Sartre's second century

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The Literary-Philosophical Experience of Hope Now 171 observes in his introduction, the interviews open and end with discussions of hope. 41 Consequently, when we read Hope Now these two philosophers appear to us as persons inside a world—a world, moreover, that emerges from the tension between the very words on the page (in all their varying vocabularies), as well as between the metastable identities of the interlocutors, with whom we share a particular duration from beginning to end. As a result, we become part of the discussion as well. The They comes to include the reader. It is we who decide whether Sartre is a Jew or an atheist, a traditional Marxist or a disenchanted Maoist. Like the waiter in Being and Nothingness, we are still playing and taking the specific identities of the characters in our imaginary world a little too seriously. 42 But in the ebb and flow of this play, we experience that truthful "something" that exists beyond the work itself, and which is given to us as a particular so that we can, once again, play the role of the judge. In the quarter-century since its publication, the two most common verdicts handed down on Hope Now have been either to dismiss its contents as an unsalvageable mess, or to celebrate it as a clear turn in Sartre's thought towards Judaism or mysticism. Even Aronson, who tries to find a middle ground in his introduction to the text, ultimately treats the tensions in Hope Now as obstacles that we must overcome as readers. My approach is the opposite. The confusion that Hope Now induces in us— much like the kind that an impersonator of Chevalier once did for Sartre— is ultimately what is most enjoyable about it. The most fruitful approach we can take towards Sartre's last words is not to lament their peculiarity, or to regret the friendship that produced them, but to consider them the product of yet another way of discussing philosophical ideas and disclosing ineffable, ambiguous, literary truths. Perhaps the most appropriate way to end this chapter is by once again immersing ourselves in Benny Levy's vocabulary, for our own purposes. Indeed, one way to summarise the project of Hope Now is to borrow Levy's thoughts on a different but related issue: the future of radical politics. In section seven of the interviews, L6vy says to Sartre: "To be radical, then, would be to pursue in a radical way the bringing together of scattered intentions to the point where they achieve an adequate unity." To this, Sartre answers: "Yes, insofar as it is possible." 43 41 Aronson, "Sartre's Last Words", 29. 42 See Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 101-102. 43 Hope Now, 81.
172 Chapter Eleven Works Cited Aronson, Ronald. "Sartre's Last Words", in Jean-Paul Sartre and Benny L6\y, Hope Now: The 1980 Interviews, 3-40. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Beauvoir, Simone de. Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre (trans. Patrick O'Brian). New York: Pantheon Books, 1984. Cohen-Solal, Annie. Sartre: A Life. New York: Pantheon Books, 1987. Cumming, Robert D. "Role-playing: Sartre's transformation of Husserl's phenomenology", in Christina Howells (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Sartre, 39-66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. Edie, James M. "The philosophical framework of Sartre's theory of the theatre", Man and World, vol. 27, no. 4, October 1994,415-44. Larson, Thomas. History and Tradition of Jazz. Dubuque: Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company, 2002. Ldvy, Bernard-Henri. Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century (trans. Andrew Brown). Cambridge: Polity Press, 2003. Rybalka, Michel, Oreste F. Pucciani and Susan Gruenheck. "An interview with Jean-Paul Sartre" (trans. Susan Gruenheck), in Paul Arthur Schilpp (ed.), The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre, 1-51. La Salle: Open Court, The Library of Living Philosophers, 1981. Sartre, Jean-Paul. Being and Nothingness (trans. Hazel E. Barnes). New York: Washington Square Press, 1984. —. The Imaginary (trans. Jonathan Webber). New York: Routledge, 2004. —. (with Benny Levy). Hope Now: The 1980 Interviews (trans. Adrian Van den Hoven). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. Webber, Jonathan. "Notes on the Translation", in Jean-Paul Sartre, The Imaginary. New York: Routledge, 2004.
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Sartre's Second Century Edited by B
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viii Table of Contents CHAPTER NINE
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X Introduction unique in embracing
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Xll Introduction but throughout wes
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CHAPTER ONE SARTRE: A BIOGRAPHICAL
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Sartre: A Biographical Sketch 3 Par
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Sartre: A Biographical Sketch 5 By
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Sartre: A Biographical Sketch 7 The
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CHAPTER TWO AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ONTOLOGY
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Autobiography, Ontology and Respons
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CHAPTER THREE LITERATURE AND PHILOS
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Literature and Philosophy in Sartre
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Temporality and the Death of Lucien
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Sartre and Nietzsche: Brothers in A
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CHAPTER SIX 1945-2005: EXISTENTIALI
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1945-2005: Existentialism and Human
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Sartre, Intentionality and Praxis 8
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The New Sartre: A Postmodern Progen
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Page 134 and 135: The New Sartre: A Postmodern Progen
Page 136 and 137: CHAPTER NINE A SURREPTITIOUS ROMANT
Page 138 and 139: Reading Sartre with Victor Hugo 125
Page 156 and 157: Hidden Wordplay in the Works of Jea
Page 168 and 169: CHAPTER ELEVEN DESTABILISING IDENTI
Page 170 and 171: The Literary-Philosophical Experien
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Page 188 and 189: Contemporary Perspectives 175 evide
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Page 198 and 199: Contemporary Perspectives 185 chara
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Page 202 and 203: Contemporary Perspectives 189 We ex
Page 204 and 205: CHAPTER THIRTEEN EXISTENTIALIST IMP
Page 206 and 207: Existentialist Impact on 6shima Nag
Page 216 and 217: Sartre's Legacy in an Era of Obscur
Page 228 and 229: CONTRIBUTORS CAM CLAYTON Cam Clayto
Page 230 and 231: Sartre's Second Century 217 SlMONE
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