Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution." Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'脢tre et le N茅ant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.
Sartre was - at the outset of his career, as well as at its end - a man without hope.
Like so many socially-minded intellectuals of a practical cast in mid-century, Jean-Paul Sartre leaned seriously toward socialism, Marxism and even, briefly, communism.
But practical people refuse not to act. And Sartre had few illusions, which made practical action for a better world imperative.
And the inevitable disillusionment followed...
That is why Les Mots, The Words, seems so sad to us now.
Disillusioned and prematurely aged by the beginnings of a long series of strokes, Sartre could no longer act confidently or decisively.
And without hope in his own - and mankind's - future, life was brutal.
Sartre always had seen the end of his life as an impassable obstacle to self-fulfillment, the dark side of the dichotomy Being/Nothingness.
For as proof of the perceived utter futility of the human predicament, the climax of his philosophical magnum opus, l鈥櫭妕re et le N茅ant states baldly, "Man is a hopeless passion."
But at about the same time as that work, across the Channel, as Sartre鈥檚 discouraging words rallied France to alternative political action, T. S Eliot was urging in wartime London:
Descend lower, descend only Into the world of perpetual solitude, World not world, but that which is not world, Internal darkness鈥�.
Had Sartre read, and heeded Eliot鈥檚 words he might have become a different person, in touch with his deepest emotions. But Sartre had already achieved recognition and notoriety at a very young age. So he simply became his persona.
Clinical, aloof and detached - Cool.
Sartre was cool when James Dean was a toddler. He thus inspired generations of the with-it and hip youngsters of the fifties, sixties and seventies.
He assumed the role of philosopher without Knowing Himself - and thus mocked Socrates. Was that cool?
Later books of his like this one find Sartre trying to play catch-up on that count. But he was a Johnny-Come-Lately to the game of self-knowledge. To know yourself you have to BE yourself. Sartre was a Matchstick Man.
He utterly lacked everyday warmth, poor soul!
But - in the darkness of postwar Britain, the best strategy for T.S. Eliot was to accept so many great losses in a spirit of faithful brokenness, admitting personal frailties before God, so that:
the Darkness will become the Light.
For Eliot followed the dictum of the cryptic Presocratic, Heraklitos: 鈥楾he way up IS the way down.鈥�
Hope from the ashes of hope.
For through the darkness of Faith there comes the great joy of a New Day.
As it came for Eliot, with a new marriage made in Heaven, and a joyous and dignified summation to his life.
***
In the end, Sartre finished his life as he had begun his early years, WITHOUT hope.
But as he looked back on his life in this at times light and charmingly whimsical book, he saw many lost childhood memories.
But they were all mixed with the feeling that his life was slowly ebbing away without purpose or meaning.
At least he had his many friends and the company of de Beauvoir.
But uncompromising till the end, he rejected the ordinary hope that makes life bearable for the rest of us, because he rejected himself.
In spite of this, in Les Mots we see Sartre opening up about his personal space for the first time - which he was to continue obliquely in his great study of Flaubert - l鈥橧diot de la Famille - the Family Idiot.
For now he was no longer an untouchable and lapidary world icon. His disguise had worn too thin...
Now he was just frail and human like us. But worn out by his despair.
You know, there IS hope available even for Postmoderns like Sartre, and us.
Postmodern branches, as Messrs Kierkegaard, Barth and Kung have proven, can be grafted easily and well onto Christian roots.
To find out How to do this, all we have to to is Read their books -
O analiz膬 str膬lucit膬 a unui caz clasic de impostur膬 infantil膬. P膬cat c膬 Sartre n-a observat c膬 impostura 葯i snobismul l-au urm膬rit tenace p卯n膬 la ad卯nci b膬tr卯ne葲i. Un volum greu de g膬sit, din p膬cate. Transcriu c卯teva pasaje pentru eventualii curio葯i:
鈥濷 certitudine transparent膬 strica totul: eram un impostor. Cum s膬 joci comedia f膬r膬 s膬 葯tii c膬 o joci?... M膬 卯ntorceam spre persoanele mature, le ceream s膬-mi garanteze meritele: ceea ce 卯nsemna s膬 m膬 afund 卯n impostur膬鈥�.
鈥濵arie-Louise nu credea 卯n nimic, numai scepticismul o 卯mpiedica s膬 fie atee鈥�.
鈥濧m fost salvat de bunicul meu: el m-a aruncat f膬r膬 s膬 vrea 卯ntr-o nou膬 impostur膬 [scrisul], care mi-a schimbat via葲a鈥�.
鈥濨atjocori葲i, b膬tu葲i, anumi葲i autori z膬cuser膬 p卯n膬 la ultima suflare 卯n oprobriu 葯i 卯n noapte, gloria nu le 卯ncoronase dec卯t cadavrele: iat膬 ce voi fi... 脦n zilele 卯n care eram prost dispus, m膬 vedem murind pe un pat de fier, ur卯t de to葲i, disperat, chiar 卯n clipa 卯n care Gloria 卯ncepea s膬 sune din trompet膬...鈥�.
鈥濻criu 卯ntruna. Ce altceva s膬 fac. Nulla dies sine linea! E obi葯nuin葲a 葯i apoi e meseria mea. Mult timp mi-am luat condeiul drept spad膬: 卯n prezent cunosc neputin葲a noastr膬. N-are importan葲膬, fac, voi face c膬r葲i; e nevoie de ele oricum, acest lucru serve葯te la ceva. Cultura nu salveaz膬 nimic 葯i pe nimeni, ea nu justific膬. Dar este un produs al omului care se proiecteaz膬, se recunoa葯te 卯n ea. Singur膬 aceast膬 oglind膬 critic膬 卯i ofer膬 imaginea sa鈥�.
The Words is Jean-Paul Sartre's 1963 autobiography. The text is divided into two near-equal parts entitled 'Reading' and 'Writing'.
