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by Jean-Paul Sartre

Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre counted among his friends and associates some of the most esteemed intellectuals, writers, and artists of the twentieth century. In Portraits (Situations IV), Sartre collected his impressions and accounts of many of his notable acquaintances, in addition to some of his most important writings on art and literature during the early 1950s.

 

Portraits includes Sartre’s preface to Nathalie Sarraute’s Portrait of a Man Unknown and his homages to André Gide, Albert Camus, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The essay on Merleau-Ponty casts considerable light on the recent history of French philosophy, particularly with regard to dominant post-war political conceptions. Featured as well are lengthy studies of Sartre’s close friend Paul Nizan and of the young André Gorz that are no less revealing, as well as Sartre’s “Reply to Albert Camus,” which sealed the ideological and personal break between the two writers on its publication in 1952. Alongside these major writings are fascinating articles on Tintoretto and a number of contemporary artists, including Giacometti and Masson. Finally, Portraits concludes with two travelogue-style accounts of Sartre’s time in Italy.

 

This new translation by Chris Turner presents these essays in their complete form as originally intended by Sartre when he first published Situations IV in France and is thus essential reading for anyone interested in the artistic and intellectual history of the time.

 

Genres: Philosophy

155 pages, Paperback

About the author

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."
Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.

Reviews

[cristiana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sartre on Albert Camus, shortly after Camus' death:

"We had quarrelled, he and I. A quarrel is nothing - even
if you were never to see each other again: it is just another way of living together, without losing sight of each other in the narrow little world allotted to us. . . ."

[Praveen SR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up mainly to read Sartre's reply to Camus after the souring of relations between then..But found some other interesting pieces too on Andre Gide, Maurice Merleau-Ponty etc.

The last read of 2020

[Inez Filipovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gjorde mig lite småförälskad i Sartre igen. Hur han skriver om sin relation till socialism och beauvoir för den delen vill jag dö, för att det är så fint. Den perfekta samtalspartnern

[Trey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first real exposure to Sartre. There were some interesting parts, but on the whole, I was disappointed with the level of thought as well as the style.