In March of 1980, just a month before Sartre's death, Le Nouvel Observateur published a series of interviews, the last ever given, between the blind and debilitated philosopher and his young assistant, Benny Levy. Some readers were scandalized and denounced the interviews as distorted, inauthentic, even fraudulent. They seemed to portray a Sartre who had abandoned his leftist convictions and rejected his most intimate friends, including Simone de Beauvoir. This man had cast aside his own fundamental beliefs in the primacy of individual consciousness, the inevitability of violence, and Marxism, embracing instead a messianic Judaism. No, Sartre's supporters argued, it was his interlocutor, the ex-radical, the recently converted orthodox Jew, who had twisted the words and thoughts of an ailing Sartre to his own ends. Or had he?
I read a lot on Sartre a number of years back. He was a media troll and had very different political and social views than most people think by reputation. As far as I can tell no one in the USA has any idea what they are talking about when name-dropping Sartre, be they leftists or rightists.
Empire_of_the_Mind 0 points 2.2 years ago
I read a lot on Sartre a number of years back. He was a media troll and had very different political and social views than most people think by reputation. As far as I can tell no one in the USA has any idea what they are talking about when name-dropping Sartre, be they leftists or rightists.