Jean-Paul Sartre's famous autobiography of his first ten years has been widely compared to Rousseau's Confessions. Written when he was fifty-nine years old, The Words is a masterpiece of self-analysis.
Sartre the philosopher, novelist and playwright brings to his own childhood the same rigor of honesty and insight he applied so brilliantly to other authors. Born into a gentle, book-loving family and raised by a widowed mother and doting grandparents, he had a childhood which might be described as one long love affair with the printed word.
Ultimately, this book explores and evaluates the whole use of books and language in human experience.
The Words is one of the most interesting autobiographies I've read. Although it mainly covers the first ten years of the life of Jean-Paul Satre, there are flashes back and forth that provide the reader with a sufficient understanding of his later life.
Divided into two parts called reading and writing, this autobiography describes in detail how the foundation was set for Satre in his journey of becoming an acclaimed writer and philosopher. It is also a detailed self-analysis of how his thoughts were formed and shaped which saw future expression through many of his writings. The lifestyle and his relationship with his mother and maternal grandparents, especially his grandfather, bear direct and indirect influences on shaping his life and thoughts. They are so well described here that one can see how his philosophical views slowly and steadily developed.
Apart from being interesting as a good insight to the philosopher/writer himself, this autobiography is a great inspiration to budding writers. There are so many informative tidbits to stimulate the mind of aspiring writers. It really inspired me, and I learned quite a few things. I was especially struck by what he said about his childhood imaginations and how they and his love for talking of things in detailed exaggeration helped him develop his thinking and writing. It made me think of things in a new light.
This autobiography was both an interesting and a productive read, interesting in that we get a glimpse into the life of one of the greatest philosophical writers of all time, and productive in that it stimulated me into exploring a new phase of my writing.
This work is one of the best autobiographies I know. It's true; you must love Sartre and adore him even a little so as not to tire. However, understanding a writer's journey from his childhood in books allows you to dream and idealize the author. He tells his life through episodes and anecdotes and analyzes it, not always being tender with himself, even if we sense a peaceful and calm speech. However, he did not write it just before his death but long before, in full glory. The text is a tribute to those who inspire us, to those who make us discover a passion, and finally, a hymn to beautiful letters.
The Words, Jean-Paul Sartre's autobiographical work on childhood remembrance, is split into two parts - Reading & writing, and, looking back from the point of view of an almost sixty-year-old Sartre, moves on many levels. Told with a philosophical romanticism for the past, Sartre opens up about his first acquaintance with books, and about his first desire to become a writer, which, having been partly raised by a grandfather who was surrounded by a world books comes as little surprise.
After first writing about his grandparents and their families, his story moved on to his parents, how they met, and of losing his father at a very young age. Little Jean was then seen as the centre of attention during his first ten years, and thus developed a selfishness, something which the older Sartre didn't try to hide from when writing this book. The young Sartre might not come across as wholey likeable, but at least the older Sartre was being honest, and not making himself out to be the model child. He even ended up being expelled from school for writing a bad dictation.
Jean-Paul was a hermit in the company of other children, with his grandfather being the most influential person in his development, and he only fell in love with writing superficially and theatrically to begin with, simply to impress his watchers. But it's evidently clear that from a certain age he lived for books, and writers were seen as his best friends. His hyper-developed sensitivity to angst and boredom, even led a nine-year-old Sartre (yes just nine!) to start pondering on the existential holes in people's lives. And the rest, as they say, is history.
So as well as being a childhood memoir, The Words also explores parts of Sartre鈥檚 craftemenship in existentialist philosophy, and is generally seen as Sartre closing his literary career. This book is an impressive display of the deeply literary nature of Sartre, is written in way that is intelligent, spontaneous, sometimes difficult, sometimes playful, but most importantly, always honest.
What did Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Ernesto 鈥淐he鈥� Guevara (1928-1967) have in common?
Prior to reading this book, I did not know that they saw each other when they were both still alive. This is my first book read written by Sartre and three years ago, I read John Lee Anderson鈥檚 Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. Before Sartre鈥檚 image in my unsophisticated (read: zero knowledge in philosophy) mind was this old professor talking inside his wood-paneled and fully-carpeted office about the things like existentialism that was so deep I would never ever understand what he was saying. On the other hand, prior to the Anderson鈥檚 book, I used to see the image of Che Guevara printed on the t-shirts of some hip teenagers. I had some clues who he was because of the communist posters my handsome brother brought home when he was still in studying in a radical university. But not all young Filipinos: one caller in a morning show thought that Guevara was some kind of a band soloist so he asked what latest rock song he recorded.
Thanks to printed words. Thanks to books. We can read them and we can be informed. We can choose not to be ignorant. We can also contribute to influencing future generations by writing too. We can make books of our own.
The importance of reading and writing to his life. This is basically the main theme of this book, The Words by the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. At the age of 59, he wrote this book about the first 10 years of his life on earth. He was exposed to books at a very young age. He remembered looking at the volumes and volumes of similar hardbound books stacked in his grandparents鈥� room. He did not know what were those but he loved to touch them and hear the flipping of the crisp pages. From then on, he resolved to himself that he would not only read those books someday but he also become a writer.
Same thing happened to Che Guevara. His parents also loved to buy and read books. In the above-mentioned Anderson鈥檚 biography of Guevara, one of Che鈥檚 childhood friends recalled that he could barely navigate inside the living room of the Guevaras because of the many stacks of books and magazines on the floor.
So, what made Sartre and Guevara in common? (1) They both loved to read; (2) They both believed and supported Marxism; (3) They actually saw and talk to each other in Cuba in the 60鈥檚. In fact, when Guevara died in 1967, Satre declared 鈥淗e is not only an intellectual but also the most complete human being of our age and the era鈥檚 most perfect man鈥�; (4) I both have read something about them. Ako na! (Me already!).
Next in my to-be-read is the childhood days of Sartre鈥檚 girlfriend, Simone de Beauvior, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter.
