Jean Paul Sartre The Age Of Reason

Jean-Paul Sartre's The Age of Reason: A Deep Dive into Existentialism's Core Tenets

Introduction:

Are you intrigued by existentialism but intimidated by its dense philosophical underpinnings? Jean-Paul Sartre's The Age of Reason (L'Âge de raison), the first volume of his monumental Roads to Freedom trilogy, offers a compelling entry point. This post will serve as your comprehensive guide, unraveling the complexities of this seminal work, exploring its key characters, themes, and lasting impact on philosophical thought. We'll dissect Sartre's existentialist philosophy as manifested through the narrative, examining freedom, responsibility, authenticity, and the suffocating weight of societal expectations. Prepare to embark on a journey into the heart of human existence, as seen through Sartre's masterful storytelling.

I. Understanding Sartre's Existentialism in The Age of Reason

Sartre's existentialism, unlike the nihilistic interpretations often attributed to it, emphasizes the radical freedom of human beings. We are "condemned to be free," meaning our existence precedes our essence. We are not born with a predetermined purpose or nature; we create ourselves through our choices and actions. This freedom, however, is a heavy burden, as it necessitates taking full responsibility for our lives and the consequences of our decisions. The Age of Reason vividly illustrates this through its complex characters, each grappling with their own existential anxieties and struggles for authenticity.

II. Key Characters and Their Existential Struggles

The novel unfolds primarily through the perspectives of several intertwined characters, each representing different facets of the existential human condition.

Antoine Roquentin (the narrator): Often viewed as a semi-autobiographical character, Roquentin embodies the existential crisis. He grapples with nausea (nausea in the philosophical sense, a feeling of the absurdity of existence), reflecting on the meaninglessness of life and the burden of freedom. His inability to find meaning in a world seemingly devoid of inherent purpose is a central theme.

Mathieu Delarue: A central character and the intellectual core of the group, Mathieu represents Sartre’s own intellectual struggles. He embodies the tension between commitment and freedom, constantly wrestling with the responsibility of his choices, particularly regarding his relationship with Marcelle and his involvement in the lives of others. His meticulous planning and attempts to control his destiny highlight the paradoxical nature of freedom.

Marcelle: A complex woman caught between her own desires and societal expectations, Marcelle represents the female experience within the constraints of a patriarchal society. Her relationship with Mathieu highlights the inherent conflicts between personal desires and societal pressures.

Daniel: A young, idealistic communist, Daniel showcases the potential pitfalls of ideological commitment. While seemingly driven by a strong moral compass, his actions reveal the complexities of political engagement and its potential to both liberate and constrain individual freedom.

Brunet: A secondary character who illustrates how individuals can use existentialism to justify selfishness and inaction. He avoids responsibility by constructing intricate systems of self-justification.

III. Central Themes Explored in The Age of Reason

Sartre masterfully weaves together several interconnected themes throughout the novel:

Freedom and Responsibility: The core tenet of Sartre's existentialism is the radical freedom of human beings. However, this freedom necessitates a heavy burden of responsibility. Characters consistently face the consequences of their choices, highlighting the inescapable weight of their actions.

Authenticity vs. Bad Faith: Sartre distinguishes between authenticity – living in accordance with one's own values and freely chosen commitments – and bad faith – denying one's freedom and responsibility by adopting pre-defined roles and conforming to societal expectations. The characters often oscillate between these two states, struggling to reconcile their desires with the pressures of their social world.

Anguish and Despair: The recognition of absolute freedom and responsibility often leads to anguish and despair. The characters experience these emotions as they confront the weight of their choices and the lack of pre-ordained meaning in the universe.

The Absurdity of Existence: The novel confronts the inherent absurdity of existence, the lack of inherent meaning or purpose in the universe. This is particularly evident in Roquentin's experience of nausea, his recognition of the meaningless contingency of being.

Interpersonal Relationships and Commitment: The characters' relationships are central to the narrative, illustrating the complexities of human connection and the challenges of commitment in a world without inherent meaning. The novel explores the difficulties of maintaining genuine relationships while navigating the conflicting pressures of personal desires and social expectations.

IV. The Novel's Structure and Narrative Technique

The Age of Reason utilizes a stream-of-consciousness narrative style, allowing the reader intimate access to the inner thoughts and feelings of the characters. This technique enhances the reader's understanding of the characters' existential struggles and the complexities of their decision-making processes. The novel is structured around specific events and interactions, revealing the interconnectedness of the characters' lives and the consequences of their choices.

