Jean-Paul Sartre Novelist and Playwright
French Philosopher and Existentialist, Famous for Play No Exit
Sep 24, 2009
Jean-Paul Sartre was one of the 20th century's influential French philosophers. Aside from being a famous philosopher, he was an important writer. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1964, but he refused to accept it. His best-known play is No Exit, fiction, The Wall and Other Stories, and his philosophy masterpiece, Being and Nothingness.
Sartre Profile in a Nutshell
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was born on June 21, 1905 in Paris where he lived for most of his life. While still a student, he met one of the greatest feminist of the century, Simone de Beauvoir. They became lifelong partners. Sartre was a cousin of French Nobel prize laureate Albert Schweitzer on his mother side.
Jean-Paul Sartre died on April 15, 1980, at the age of 74. His philosophy of existentialism places the destiny of an individual within himself.
Sartre the Novelist and Political Writer
He taught philosophy in schools at the same time began writing. At 33-years-old, he published his first novel, Nausea. From this book, he explored some of the ideas in his greatest philosophy book, Being and Nothingness.
During World War II, He served in the French army during World War II. He was captured by the Germans, and later escaped to fight in the Resistance. His war experiences led to his involvement in politics, founding a radical left-wing party.
Sartre the Playwright
As the war was ending in France, Sartre concentrated on writing plays rather than novels. One of his most famous plays was No Exit. It is about three characters trapped in a room who gradually come to realize that they are in hell.
Sartre's best plays are exciting and dramatic, combining his thought-provoking concepts of morality and politics. His notable ideas were "Existence precedes essence" and "Bad faith." As a philosopher and writer, he was committed to political action all his life. For example, he campaigned against the Vietnam War and the French rule in Algeria, North Africa.
Major Books by Jean-Paul Sartre
(Philosophy works outside the scope of this article)
Fiction
- Nausea, 1938
- The Wall and Other Stories, 1938
- The Age of Reason, 1945
- The Reprieve, 1945
- Iron in the soul, 1949
Plays
- The Flies, 1943
- No Exit, 1944
- Crime Passionel, 1948
- Loser Wins, 1949
- Lucifer and the Lord, 1951
Sources:
- Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994,
- McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002.
- Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.
 |
 |
