Abstract

This dissertation investigates the interrelationship of the look and the face of the Other, in the context of the various ambiguous and incommensurable positions Jean-Paul Sartre takes on the subject in his philosophy and literature. While Sartre's philosophy is important in its own right, it should not be seen as instrumental in the interpretation of his literature. Philosophy addresses concepts while literature allows a freedom to incarnate, embellish and transcend philosophical constructs. A survey of Sartre's philosophy and literature shows that he does not take a single position with respect to the look and the face, although the philosophy might seem to suggest only one position. For Sartre, the concept of the look and the face are often defined theoretically in negative terms, being alienating, inescapable, and tyrannical. By contrast to the philosophy, Sartre's literary writings dramatically express various, ambiguous versions of the conflict between the self and the look and the face of the Other. Within his literature Sartre shows that individuals may fall victim to an oppressive look; yet through their responsibility to be free they are able to turn their own gaze toward the oppressor and escape the look of the Other. ;Rather than seeing Sartre as altogether consistent the very ambiguities make him a telling example of the more universal tension that has traditionally been seen to exist between philosophy and literature. For Sartre, the look is always intentional, therefore it is calculated to evoke a response. He explicitly asserts that the look of the other enslaves, modifies, and defines us. Through the look of the Other, we are seen, we have an outside, a nature, a face, our transcendence is transcended, in other words, our possibilities are alienated from us by the Other's look. Sartre seeks to recover the realities of the human condition, as lived experience, by purifying the reflective act and carefully describing and illuminating the results. The tension between Sartre's philosophical and literary positions suggest that it would be inappropriate to turn to his work for a single principle to guide our relations with Others. We are, rather, in a situation where we have to deal with multiple cases, a variety of relationships, and Sartre's work reminds us to be flexible in our response