Sartre
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
For some he was the philosopher of existentialism, for others the constant provocateur, the politically engaged author, the uncertain militant, the repenting bourgeois, the life companion of Simone de Beauvoir… From his first readings in the Luxembourg Garden to his refusal of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Jean Paul Sartre was all of this at the same time. In his biographic piece, the life and thoughts that made Sartre a known name are brought to print in rich color.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Existential philosopher Sartre is more man than myth in this middling biography, originally published in France. From his childhood hunger for knowledge to the intellectual triumphs that made him famous, this volume covers Sartre's many relationships, including that with Simone De Beauvoir, and his controversial postwar activities. This thoroughness is satisfying to the Sartre-curious reader, but doesn't make for much of a story; a lack of focus leaves this book feeling more like a student's report on the life of a famous person than a riveting tale. The art, at least, is strong: Depommier's characters have a jittery, bug-eyed energy that enlivens an otherwise rote tale. She also has a wonderful eye for surrealism one standout sequence involves Sartre pondering a tomato, which becomes a bloodstream that symbolizes the prison of subjectivity. Ultimately, this book succeeds at what it sets out to do: telling the story of Sartre's life. Unfortunately, it does little else.
