, you owe it to yourself. Besides, they are short stories, so you will be able to get through at least one a day...that isnt much to ask considering the benefits you will reap by reading them. ... Read more