Sartre's second century

36 Chapter Three
Intentionality"). In Berlin (1933-34), Sartre writes these two articles and
La Nausee simultaneously. The writing of the novel influences the articles
in a way that we shall examine here. 4
The Project of Metaphysical Literature
As far as Sartre's early writings are concerned, we shall consider
Nausea and the Ecrits de jeunesse (Juvenilia). His autobiography, Les
Mots (The Words), is also important for understanding the earliest origins
of the project of metaphysical literature. The latter is a highly original
literary project, involving the creation of fictions, using every means of
inventive metaphors and complex plots. But it is also a philosophical
project, because the writer aims at revealing metaphysical truths. In her
Memoires d*une jeunefille rangee, Simone de Beauvoir portrays Sartre in
1929 as follows:
He liked Stendhal as much as Spinoza and did not want to separate
philosophy from literature; in his mind, contingency was not an abstract
idea, but a real feature of the world: 5 it was necessary to use all means of
art to make one's heart sensitive to the secret weakness he saw in man and
in all things. 6
It should be emphasised that, in Sartre's literary works, the metaphysical
experiences are never conceptually explicated: literature comes first. In
1974, Sartre, conversing with Beauvoir about his studies at the Ecole
Normale Superieure, said:
At that time, I did not want to write books of philosophy. I did not want to
write the equivalent of Critique de la raison dialectique or of L'hre et le
niant. No, I wanted to express in my novel the philosophy I believed, the
truths I would discover. 7
Why are the truths revealed by literature "metaphysical" truths?
First, these truths appear in the "Conclusion" to Being and Nothingness,
where they are called "metaphysical implications" ("apergus
An earlier draft of this chapter was given as a paper at the Centenary Conference
of the UK Sartre Society at the Institut Francais, London, in March 2005.
5 Let us note that "contingency" is a fundamental concept of metaphysics.
6 Simone de Beauvoir, Memoires d'une jeune fille rangee (Memoirs of a Dutiful
Daughter), 479. [Translations are by the author unless stated otherwise.—Eds].
7 Simone de Beauvoir, La Ceremonie des adieux (The Farewell Ceremony), 203.