V. The Lasting Impact and Legacy of The Age of Reason

The Age of Reason remains a significant work in existentialist literature and philosophy. Its exploration of freedom, responsibility, and the human condition continues to resonate with readers and scholars alike. The novel's impact extends beyond philosophy, influencing literature, art, and other fields of cultural production. Its enduring relevance lies in its exploration of fundamental questions about human existence and the challenges of navigating a world without pre-ordained meaning.

VI. Outline of The Age of Reason

Title: Jean-Paul Sartre's The Age of Reason (L'Âge de raison)

Outline:

Introduction: Sets the scene, introducing the main characters and the time period (pre-World War II Paris).
Chapter 1-5: Focuses on Mathieu's internal struggles, his relationships with Marcelle and various others, and his attempts to navigate his life's complexities.
Chapter 6-10: Introduces other characters like Daniel and explores themes of political commitment, existentialism, and the impact of societal pressures.
Chapter 11-15: Explores the deepening existential crisis of several characters, leading to crucial decisions and shifting relationships.
Conclusion: Leaves the reader with a sense of unresolved tension, reflecting the ongoing nature of existential choices and the fluidity of human existence.

VII. Detailed Explanation of the Outline Points

1. Introduction: The introduction establishes the setting and introduces the main characters, particularly Mathieu, highlighting his intellectual and personal struggles. It sets the stage for the unfolding drama of existential choices.

2. Chapters 1-5: These chapters delve into Mathieu’s meticulous planning for his life, showcasing his attempts to control outcomes and manage relationships. His internal conflict between his desire for freedom and his longing for stability is evident. His relationship with Marcelle is explored in detail, highlighting the complexities of interpersonal relationships within the context of existential freedom.

3. Chapters 6-10: This section introduces new characters, expanding the scope of the narrative. Daniel’s communist ideals are presented, contrasting with Mathieu’s more ambiguous approach to life. This section intensifies the exploration of political commitment and its relationship to personal freedom.

4. Chapters 11-15: The existential crises of the characters reach a peak. Major decisions are made, relationships are tested, and the consequences of actions become increasingly apparent. The characters grapple with the weight of their choices and the implications of their existential freedom.

5. Conclusion: The ending leaves many questions unanswered, reflecting the ongoing nature of the existential journey. There is no neat resolution, mirroring the open-endedness of human existence and the constant need for choice and responsibility.

VIII. FAQs

1. What is the main theme of The Age of Reason? The central theme is the exploration of existentialism, focusing on individual freedom, responsibility, authenticity, and the absurdity of existence.

2. Who are the main characters in The Age of Reason? The main characters are Mathieu Delarue, Marcelle, Daniel, and Antoine Roquentin.

3. What is "nausea" in the context of the novel? Nausea refers to a feeling of absurdity and the meaningless contingency of existence.

4. How does Sartre portray women in The Age of Reason? The portrayal of women is complex, showcasing the conflicts between their desires and societal expectations. Marcelle's character exemplifies this tension.

5. What is the significance of the novel's setting (pre-WWII Paris)? The setting provides a backdrop reflecting the societal and political climate influencing the characters' choices and experiences.

6. Is The Age of Reason a difficult read? Yes, it's a challenging read due to its philosophical depth and complex characters.

7. How does the novel relate to Sartre's other works? It's the first part of the Roads to Freedom trilogy, and its themes and characters are developed further in subsequent volumes.

8. What is the relationship between freedom and responsibility in the novel? Sartre argues that absolute freedom necessitates taking full responsibility for one's choices and actions.

9. What is the lasting impact of The Age of Reason? The novel significantly influenced existentialist philosophy and continues to resonate with readers due to its exploration of fundamental questions about human existence.

IX. Related Articles:

1. Existentialism: A Beginner's Guide: A simple introduction to existentialist philosophy and its key concepts.
2. Jean-Paul Sartre's Biography and Philosophical Contributions: A detailed look at Sartre's life and his impact on philosophy.
3. The Concept of Bad Faith in Sartre's Philosophy: A deep dive into Sartre's concept of bad faith and its implications.
4. Freedom and Responsibility in Existentialist Thought: An examination of the relationship between freedom and responsibility in existentialist philosophy.
5. Comparing and Contrasting Sartre's Existentialism with Other Philosophical Schools: A comparative analysis of Sartre's ideas with other prominent philosophical schools of thought.
6. The Influence of The Age of Reason on Modern Literature: An analysis of the novel's impact on subsequent literary works.
7. Existentialism and Absurdism: Key Differences and Similarities: A comparison of existentialism and absurdism, highlighting their common ground and distinguishing features.
8. Analyzing the Character of Mathieu Delarue in The Age of Reason: An in-depth analysis of Mathieu’s personality and motivations.
9. Sartre's Roads to Freedom Trilogy: A Complete Overview: A comprehensive overview of Sartre’s trilogy, exploring its themes and interconnections.


