Jean-Paul Sartre

de John Gerassi

Written by Sartre's official biographer, and based on over one hundred hours of interviews with him between 1974 and 1979, and another hundred hours with Sartre's friends, colleagues, and enemies, this book unveils the real Jean-Paul Sartre like no other. Sartre trusted the integrity of Gerassi so completely that he considered Gerassi's biography to be the continuation of his own autobiography, Les mots. As a friend, Gerassi writes with advantages shared by no other biographer of Sartre. Gerassi had access to all of Sartre's files, unpublished manuscripts, and extensive notes for planned but undelivered lectures. He had access to many of Sartre's unpublished letters as well. Thus Gerassi was able to immerse himself in Sartre's literary, philosophical, and personal writings. Although authorized, this biography is not uncritical. During his interviews with Sartre, Gerassi discussed and sometimes argued conflicting interpretations, challenged rationalizations, and prodded Sartre's memories. Grassi applied Sartre's own dialectical method on Sartre himself, using the works to explain the man and the man to explain his works. Each of Sartre's major philosophical and political positions are examined and placed in relation to the events of his life. Following Sartre from his earliest years until the end of World War II in 1945, this volume explores Sartre's development into a political radical through various transformations. This book sheds brilliant light on both the life and the thoughts of the man who embodied one of the prime intellectual movements of the 20th century. -- Publisher description