There is considerable audacity in a project of this nature. The famed philosopher/playwright/novelist creates a memoir fifty plus years into the past, a poking about in a small child's mind. I hazard to say there's a some fancy in these pages. Much as Sartre notes throughout most of his childhood he was acting, I assume the great thinker feels compelled to craft something of stature to merit his adult achievement. I will be honest: I don't remember much of my early life. One or two images of leaving Michigan ages 3-4. There are a few flutters after that. My adoptive mother telling everyone I was reading at age two. Was I? I have always had books and much like Sartre I feel indebted. Also, just like the author I had flowing curly locks, a surprise I guess after being bald for 14 months. The stories bifurcate there as Sartre benefited from his grandfather's library and I read comics and books from the local public library. Both of us constructed constant narratives where we were the heroes. He was encouraged to write. I was given a typewriter and I filled notebooks in junior high when I should have been learning geometry.
The second section Writing isn't as magical as the first Reading. He broaches his burgeoning narrative structures, slowly evolving in a stumbling gait --and how everything was ultimately enriched by attending school. That period of his life so deserved a further extensive treatment, if only his adolescent friendship with Paul Nizan. Outside of his widowed mother and tacit grandmother, women do not feature large in this vision. His partial blindness, his diminutive stature, his less than ideal looks all reflect upon this but without explicit comment.
Les Mots is probably the most personal and honest book Sartre ever wrote. A poignant look prevails from the first to the last page, as he unravels his most inner memories, dissecting to the last particle the place each of them had in forming the future author鈥檚 identity. For the most part, he had a joyful childhood living with his maternal grandparents and his mother, after his father died when was only one year old.
This family situation (the word Situation echoes the philosophical term and his famous series published in several volumes by Gallimard, that constitutes some of the most original essay writing of the 20th century) proved the perfect environment to nourish his artistic talent. The figure of Charles Schweitzer, his grandfather, is crucial to his development. He was a model and a teacher to his grandson. It is in his impressive library at home that the child discovered the realm of literature early on, an encounter that would prove fundamental in his upbringing. An only child surrounded by adults in the center of family life, this prevailing devotion towards him developed into his narcissistic personality later on.
In a remarkable section of compelling and organic prose, he describes his first encounter with books:
J鈥檃i commenc茅 ma vie comme je la finirai sans doute听: au milieu des livres. Dans le bureau de mon grand-p猫re, il y en avait partout听; d茅fense 茅tait faite de les 茅pousseter sauf une fois l鈥檃n, avant la rentr茅e d鈥檕ctobre. Je ne savais pas encore lire que, d茅j脿, je les r茅v茅rais, ces pierres lev茅es听; droites ou pench茅es, serr茅es comme des briques sur les rayons de la biblioth猫que ou noblement espac茅es en all茅es de menhirs, je sentais que la prosp茅rit茅 de notre famille en d茅pendait.
I found my religion, he sustains, nothing was more important than a book. In the library I saw a temple.
J鈥檃vais trouv茅 ma religion听: rien ne me parut plus important qu鈥檜n livre. La biblioth猫que, j鈥檡 voyais un temple.
The book is divided in two halves, each representing a major and central discovery: read and write. In books he discovered his fascination with fantastic stories, a seed that would flourish later on into his writing. A lonely child, literature became his passion and later, when he began writing, the creation of his own stories offered a unique view of the world around him.
Two characters are clearly present in this extraordinary work: Sartre the philosopher, writing the book in 1963 and Sartre the literary figure, that is the child discovering in the art of fiction a means of expression. This juxtaposition of the two identities explains why Les Mots is an essay of auto existential psychoanalysis. A situation (now I refer to the philosophical term), according to Sartre, is what stimulates us to make a free decision. When a situation arrives, it is through it that we choose what we will become. Following this logic, the 8-year-old Jean-Paul Sartre, of his own will and in all liberty, chose to be a writer.
A peine eus-je commenc茅 d鈥櫭ヽrire, je posai ma plume pour jubiler. L鈥檌mposture 茅tait la m锚me mais j鈥檃i dit que je tenais les mots pour la quintessence des choses. Rien ne me troublait plus que de voir mes pattes de mouche 茅changer peu 脿 peu leur luisance de feux follets contre la terne consistance de la mati猫re : c鈥櫭﹖ait la r茅alisation de l鈥檌maginaire.
This is without a doubt, an impressive literary work.
Autobiographisch-dynamisierter Materialismus gegen das fetischisierte Selbstbild
Inhalt: 4/5 Sterne (intensive Selbstzerfleischung) Form: 2/5 Sterne (hakelig-holprig, bem眉ht) 贰谤锄盲丑濒蝉迟颈尘尘别: 5/5 Sterne (in hohem Grade selbstreflektiert) Komposition: kein/5 Sterne (Autobiographie) Leseerlebnis: 5/5 Sterne (m盲anderndes in die Tiefe Bewegen)
Nachdem Sartre sich an Baudelaire (1946) und Jean Genet (1952) abgearbeitet hat, stand das Gro脽projekt 眉ber Gustave Flaubert in den Startl枚chern. Um sich aufzuw盲rmen, schrieb er zuerst 眉ber sich, und zwar in der Autobiographie Die W枚rter, die lakonisch unsentimental einen Abschied von Jean-Paul Sartres impliziten Glaubensvorstellungen vollzieht:
Wenn ich schrieb, so hie脽 das lange Zeit, da脽 ich den Tod und die maskierte Religion darum bat, mein Leben dem Zufall zu entrei脽en. Ich war ein Mann der Kirche; als Militant wollte ich mich durch die Werke retten; als Mystiker bem眉hte ich mich darum, das Schweigen des Seins durch ein l盲stiges Ger盲usch von W枚rtern zu enth眉llen, wobei ich vor allem die Dinge mit ihren Namen verwechselte. Das ist: Glauben.