  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Age of Reason Jean-Paul Sartre, 1947 The middle-aged protagonist of Sartre's philosophical novel, set in 1938, refuses to give up his ideas of freedom, despite the approach of the war
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Sartre, 2003-05-27 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.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Age of Reason Jean-Paul Sartre, 1947 Set in volatile Paris of 1938, the first novel of Sartre's monumental Roads to Freedom series, follows two days in the life of Mathieu Delarue, a middle-aged French professor of philosophy. 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.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Iron in the Soul Jean Paul 1905-1980 Sartre, 2021-09-09 This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Truth and Existence Jean-Paul Sartre, Arlette Elkaïm-Sartre, 1995-06 Published posthumously, the text presents Sartre's ontology of truth in terms of freedom, action, and bad faith
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Quiet Moments in a War Jean-Paul Sartre, 2002-05-21 In the companion volume to the acclaimed Witness of my Life, Jean-Paul Sartre reveals his life as a soldier, a German prisoner, and a man of Resistance through letters between himself and his “beloved Beaver,” Simone de Beauvoir. Quiet Moments in a War tells the story of Jean-Paul Sartre at the peak of his powers and renown through the exchanging of ideas and intimacies with Simone de Beauvoir from 1940 to 1963. In the pages of this book, readers will find details on Sartre’s war and his path to fame with the publication of his major works. From September 1939 to June 1940, Sartre wrote Beauvoir almost daily as he waited from the frontlines for a German attack. While it was a time of fear and uncertainty, it doubled as a time of great productivity for Sartre as he completed the novel The Age of Reason and sketched out Being and Nothingness. This collection of the letters between Sartre and Beauvoir completes the extraordinary correspondence of one of modern history’s most celebrated couples while documenting the emergence of a great intellectual figure.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Reprieve , 1973
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Being and Nothingness Jean-Paul Sartre, 1992 Sartre explains the theory of existential psychoanalysis in this treatise on human reality.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Last Chance Jean-Paul Sartre, 2009-11-30 The first English translation of Sartre's unfinished fourth volume of Roads of Freedom, exploring themes central to Sartrean existentialism.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: War Diaries Jean-Paul Sartre, 1999 During the phony war that preceded the invasion of France, between late 1939 and the summer of 1940, the young Jean-Paul Sartre was stationed in his native Alsace as part of a meteorological unit. He used his considerable periods of spare time, between mundane duties like watching weather balloons, to make a series of notes on philosophy, literature, politics, history and autobiography that anticipate the themes of his later masterpieces, and often surpass them in literary verve and directness. These War Diaries form a portrait of Sartre in his most intense and brilliant phase. With them the twentieth century's most remarkable and public philosopher has provided us with a fitting posthumous monument to his honest and creativity.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: We Have Only This Life to Live Jean-Paul Sartre, 2013-06-04 Jean-Paul Sartre was a man of staggering gifts, whose accomplishments as philosopher, novelist, playwright, biographer, and activist still command attention and inspire debate. Sartre’s restless intelligence may have found its most characteristic outlet in the open-ended form of the essay. For Sartre the essay was an essentially dramatic form, the record of an encounter, the framing of a choice. Whether writing about literature, art, politics, or his own life, he seizes our attention and drives us to grapple with the living issues that are at stake. We Have Only This Life to Live is the first gathering of Sartre’s essays in English to draw on all ten volumes of Situations, the title under which Sartre collected his essays during his life, while also featuring previously uncollected work, including the reports Sartre filed during his 1945 trip to America. Here Sartre writes about Faulkner, Bataille, Giacometti, Fanon, the liberation of France, torture in Algeria, existentialism and Marxism, friends lost and found, and much else. We Have Only This Life to Live provides an indispensable, panoramic view of the world of Jean-Paul Sartre.