Sartre. Un penseur pour le XXIᵉ siècle

(Sartre, a thinker for the twenty-first century)

Sartre’s writings are prolific, proteiform and incomplete. They may constitute one of the most significant works of the twentieth century. The author of “La Nausée” (Nausea), “Huis Clos” (No Exit), “Les Chemins de la Liberté” (Roads to Freedom), “Les Mots” (The Words) was a versatile novelist, philosopher, playwright, critic, journalist, magazine editor, and much more. He launched the magazine “Les Temps Modernes” (Modern Times) in 1945, to focus on existentialism and engaged literature. It became a forum for cultural and political confrontations. His political activity on behalf of independence for Algeria, his conflicts with General de Gaulle and his position on third world issues earned him the gratitude of all the countries seeking emancipation from colonialism. His unconventional relationship with Simone de Beauvoir, his refusal of the Nobel prize for literature in 1964 and his attitudes as a subversive heir to Voltaire, Hugo and Zola established his reputation as the quintessential French intellectual of our time.

To mark the centenary of his birth, biographer Annie Cohen-Solal has published a new reading of his work: “Sartre, un penseur pour le XXIe siècle” (Sartre, a thinker for the twenty-first century).