Hart mit sich ins Gericht gehend, rekonstruiert Sartre sein eigenes Aufwachsen bei Albert Schweitzers Onkel, Charles, einem Sprachlehrer. Verrat an der Herkunft wird in der Familie gro脽geschrieben: Der Urgro脽vater, mit dessen Lebensgeschichte das Buch beginnt, verr盲t den Lehrerberuf seines Vaters, um Kr盲mer zu werden. Sein Gro脽vater verr盲t den Wunsch der Familie, Pastor zu werden, und wird wiederum Lehrer, und Sartre verr盲t den Wunsch des Gro脽vaters, Lehrer zu werden, und wird Schriftsteller. Bis auf den Kr盲mer-Gro脽vater verbleiben alle in der Welt des Glaubens:
Ich habe das geistliche Gewand abgelegt, aber ich bin nicht abtr眉nnig geworden: ich schreibe nach wie vor. Was sollte ich sonst tun? Nulla dies sine linea. Schreiben ist meine Gewohnheit, und au脽erdem ist es mein Beruf. Lange hielt ich meine Feder f眉r ein Schwert: nunmehr kenne ich unsere Ohnmacht. Trotzdem schreibe ich B眉cher und werde ich B眉cher schreiben; das ist n枚tig; das ist trotz allem n眉tzlich. Die Kultur vermag nichts und niemanden zu erretten, sie rechtfertigt auch nicht.
Um Rechtfertigung seines Daseins geht es Sartre aber zeitlebens bis ins hohe Alter, bevor er seinen Wunsch nach Bedeutung ablegt und sich g盲nzlich seiner Introspektion und existenziellen Psychoanalyse widmet, den Mensch als Phantasma durchschreitend und -schreibend. Die W枚rter zeichnet sich durch unbarmherzige Selbstzerfleischung aus, eines Menschen, der gegen seinen Begriffsrealismus ank盲mpft, um endlich Nominalist zu werden, die Dinge also nicht mit der Wirklichkeit, das Benannte nicht mit dem Namen zu verwechseln.
Gewi脽, ich bin kein begabter Schriftsteller; man hat es mir zu verstehen gegeben; man hat gesagt, ich sei ein Schriftsteller der Flei脽眉bungen. Ich bin ein Schriftsteller der Flei脽眉bungen, meine B眉cher riechen nach Schwei脽 und M眉he, ich gebe zu, da脽 unsere Aristokraten sie 眉belriechend finden m眉ssen; ich habe sie oft gegen mich geschrieben, was hei脽en will: gegen jedermann, in einer geistigen Spannung, die schlie脽lich meine Arterien 眉beranstrengt hat.
Der Stil holpert, stokelt sich vorw盲rts, rappelt, rumpft, aber stets mit der Intensit盲t desjenigen, der etwas zu erz盲hlen hat, der etwas aufschreiben will, um es endg眉ltig hinter sich zu lassen. Insofern handelt es sich bei Die W枚rter um ein emanzipatorisches, gegen den Schreibenden selbst gerichtetes Projekt und liest sich durchweg koh盲rent und konzise, teilweise ein wenig zu verdichtet, verk眉rzt, ja fast hermetisch.
Hierin gleicht der Text Hermann Brochs (1942), Michel Leiris (1939) oder Roland Barthes , nur mit der ganzen Wucht des 眉berwundenen klerikalen Platonismus und f眉r sich stehend ein fast heroisches Unterfangen, denn im Unterschied zu den anderen steht Sartre als Galionsfigur einer ganzen epochalen Bewegung, die sich pl枚tzlich durch ihn, ihren Urheber, missverstanden f眉hlen musste. --> deshalb +1 Stern
--------------------------------- --------------------------------- Details 鈥� ab hier Spoilergefahr (zur Erinnerung f眉r mich): --------------------------------- ---------------------------------
Inhalt: Jean-Paul Sartres Autobiographie. Albert Schweitzers Vater ist ein Bruder von Sartres Gro脽vater, also ist dieser Cousin seiner Mutter, Onkel seines Gro脽vaters und Sartres Gro脽cousin. Thematisch in 鈥濪ie W枚rter鈥�, wie sehr Sartre Kirchenmann geworden ist. Zwei Kapitel: 鈥濴esen鈥� und 鈥濻chreiben鈥�. 鈥濴esen鈥�: Der Vater stirbt fr眉h, 15 Monate nach Sartres Geburt. Die junge Mutter Anne-Marie (18 Jahre) zieht zu ihren Eltern, Charles (61) und Louise Schweitzer, nach Elsass-Lothringen. Die Erz盲hlgegenwart befindet sich 1963 (Sartre blickt zur眉ck). Bald ziehen sie nach Paris, wo Charles ein Sprachinstitut leitet. Sartre m枚chte als etwas gelten, d.h. er will vermisst werden: 鈥濶ur Sartre fehlt鈥�. Er spielt den Pausenclown, rei脽t Possen, zieht Grimassen. Nachdem Schneiden seiner Haare, wird Sartres H盲sslichkeit sichtbarer. Keiner spielt mit ihm. Er geht mit seiner Mutter ins Kino. Er w盲chst zusammen mit dem Kino auf. 鈥濻chreiben鈥�: Schreib- und Fabulierlust von Sartre, tastet sich an den Sadismus heran, unerfolgreich. Madame Picards Ausruf: 鈥濫r wird Schriftsteller.鈥� Charles sieht in ihm einen Wunderknabe. Sartre erkennt, er ist kein Held. Er schreibt, um dem Gro脽vater zu gen眉gen. Gelingt nicht. Wiederkehrendes Motiv: Existenzberechtigung, Fahrkarte im Zug. Ersatzreligion: Literatur, mit Gott selbst hat es nicht geklappt. Schreiben f眉r die Unsterblichkeit, Verwechseln der Wirklichkeit mit den Worten, die die Wirklichkeit beschreiben. Er lebt ein postumes Leben. Zwei wichtige Ereignisse: Beginn des Ersten Weltkrieges. Er entdeckt seine Fehlbarkeit. Zweitens Sartres Eintritt in das Lyc茅e Henri IV. Klagt lieber sich selbst als das Universum an. Er wird transsubstantiierter Mann der Kirche. Atheistischer M盲rtyrer. 鈥� vgl. typische Autobiographien wie Johann Wolfgang Goethes 鈥濪ichtung und Wahrheit鈥�, wie Henry Millers 鈥濿endekreis鈥�-Romane, etwas selbstverliebt, eigendarstellerisch, aber mit h盲rtester Selbstentbl枚脽ung. Siehe auch Hermann Brochs: 鈥濸sychische Selbstbiographie鈥�. 鈥� interessant vor allem aus der durchg盲ngigen Selbstreflexion heraus, der Rechtfertigungsstrategien, das 脺berwinden von Traumata, die Selbstdiagnose. Intensiv, auf eigene Kosten, mit philosophischen Schwung. Es fehlt aber an begrifflichen Psychologisierungen, etwas konfus, und beliebig im Ausschnitt. Etwas kurz. --> 4 Sterne
