Published on the eve of the philosopher-playwright's centenary, this study offers a wide-ranging re-appraisal of Sartre's complete dramatic opus, from the inaugural 'nativity' play, Bariona (1940), to the swan-song chorus of Armageddon, Les Troyennes (1965). It draws on a close reading of Sartre's writings in philosophy, literature and criticism, and provides an extensive survey of journalistic and academic reception. Each play is situated in relation both to Sartre's intellectual evolution and to the broader historical context. This is the first full-length study in English, for more than thirty years, covering the whole of Sartre's theatre, and it will interest students of twentieth-century European drama, as well as those of modern French literature and ideas.
An Analysis of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Plays in Théâtre complet is the first volume to propose a critical analysis of all of Jean-Paul Sartre’s plays as published in the Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, Paris, Gallimard, 2005. Viewing the plays in the context of Sartre’s philosophy, his prose writings and works by other philosophers, novelists, and playwrights, this comprehensive volume is essential reading for students of French literature, theatre, and existentialist philosophy.
Two women and one man are locked up together for eternity in one hideous room in Hell. The windows are bricked up, there are no mirrors, the electric lights can never be turned off, and there is no exit. The irony of this Hell is that its torture is not of the rack and fire, but of the burning humiliation of each soul as it is stripped of its pretenses by the cruel curiosity of the damned. Here the soul is shorn of secrecy, and even the blackest deeds are mercilessly exposed to the fierce light of Hell. It is an eternal torment.
This book is a comprehensive study of the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre. As well as examining the drama and the fiction, the book analyses the evolution of his philosophy, explores his concern with ethics, psychoanalysis, literary theory, biography and autobiography and includes a lengthy section on the still much-neglected study of Flaubert, L'Idiot de la famille. One important aim of the book is to rebut the charges made by many theorists and philosophers by revealing that Sartre is in fact a major source for concepts such as the decentred subject and detotalised truth and for the revolt against individualistic humanism. Dr Howells also takes into account much posthumously published material, in particular the Chaiers pour une morale, but also the Lettres au Castor and the Cranets de la drole de guerre. The work is a substantial contribution to Sartre studies, but has been written with the non-specialist in mind; to that end all quotations are translated into English and gathered in an appendix.
This book explores the connection between politics and theatre by looking at the works and lives of Shaw, Brecht, Sartre, and Ionesco, providing a cultural history detailing the changing role of political theatre in twentieth-century Europe.
This volume deals with a number of topics that have not previously been specifically addressed before in a single text. A chapter on Sartre and religion talks about his thought in relation to Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism, while one on Sartre and children discusses his work in relation to the issues of freedom, pregnancy and autism. Beyond this, there are an additional seven chapters covering a wide variety of topics by leading scholars in the fields of philosophy, literature psychology, history and political thought. While prior publications on Sartre have generally divided his work into two periods, pre-and post-Marxist, this volume deliberately stresses a middle and final period as well. As representative of the middle period, there is an emphasis on Notebooks for an Ethics, while Sartre's last work, Hope Now, is also treated as being philosophically significant in its own right. This approach helps to cast a new light on what Sartre has to say about authenticity, childhood and consciousness as embodied, among other subjects. The volume also addresses many and diverse issues of current interest, including those of freedom, Marxism and Sartre's relation to ethics. There are sections of the book that deal with history and the historical situations that helped to shape Sartre’s thought, as well as articles that deal with Sartre as a specifically French thinker. A chapter deals with Sartre’s relation to women , and here the issues of maternity as problematic, plus authentic, adult relationships are discussed. Finally, in addition to authors in philosophy and literature, there are articles by a child psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist to help to provide new insights on Sartre's work. Even as an academic philosopher Sartre always remained an iconoclast and the aim of this book is, at least partially to capture and provide the reader with insight into this spirit.
In this major study Rhiannon Goldthorpe takes up the challenge of Sartre's diversity in an original and provocative way. Her detailed and comprehensive exploration of the relationship between the theoretical and literary works pays due attention to their characteristic complexity. The discussion of La Nausée, Les Mouches, Huis clos, Les Mains sales and Les Séquestrés e'Altona, for example, does not present these literary texts as mere 'illustrations' of Sartre's theories of consciousness, imagination and emotion, but as subtle philosophical and linguistic investigations in their own right. In addition, by reference to recently published fragments from Sartre's earlier work, Goldthorpe calls into question existing views of Sartre's intellectual development and provides a new history of the crucial Sartrean concept of 'commitment'.
