Sartre's second century

160 Chapter Eleven
consciousness: this attitude largely resembles that of a spectator who, in
the theatre, sees the curtain rising. It is preparing to discover a whole
world, which is not that of perception, but neither is that of mental images.
To be present at a play is to apprehend the characters on the actors, the
forest of As You Like It on the cardboard trees. To read is to realise contact
with the irreal world on the signs. 9
We can extract from this passage that it is the experience of a text,
determined by the type of consciousness involved, which decides a text's
character as dramatic or academic. It is possible, therefore, that a person
could have dramatic experiences throughout the course of reading an
academic text if his or her consciousness approached the words as things
inside a world. It is up to the author to try and elicit his or her desired
response in the reader. Thus, I propose that the primary way to
differentiate Sartre*s literary endeavours from his academic projects is to
look for stylistic techniques that appear to aim at putting us in the
presence of a world.
Before showing how this differentiation ultimately fails when applied
to Hope Now, there are three nuances regarding this distinction worth
addressing. These nuances will allow us to see why Sartre's strict
distinction between philosophy and literature, although ultimately
untenable, is useful for understanding our everyday experiences of
different types of texts. Also, from a purely biographical perspective, these
observations can help us to understand something of Sartre's own literary
objectives and methodology. They are, first, how the presence of an irreal
world in Sartre's literature assigns to the reader the role of judge; next, the
felt duration established in all literary works; and, third, the desirable
ambiguity and ineffability that are possible in and through literature.
First, let us consider the role of the reader. In the presence of one of
Sartre's imaginary worlds, the reader engages with the given work
differently from when he or she reads one of Sartre's philosophical essays.
Presented with characters inside a plot, the reader makes qualitative
judgments about specific actions and events that take place. 10 Obviously,
we can make judgments when we read academic works: a person can read
a philosophical treatise on capital punishment and formulate a passionate
stance on the idea. However, if that same person sees the issue worked out
9 Ibid., 64.
10 James Edie has shown how Sartre's theatrical works, in particular, encourage the
audience to adopt the position of judge: "In Sartre's own plays, especially the
important ones [...] the action is frequently ambiguous and can only be judged by
those who stand outside the agon itself, namely the audience, us" (Edie, 436).