Form: Hakeliger, ruppiger, bem眉hter Stil, holprig, wie es dem n眉chternen Existentialismus entspricht, nicht poetisch, weniger schwungvoll, kein Fluss, ein Stottern und Rattern und Radebrechen. Stilistisch nur durch die Pr盲zision interessant, wenig 盲rgerliche Anschlusskomplikationen, dennoch sehr einfache Sprache. --> 2 Sterne
贰谤锄盲丑濒蝉迟颈尘尘别: Klare Reflexion aus dem Nachhinein heraus, stets zusammengezogen, verdichtet, kontextualisiert, nirgendwo falsche Pauschalisierung, sehr authentisch, differenziert, auf sich bezogen. Zweite Reflexion stets vorhanden, Selbstdiagnosen, Selbstbeschreibungen, die aufgenommen, weiterentwickelt werden, konzis, fruchtbar, eindringlich, ans Eingemachte gehend. 鈥� vgl. Emil Cioran, Henry Miller, sehr ern眉chternder Blick auf sich selbst. --> 5 Sterne
Komposition: Keine, da Autobiographie, Chronik. Ohne Bewertung.
This book is an awesome display of the deeply literary and 鈥榬eligious鈥欌€攔eligious in the sense of considering all the world and one鈥檚 self to be profoundly significant and purposive in every part鈥� nature of Sartre. It explains so much about him. The title, The Words, refers to the way he attached a supremely high value in the first half of his life to reading, writing, and being read. This is an autobiographical account of his first ten years of life which were so formative for his adult life. I cannot emphasize enough how very much of Sartre鈥檚 philosophy is explained here. I was actually shocked to discover in his first decade alone so many unveilings to the meaning AND motive for his later work.
Sartre was once tempted to think it funny that people wondered if he even had a childhood. 鈥淲hen I was thirty, friends were surprised: 鈥極ne would think you didn鈥檛 have parents. Or a childhood.鈥� And I was silly enough to feel flattered.鈥� This was due to Sartre鈥檚 early-adult abandonment of his past which he believed could only be interpreted from his future. Now, Sartre is writing this book in his sixties and finding value in his earlier life like he thought he would, but in a different way. I truly believe he grew to appreciate each moment of his life in itself, rather than as a chronicle to lure others into loving himself, which he couldn鈥檛 do. 鈥淏ecause I did not love myself sufficiently, I fled forward. The result is that I love[d] myself still less鈥︹€�
Sartre鈥檚 father died when he was two years old, and his mother moved with him into her parents鈥� home. It was an upper-middleclass home steeped in education, impassioned politics, and family tension which would indelibly shape his psyche and self-esteem for the rest of his life. His relationship with his mother was much like brother and sister, even as an adult to a child at times, and he accustomed himself to calling her by her name 鈥淎nne Marie.鈥� The cause of this was his grandfather鈥檚 contempt for Jean-Paul鈥檚 father, who died very inconveniently, and the subsequent belittling treatment of Anne Marie by his grandfather who was irked to have his daughter again as his dependent-plus-one leveled, in Jean-Paul鈥檚 mind, the roles of Jean-Paul and his mother. Anne Marie was treated as an importunate child, but Jean-Paul was coddled as his grandfather鈥檚 alter-ego, and praised from a young age for his precocity. Actually, he was a spoiled brat, and he knew it, and it wasn鈥檛 long before he despised himself for the pretentious, melodrama with which he stooped to please his grandfather and sustain his image as a child prodigy. Sartre developed a persona that existed solely to please others around him, and his authentic abilities and desires were hidden deep beneath a veneer that was for him hardly comfortable or satisfying. 鈥淓ven in solitude I was putting on an act鈥� I sank deeper and deeper into imposture. Condemned to please, I endowed myself with charms that withered on the spot.鈥� He developed many neuroses during his younger years, and may never have outgrown some of them. His feeling of superfluity and absolute insignificance apart from the attention of his doters, which was inconsistent at best and frankly demoralizing, hollowed-out his sense of security and worth, and he increasingly repressed and compartmentalized his less favorable habits, interests, and personality traits to survive socially. The result is that he loathed himself and all identity-pimps.