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Transcendence of the Ego Jean-Paul Sartre, 2004-06-15 First published in France in 1936 as a journal article, The Transcendence of the Ego was one of Jean-Paul Sartre's earliest philosophical publications. When it appeared, Sartre was still largely unknown, working as a school teacher in provincial France and struggling to find a publisher for his most famous fictional work, Nausea. The Transcendence of the Ego is the outcome of Sartre's intense engagement with the philosophy of Edmund Husserl, the founder of phenomenology. Here, as in many subsequent writings, Sartre embraces Husserl's vision of phenomenology as the proper method for philosophy. But he argues that Husserl's conception of the self as an inner entity, 'behind' conscious experience is mistaken and phenomenologically unfounded. The Transcendence of the Ego offers a brilliant diagnosis of where Husserl went wrong, and a radical alternative account of the self as a product of consciousness, situated in the world. This essay introduces many of the themes central to Sartre's major work, Being and Nothingness: the nature of consciousness, the problem of self-knowledge, other minds, anguish. It demonstrates their presence and importance in Sartre's thinking from the very outset of his career. This fresh translation makes this classic work available again to students of Sartre, phenomenology, existentialism, and twentieth century philosophy. It includes a thorough and illuminating introduction by Sarah Richmond, placing Sartre's essay in its philosophical and historical context.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Search for a Method Jean-Paul Sartre, 1968-08-12 From one of the 20th century’s most profound philosophers and writers, comes a thought provoking essay that seeks to reconcile Marxism with existentialism. Exploring the complicated relationship the two philosophical schools of thought have with one another, Sartre supposes that the two are in fact compatible and complimentary towards one another, with poignant analysis and reasoning. An important work of modern philosophy, Search for a Method has a major influence on the current perceptions of existentialism and Marxism. “This is the most important philosophical work by Sartre to be translated since Being and Nothingness.”—James Collings, America
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Chips are Down Jean-Paul Sartre, 1951
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Existentialism and Excess: The Life and Times of Jean-Paul Sartre Gary Cox, 2016-09-08 Jean-Paul Sartre is an undisputed giant of twentieth-century philosophy. His intellectual writings popularizing existentialism combined with his creative and artistic flair have made him a legend of French thought. His tumultuous personal life - so inextricably bound up with his philosophical thinking - is a fascinating tale of love and lust, drug abuse, high profile fallings-out and political and cultural rebellion. This substantial and meticulously researched biography is accessible, fast-paced, often amusing and at times deeply moving. Existentialism and Excess covers all the main events of Sartre's remarkable seventy-five-year life from his early years as a precocious brat devouring his grandfather's library, through his time as a brilliant student in Paris, his wilderness years as a provincial teacher-writer experimenting with mescaline, his World War II adventures as a POW and member of the resistance, his post-war politicization, his immense amphetamine fueled feats of writing productivity, his harem of women, his many travels and his final decline into blindness and old age. Along the way there are countless intriguing anecdotes, some amusing, some tragic, some controversial: his loathing of crustaceans and his belief that he was being pursued by a giant lobster, his escape from a POW camp, the bombing of his apartment, his influence on the May 1968 uprising and his many love affairs. Cox deftly moves from these episodes to discussing his intellectual development, his famous feuds with Aron, Camus, and Merleau-Ponty, his encounters with other giant figures of his day: Roosevelt, Hemingway, Heidegger, John Huston, Mao, Castro, Che Guevara, Khrushchev and Tito, and, above all, his long, complex and creative relationship with Simone de Beauvoir. Existentialism and Excess also gives serious consideration to Sartre's ideas and many philosophical works, novels, stories, plays and biographies, revealing their intimate connection with his personal life. Cox has written an entertaining, thought-provoking and compulsive book, much like the man himself.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: No Exit and Three Other Plays Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, 2015-07-15 NOBEL PRIZE WINNER • Four seminal plays by one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century. An existential portrayal of Hell in Sartre's best-known play, as well as three other brilliant, thought-provoking works: the reworking of the Electra-Orestes story, the conflict of a young intellectual torn between theory and conflict, and an arresting attack on American racism.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Existentialist Moment Patrick Baert, 2015-08-20 Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015 Jean-Paul Sartre is often seen as the quintessential public intellectual, but this was not always the case. Until the mid-1940s he was not so well-known, even in France. Then suddenly, in a very short period of time, Sartre became an intellectual celebrity. How can we explain this remarkable transformation? The Existentialist Moment retraces Sartre's career and provides a compelling new explanation of his meteoric rise to fame. Baert takes the reader back to the confusing and traumatic period of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath and shows how the unique political and intellectual landscape in France at this time helped to propel Sartre and existentialist philosophy to the fore. The book also explores why, from the early 1960s onwards, in France and elsewhere, the interest in Sartre and existentialism eventually waned. The Existentialist Moment ends with a bold new theory for the study of intellectuals and a provocative challenge to the widespread belief that the public intellectual is a species now on the brink of extinction.