Abstract

A collection, in six parts, of Sartre's essays, designed to outline the fundamentals of his existential thought, with attention to its humanistic and aesthetic dimensions. The reader cannot fail to see that Sartre amounts to more than a philosopher of disillusionment in these essays, which attempt to show the meaning of authentic existence and the consciousness of freedom of choice and responsibility. Better examples could have been chosen to counter the argument against Sartre as an undisciplined thinker, but the collection succeeds in encompassing a range of his speculative writing. The essays show him a sensitive, cultural critic as well as creative thinker.—A. F.