He fell in love with writing only superficially and theatrically at first, determined to impress his watchers. He then introverted so far that he couldn鈥檛 find his way out for a long time, and he wrote himself into an self-awareness coma by creating fictions in which he was always a delivering hero and the world was celebrating him eternally. It was during this time he began to live 鈥榩osthumously鈥�, imputing meaning to his life by imagining how his ideas and fantastical exploits would be read by people after he was dead. Only then did he believe his life would be explained and his value to others would be etched in stone as a form of 鈥榣egacy鈥� which has been a maelstrom for many heroes and celebrities who have unwittingly wasted their life in this denial of self. Much of this early tortuous introspection and self-loathing was because he had no friends鈥攈e wasn鈥檛 permitted to attend schools which didn鈥檛 鈥榬ecognize鈥� his genius鈥攁nd when he finally made friends at a school he was allowed to attend, he began the slow process of breaking out of what was quickly becoming a sociopathic escapism (鈥渢he human race became a small committee surrounded by affectionate animals鈥�), though he would never completely overcome the desire to see his life as a book which would justify all of his actions in some future reader鈥檚 mind.
In his later years, he began to be grieved about his early and late inauthenticity. He relates that while writing Nausea he was 鈥渇ake to the marrow of my bones, and hoodwinked.鈥� And yet, as much as he tried to escape it, he resorted to the 鈥榚litism鈥� of criticizing everyone, but at the same time,
鈥淚 was I, the elect, chronicler of hell, a glass and steel microscope peering at my own protoplasmic juices鈥 doubted everything except that I was the elect of doubt.鈥�
In trying to get back to the beginning of his insincerity and objectified, artificial persona, he found an infinite regression of personas that was forever creating new masks for him to unmask. This was a foreshadowing of his theory of the spontaneous and transcendent ego which is beyond our reach, for it inspires and directs our reach. Any sense of self that we discover or delineate has become an artifice, a forgery of the real self which is impelling the discovering and objectifying a decoy 鈥榮elf鈥�. Trying to get to the back of the cogito probably kept him busy for a while, and this, along with a fear of death, inflamed his neuroticism. 鈥淚 lived in a state of terror; it was a genuine neurosis.鈥� I鈥檓 truly saddened to think how many psychoses and suicides a little Zoloft back in the day might have prevented.
Sartre was truly oppressed by the thought ingrained in him, mostly by his grandfather鈥檚 behavior, that he was not needed anywhere, or had any importance to anyone. He felt completely superfluous. I think his psyche and nervous system was scarred by having to play-act for his grandfather so much. He literally did not feel significant or valuable, and was looking for ways to make himself feel 鈥榬eal鈥�.
鈥淲e were never in our own home鈥his caused me no suffering since everything was loaned to me, but I remained abstract. Worldly possessions reflect to their owner what he is; they taught me what I was not. I was not substantial or permanent, I was not the future continuer of my father鈥檚 work, I was not necessary to the production of steel. In short, I had no soul.鈥�
At nine years old (c鈥檓on!!) he was thinking about the existential 鈥榟oles鈥� people leave behind when they aren鈥檛 at a party or gathering and people notice that they are 鈥榥ot there鈥�. This spoke to Sartre of necessity, and he so badly wanted to feel necessary in a way that his absence would be palpable and would shake the world. It affected his whole outlook on his literary career, and Sartre admitted that it still affected him in his later years. His desire to write in such a way that he would be immortalized and 鈥榤issed鈥� when he was dead consumed him. He later realized the flaw of living solely that you would be remembered, and labeled this 鈥減osthumous鈥� thinking; and yet he couldn鈥檛 shake the need to leave a profound impression with others about his past being, whether or not he was still 鈥榖eing鈥� or not. This probably illuminates his more matured ideas about intersubjectivity and our connection to others that is irreducible and fundamental to our consciousness and being. Could it be that Sartre so badly felt the need to be needed, that he invented a philosophy in which this need is proof of our ontological interconnectivity? Or, could Sartre have felt more intensely and consistently this need we all have, and rightly surmised a possible reason for it that better explains its appearance than any other theory? I think both.
Sartre gives an excellent analogy about how he began to feel which may communicate more to the reader in imagery than Sartre could explain in abstract philosophy.
鈥淪ince nobody laid claim to me seriously, I laid claim to being indispensable to the Universe. What could be haughtier? What could be sillier? The fact is that I had no choice鈥� I had sneaked onto a train and fallen asleep, and when the ticket-collector shook me and asked for my ticket, I had to admit that I had none. Nor did I have the money with which to pay my fare on the spot. I began by pleading guilty. I had left my identity card at home, I no longer even remembered how I had gotten by the ticket-puncher, but I admitted that I had sneaked on to the train. Far from challenging the authority of the ticket-collector, I loudly proclaimed my respect for his functions and complied in advance with his decision. At that extreme degree of humility, the only way I could save myself was by reversing the situation: I therefore revealed that I had to be in Dijon for important and secret reasons, reason that concerned France and perhaps all mankind. If things were viewed in this new light, it would be apparent that no one in the entire train had as much right as I to occupy a seat. Of course, this involved a higher law which conflicted with the regulations, but if the ticket-collector took it upon himself to interrupt my journey, he would cause grave complications, the consequences of which would be his responsibility. I urged him to think it over; was it reasonable to doom the entire species to disorder under the pretext of maintaining order in a train? Such is pride: the plea of the wretched. Only passengers with tickets have the right to be modest. I never knew whether I won my case. The ticket-collector remained silent. I repeated my arguments. So long as I spoke, I was sure he wouldn鈥檛 make me get off. We remained face to face, one mute and the other inexhaustible, in the train that was taking us to Dijon. The train, the ticket-collector, and the delinquent were myself. I was also a fourth character, the organizer, who had only one wish, to fool himself, if only for a minute, to forget that he had concocted everything.鈥�
Writing this book in his sixties, he was able to understand the genesis of his motives for writing, and he could see that he would never be fulfilled by writing in the way he originally thought he could be. 鈥淔or the last ten years or so I鈥檝e been a man who鈥檚 been waking up, cured of a long, bitter-sweet madness.鈥� He could see that his 鈥渆agerness to write involves a refusal to live鈥� in that he would always be inclined to think of writing as a need to be loved and justified as a legend, a story, an object in the mind of some other existent.