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Wall: (Intimacy) and Other Stories Jean-Paul Sartre, 2010-07-27 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.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Art of Solitude Stephen Batchelor, 2020-02-18 In a time of social distancing and isolation, a meditation on the beauty of solitude from renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor “Whatever a soul is, the author goes a long way toward soothing it. A very welcome instance of philosophy that can help readers live a good life.”—Kirkus Reviews “Elegant and formally ingenious.”—Geoff Wisner, Wall Street Journal When world renowned Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor turned sixty, he took a sabbatical from his teaching and turned his attention to solitude, a practice integral to the meditative traditions he has long studied and taught. He aimed to venture more deeply into solitude, discovering its full extent and depth. This beautiful literary collage documents his multifaceted explorations. Spending time in remote places, appreciating and making art, practicing meditation and participating in retreats, drinking peyote and ayahuasca, and training himself to keep an open, questioning mind have all contributed to Batchelor’s ability to be simultaneously alone and at ease. Mixed in with his personal narrative are inspiring stories from solitude’s devoted practitioners, from the Buddha to Montaigne, from Vermeer to Agnes Martin. In a hyperconnected world that is at the same time plagued by social isolation, this book shows how to enjoy the inescapable solitude that is at the heart of human life.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: No Exit Jean-Paul Sartre, 1989 The respectful prostitute. Four plays written by the French existentialist philosopher and writer addressing such topics as hell, racism, and conduct of life.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Writings of Jean-Paul Sartre: Sartre, J.-P. Selected prose Jean-Paul Sartre, 1974 The writings published here are not so much an epitome as episodes. But most do not digress. They mark the turns and turning points of a human style, the tropes of an expressive life embodying the changing tempos of an age. Until we fall silent, all of us are trying to say. These fragmentary efforts to speak to, rejoin, and help create a new community of liberated human beings constitute the epigraphs of Sartre's historical inscription.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: After the Apocalypse Maureen F. McHugh, 2011-11-08 Publishers Weekly Top 10 Best of the Year In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague. Praise for Maureen F. McHugh: Gorgeously crafted stories.—Nancy Pearl, NPR Hauntingly beautiful.—Booklist Unpredictable and poetic work.—The Plain Dealer Maureen F. McHugh has lived in New York; Shijiazhuang, China; Ohio; Austin, Texas; and now lives in Los Angeles, California. She is the author of a Story Prize finalist collection, Mothers & Other Monsters, and four novels, including Tiptree Award-winner China Mountain Zhang and New York Times editor's choice Nekropolis. McHugh has also worked on alternate reality games for Halo 2, The Watchmen, and Nine Inch Nails, among others.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Freedom to Be Free Hannah Arendt, 2018-10-02 This lecture is a brilliant encapsulation of Arendt’s widely influential arguments on revolution, and why the American Revolution—unlike all those preceding it—was uniquely able to install political freedom. “The Freedom to be Free” was first published in Thinking Without a Banister, a varied collection of Arendt’s essays, lectures, reviews, interviews, speeches, and editorials—which, taken together, manifest the relentless activity of her mind and character and contain within them the articulations of wide and sophisticated range of her political thought. A Vintage Shorts Selection. An ebook short.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Let the Wind Speak Juan Carlos Onetti, 2008 Classic Latin American novel from the Graham Greene of Uruguay.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Life/Situations Jean-Paul Sartre, 1977
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Wretched of the Earth Frantz Fanon, 2007-12-01 The sixtieth anniversary edition of Frantz Fanon’s landmark text, now with a new introduction by Cornel West First published in 1961, and reissued in this sixtieth anniversary edition with a powerful new introduction by Cornel West, Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth is a masterfuland timeless interrogation of race, colonialism, psychological trauma, and revolutionary struggle, and a continuing influence on movements from Black Lives Matter to decolonization. A landmark text for revolutionaries and activists, The Wretched of the Earth is an eternal touchstone for civil rights, anti-colonialism, psychiatric studies, and Black consciousness movements around the world. Alongside Cornel West’s introduction, the book features critical essays by Jean-Paul Sartre and Homi K. Bhabha. This sixtieth anniversary edition of Fanon’s most famous text stands proudly alongside such pillars of anti-colonialism and anti-racism as Edward Said’s Orientalism