鈥淢y individuality as a subject had no other interest for me than to prepare for the moment [death] that would change me into an object鈥 was charging my descendents to love me instead of doing so myself.鈥�
He does a wonderful job of sniping the false pride of 鈥榣egacy鈥� in himself and his culture. A desire to leave a legacy is a loathing of the present moment for the sake of being a chapter in someone else鈥� history, a drawing in some children鈥檚 book, that no longer risks hunger, humiliation, or danger of any kind. It is an agreement for one to die if everyone will tell good stories about them. 鈥淚 became my own obituary.鈥�
His loud, self-affirming declaration at the end of the book is as bold and clear as any man who has ever spoken a word in his own defense and fought for his own honor, or humbly but confidently surrendered himself to the gallows he would justly hang on. 鈥淲hat remains [of my work]? A whole man, composed of all men and as good as all of them and no better than any."
I love Sartre鈥檚 writing. Absolutely love it. It鈥檚 genius, meandering, spontaneous, anti-climactic, playful, enigmatic, and always, always honest. He reminds me of Wittgenstein. I often wonder if the two ever interacted. Both of their M.O. seemed to be anti-elitism (鈥淣ever in my life have I given an order without laughing, without making others laugh鈥�), anti-institutionalism, spontaneity, and an emphasis on 鈥榢nowing the world through relation鈥�. I love when he tells on himself for being disingenuous, then tells on himself for telling on himself (鈥淚鈥檓 always ready to criticize myself, provided I鈥檓 not forced to鈥�). He is a fountain of messy, sudden, and superlatively powerful ideas. From a young age he liked word puzzles, and I think he created cryptic messages for diligent readers to unlock, though I think the point is not memorization but assimilation鈥攊f you don鈥檛 have to work for what you know, you don鈥檛 really know it to your core. Sartre notices and says all the things we鈥檝e been taught for so long not to notice or say, and having dumbfounded you, leaves without knowing what you made of it. It was enough for him that he said it鈥he rest of your life is up to you, as the rest of Sartre鈥檚 own life and meanings are left to him. 鈥淣ever have I thought that I was the happy possessor of a 鈥榯alent鈥�; my sole concern has been to save myself.鈥�
His early childhood ideas and experiences were emotionally and cognitively overwrought and perhaps frantic by some people鈥檚 standards, but his hyper-developed sensitivity to existential angst and boredom allowed him to help people realize with devastating accuracy the tradition-vacuum into which modern man and academia has fallen, and the way to climb out. Sounds like a rough road, experiencing such psychological torment before the age of ten and much to follow after, but I鈥檓 glad he wrote about it for the postmodern explorer. Thanks Sartre my brother.
Ohne Vater aufgewachsen sucht der kleine Sartre von Kindesbeinen an nach der Berechtigung seiner Existenz. Er entz眉ckt die Erwachsenenwelt, indem er schon als Kleinstknirps die Kunst des Lesens erst simuliert, dann tats盲chlich im Eigenstudium erwirbt. Er spielt Theater (im umfassenden Sinn des Wortes), sucht in B眉chern und im Kino, einer ganz neu aufgekommene Unterhaltungsform, nach Vorbildern. Trotz aller Rollen, die er mit Inbrunst annimmt, scheint es doch, als w眉rde die Welt nicht begreifen, dass nur noch einer fehlt: Sartre! Als er sich schlie脽lich in der Rolle des Schriftstellers versucht, sind die Weichen gestellt...
Sehr interessant fand ich, dass Sartres Gro脽eltern noch ganz der b眉rgerlichen Gesellschaft Frankreichs angeh枚ren, wie sie uns bei Victor Hugo begegnet. Die fr眉hen Erinnerungen k枚nnten noch die eines Proust sein, trotz der drei Jahrzehnte Unterschied. Daran mag man erkennen, dass der gesellschaftliche Wandel immer schneller vonstatten geht. Schon bald wird es die Form des B眉rgertums nicht mehr geben, der Sartres Gro脽eltern angeh枚rten. Insofern klingen auch Motive an, die mich bei Benjamins so sehr ber眉hrt haben.
Ich hatte nicht mehr in Erinnerung, wie humorvoll DIE W脰RTER geschrieben ist und wie gut lesbar. Der Leser muss keine gro脽en philosophischen Vorkenntnisse haben, um das Buch lesen zu k枚nnen und ein Bild vom jungen Sartre zu bekommen.
Until this book and except for some of his political writings I've never much liked Sartre. The first exposure to him was in high school through three of his dramas. Read quickly and never seen performed, I wasn't impressed. The second was Nausea, an early novel also read in high school--I couldn't finish it. The third, in college, was the collection, Essays on Existentialism. I found myself in profound disagreement with his take on depth psychology. The fourth, in seminary, was Being and Nothingness. Here, as earlier with Nausea, I felt I was reading the symptomatology of a neurotic, not philosophy. Still, I did enjoy some of his political pronouncements and found myself in broad agreement with existentialist philosophy as it was attributed to him by other authors and in some of his essays.
The Words, however, was a pleasant read. The very concept of essaying an autobiography of one's youth was intriguing. Here Sartre considers primarily his first ten years and the three most influential figures of his childhood: his widowed mother and her parents, the Schweitzers (yes, apparently Jean-Paul was distantly related to Albert, though he receives but scant mention herein). Of the three, most important was his grandfather, the great authority figure who, directly and indirectly, appears to have led young Jean-Paul to a career as a writer.
Most of this book, however, is not about persons. Most of it appears to be an effort to describe a state of mind, Sartre's state of mind as a boy and, by implication, how that led to his being what he found himself to be at the time of his writing of this autobiography as a fifty-nine year old man. Here, naturally, one suspects a great deal of second-guessing, of the present overlaying the past--and indeed Sartre devotes a good deal of attention to the centrality of teleology to his developing sense of personhood and purpose.