and The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Sartre, Jews, and the Other Manuela Consonni, Vivian Liska, 2020-02-24 The starting point for this compilation is the wish to rethink the concept of antisemitism, race and gender in light of Sartre’s pioneering Réflexions sur la Question Juive seventy years after its publication. The book gathers texts by prestigious scholars from different disciplines in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, with the objective or revisiting this work locating it within the setting of two other pioneering – and we argue, related – publications, namely Simone De Beauvoir’s Le deuxième sexe of 1949 and Franz Fanon’s Peau noire et masques blancs of 1952. This particular and original standpoint sheds new light on the different meanings and political functions of the concept of antisemitism in a political and historical context marked by the post-modern concepts of multi-ethnicity and multiculturalism.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: "What is Literature?" and Other Essays Jean-Paul Sartre, 1988 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.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Concept of Anxiety: A Simple Psychologically Oriented Deliberation in View of the Dogmatic Problem of Hereditary Sin Søren Kierkegaard, 2014-03-03 The first new translation of Kierkegaard's masterwork in a generation brings to vivid life this essential work of modern philosophy. Brilliantly synthesizing human insights with Christian dogma, Soren Kierkegaard presented, in 1844, The Concept of Anxiety as a landmark psychological deliberation, suggesting that our only hope in overcoming anxiety was not through powder and pills but by embracing it with open arms. While Kierkegaard's Danish prose is surprisingly rich, previous translations—the most recent in 1980—have marginalized the work with alternately florid or slavishly wooden language. With a vibrancy never seen before in English, Alastair Hannay, the world's foremost Kierkegaard scholar, has finally re-created its natural rhythm, eager that this overlooked classic will be revivified as the seminal work of existentialism and moral psychology that it is. From The Concept of Anxiety: And no Grand Inquisitor has such frightful torments in readiness as has anxiety, and no secret agent knows as cunningly how to attack the suspect in his weakest moment, or to make so seductive the trap in which he will be snared; and no discerning judge understands how to examine, yes, exanimate the accused as does anxiety, which never lets him go, not in diversion, not in noise, not at work, not by day, not by night.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Penguin Modern Classics Book Henry Eliot, 2021-11-18 The essential guide to twentieth-century literature around the world For six decades the Penguin Modern Classics series has been an era-defining, ever-evolving series of books, encompassing works by modernist pioneers, avant-garde iconoclasts, radical visionaries and timeless storytellers. This reader's companion showcases every title published in the series so far, with more than 1,800 books and 600 authors, from Achebe and Adonis to Zamyatin and Zweig. It is the essential guide to twentieth-century literature around the world, and the companion volume to The Penguin Classics Book. Bursting with lively descriptions, surprising reading lists, key literary movements and over two thousand cover images, The Penguin Modern Classics Book is an invitation to dive in and explore the greatest literature of the last hundred years.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Sartre on the Body K. Morris, 2009-12-09 Sartre scholars and others engage with Jean-Paul Sartre's descriptions of the human body, bringing him into dialogue with feminists, sociologists, psychologists and historians and asking: What is pain? Do men and women experience their bodies differently? How do society and culture shape our bodies? Can we re-shape them?
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Running Away from Me David Allan Reeves, 2009-09 Take a journey in one young man's real-life nightmare as he battles his self-destructive obsession with drugs, which leads him on a roller coaster ride through hell on earth!
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Witness to My Life Jean-Paul Sartre, 1992
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: End of History and the Last Man Francis Fukuyama, 2006-03-01 Ever since its first publication in 1992, the New York Times bestselling The End of History and the Last Man has provoked controversy and debate. Profoundly realistic and important...supremely timely and cogent...the first book to fully fathom the depth and range of the changes now sweeping through the world. —The Washington Post Book World Francis Fukuyama's prescient analysis of religious fundamentalism, politics, scientific progress, ethical codes, and war is as essential for a world fighting fundamentalist terrorists as it was for the end of the Cold War. Now updated with a new afterword, The End of History and the Last Man is a modern classic.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Simone de Beauvoir and the Politics of Ambiguity Sonia Kruks, 2012-12-06 A study of Simone de Beauvoir's (1908-1986) political thinking. The author locates de Beauvoir in her own intellectual and political context and demonstrates her continuing significance.