Only at the book's end does Sartre seriously deal with the influence of the Protestant and Catholic idealogies which were among the givens of his upbringing. I found this approach illuminating and wish there had been more of it.
Demolidor " Tornei-me traidor e continuei a s锚-lo. 脡 em v茫o que me entrego inteiro ao que empreendo, 茅 em v茫o que me entrego sem reservas ao trabalho, 脿 c贸lera, 脿 amizade; eu sei que me renegarei num instante,eu quero 茅 j谩 me traio em plena paix茫o,pelo pressentimento jubiloso da minha trai莽茫o futura".
Ova Sartrova auto-biografija je (uz Moju borbu) najbolja takva do uzrasta 10 godina. "膶italac je shvatio da ja mrzim svoje detinjstvo i sve ono 拧to je od njega jo拧 u 啪ivotu," ka啪e Sartr. Morao je da napi拧e 搁别膷颈 zbog te mr啪nje, da raskrsti sa detinjstvom. Nije mu dodu拧e ni拧ta nedostajalo, odrastao je u finoj gra膽anskoj porodici, neprestano u centru pa啪nje.
Ima tu naravno naknadne pameti, po拧to Sartr 50 godina kasnije vidi stvari druga膷ije nego 拧to ih je video njegov mali-ja. Pri膷a kako su te godine uticale na njegove ideje i filozofiju, ali uzroke obja拧njava na osnovu posledica. Nau膷nici bi rekli - nije ti dobar nau膷ni metod. Ali dobra je psiholo拧ka ve啪ba.
A u centru svega su knjige i razvoj njega kao 膷itaoca i kao pisca (ka啪e dodu拧e da nikad nije imao talenta za pisanje, samo naporan rad i upornost); knjige su mu jedini prijatelj i va啪nije od ljudi.
"Ja sam svoj 啪ivot po膷eo onako kako 膰u ga bez sumnje i zavr拧iti: me膽u knjigama. U dedinoj sobi za rad bilo ih je svuda; bilo je izdato nare膽enje da se pra拧ina sme brisati samo jednom godi拧nje, u oktobru, pred po膷etak 拧kolske godine. Jo拧 nisam znao ni da 膷itam, a ve膰 sam duboko po拧tovao te ste膰ke. Nisam nikada skupljao bilje niti kamenom ga膽ao ptice. Ali knjige su bile moje ptice i moja gnezda, moje doma膰e 啪ivotinje, moja 拧tala i moja polja; biblioteka je bila ogledalo u kojem se ogledao 膷itav svet; ona je imala njegovu beskrajnu gustinu, njegovu raznovrstnost; neo膷ekivana iznena膽enja. Ja sam bio na拧ao svoju veru: ni拧ta mi se nije 膷inilo va啪nije od knjige. Biblioteka, to je za mene bio hram."
Ovo je jedna od knjiga u kojima vi拧e u啪iva拧 kasnije, razmi拧ljaju膰i o pro膷itanom i vra膰aju膰i se citatima. Manje za vreme 膷itanja. Ima ih takvih.
This shit is pretty good. Sartre is smart. What more can i say? This is about his childhood. i dont know how he remembers so much shit. maybe he is a robot? maybe i am a robot? the key here: sartre is an awesome writer. Thats enough.
I used to trot along looking tough, my hand in my mother's, confident that I could protect her. Is it the memory of those years? Even today, I cannot see an over-solemn child talking gravely and affectionately to its child mother without pleasure; I like these gentle yet shy friendships which spring up far away from men and against them. I stare at these childlike couples for a long time, and then I remember that I am a man and look away.
Before, I saw my life in images: my death inducing my birth and my birth projecting me towards towards my death; as soon as I stopped seeing this reciprocity, I became it myself and stretched myself to breaking-point between these two extremes, being born and dying with every heart-beat. My eternity to come became my concrete future: it left its mark on every second of frivolity and it was, at the centre of the deepest concentration, a still deeper absent-mindedness, the emptiness of all plenitude and the trivial unreality of reality; it killed, from a distance, the taste of a caramel in my mouth and the joys and griefs in my heart; but it preserved the emptiest of moments for the sole reason that it would come at last and that it brought me nearer to it; it gave me the patience to live...I lived serenely in a state of extreme urgency: always in front of myself, everything absorbed me but nothing held me back.
Culture saves nothing and nobody, nor does it justify. But it is a product of man: he projects himself in it; this critical mirror alone shows him his image.
...my one concern was to save myself - nothing in my hands, nothing in my pockets - through work and faith.
Gr寞啪au prie 拧ios knygos, nes 拧iuo metu skaitau de拧imteriopai didesn臈s apimties 啪yd懦 ra拧ytojo Amos Oz autobiografin寞 roman膮 "Pasakojimas apie meil臋 ir tams膮". Manau, kad tiems, kurie ruo拧iasi skaityti pamin臈t膮 knyg膮, verta pirmiau perskaityti 沤. P. Sartro "沤od啪iai". Skai膷iau prie拧 daug met懦, bet 寞sp奴dis i拧liko geras.
鈥業 began my life as I shall no doubt end it: among books. In my grandfather鈥檚 study, they were everywhere; it was forbidden to dust them except once a year鈥︹€�
Bought many moons ago at University but I don鈥檛 remember reading it鈥oesn鈥檛 mean I didn鈥檛 however馃槈. Tony Manser the prof at Southampton was a Sartre scholar. Must have bought the book to impress him鈥hat failed.
Divided into 2 sections. Firstly, Reading then Writing. An autobiography but only covering the years until Sartre was 10 years old. With the early death of his father Sartre and his mother live with his grandparents. His grandfather having a strong influence on his life.
Glimpses of an early life. Reading and writing adventure stories much to his grandfathers disgust with his poor spelling being pointed out. Coming second in a writing competition and refusing to go back to school. Awareness of his diminutive size and lack of good looks.
An enjoyable read bringing back memories of my childhood鈥hat bore no relationship to his.