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Goodness and the Literary Imagination Toni Morrison, 2019-10-01 What exactly is goodness? Where is it found in the literary imagination? Toni Morrison, one of American letters’ greatest voices, pondered these perplexing questions in her celebrated Ingersoll Lecture, delivered at Harvard University in 2012 and published now for the first time in book form. Perhaps because it is overshadowed by the more easily defined evil, goodness often escapes our attention. Recalling many literary examples, from Ahab to Coetzee’s Michael K, Morrison seeks the essence of goodness and ponders its significant place in her writing. She considers the concept in relation to unforgettable characters from her own works of fiction and arrives at conclusions that are both eloquent and edifying. In a lively interview conducted for this book, Morrison further elaborates on her lecture’s ideas, discussing goodness not only in literature but in society and history—particularly black history, which has responded to centuries of brutality with profound creativity. Morrison’s essay is followed by a series of responses by scholars in the fields of religion, ethics, history, and literature to her thoughts on goodness and evil, mercy and love, racism and self-destruction, language and liberation, together with close examination of literary and theoretical expressions from her works. Each of these contributions, written by a scholar of religion, considers the legacy of slavery and how it continues to shape our memories, our complicities, our outcries, our lives, our communities, our literature, and our faith. In addition, the contributors engage the religious orientation in Morrison’s novels so that readers who encounter her many memorable characters such as Sula, Beloved, or Frank Money will learn and appreciate how Morrison’s notions of goodness and mercy also reflect her understanding of the sacred and the human spirit.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Sartre Bernard-Henri Levy, 2003-09-11 ‘A whole man, made of all men, worth all of them, and any one of them worth him.’ This was how Jean-Paul Sartre characterized himself at the end of his autobiographical study, Words. And Bernard-Henri Lévy shows how Sartre cannot be understood without taking into account his relations with the intellectual forebears and contemporaries, the lovers and friends, with whom he conducted a lifelong debate. His thinking was essentially a tumultuous dialogue with his whole age and himself. He learned from Gide the art of freedom, and how to experiment with inherited fictional forms. He was a fellow-traveller of communism, and yet his relations with the Party were deeply ambiguous. He was fascinated by Freud but trenchantly critical of psychoanalysis. Beneath Sartre’s complex and ever-mutating political commitments, Lévy detects a polarity between anarchic individualism on the one hand, and a longing for absolute community that brought him close to totalitarianism on the other. Lévy depicts Sartre as a man who could succumb to the twentieth century’s catastrophic attraction to violence and the false messianism of its total political solutions, while also being one of the fiercest critics of its illusions and shortcomings.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: Camus and Sartre Ronald Aronson, 2004-01-03 Until now it has been impossible to read the full story of the relationship between Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre. Their dramatic rupture at the height of the Cold War, like that conflict itself, demanded those caught in its wake to take sides rather than to appreciate its tragic complexity. Now, using newly available sources, Ronald Aronson offers the first book-length account of the twentieth century's most famous friendship and its end. Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre first met in 1943, during the German occupation of France. The two became fast friends. Intellectual as well as political allies, they grew famous overnight after Paris was liberated. As playwrights, novelists, philosophers, journalists, and editors, the two seemed to be everywhere and in command of every medium in post-war France. East-West tensions would put a strain on their friendship, however, as they evolved in opposing directions and began to disagree over philosophy, the responsibilities of intellectuals, and what sorts of political changes were necessary or possible. As Camus, then Sartre adopted the mantle of public spokesperson for his side, a historic showdown seemed inevitable. Sartre embraced violence as a path to change and Camus sharply opposed it, leading to a bitter and very public falling out in 1952. They never spoke again, although they continued to disagree, in code, until Camus's death in 1960. In a remarkably nuanced and balanced account, Aronson chronicles this riveting story while demonstrating how Camus and Sartre developed first in connection with and then against each other, each keeping the other in his sights long after their break. Combining biography and intellectual history, philosophical and political passion, Camus and Sartre will fascinate anyone interested in these great writers or the world-historical issues that tore them apart.
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Philosophical Reflection of Man in Literature Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, 2012-12-06
  jean paul sartre the age of reason: The Diary of Antoine Roquentin Jean-Paul Sartre, 1949