How to Read Sartre (How to Read) [Paperback]

Robert Bernasconi (Author), Simon Critchley (Series Editor)

Book Description

Series: How to Read | Publication Date: January 17, 2007

“I can want only the freedom of others.”—Jean–Paul Sartre

The How to Read series provides a context and an explanation that will facilitate and enrich your understanding of texts vital to the canon. These books use excerpts from the major texts to explain essential topics, such as Jean-Paul Sartre's pioneering thoughts on individual freedom, which served as a foundation for his role as the political champion of the oppressed.

Jean–Paul Sartre is best known as the pre-eminent philosopher of individual freedom. He is the one who told us that we are totally free. Robert Bernasconi shows how the early existentialist Sartre became in stages the political champion of the oppressed. Extracts are drawn from the full range of Sartre’s writings including the novel Nausea, and the major philosophical text Being and Nothingness. They show why of all major twentieth-century philosophers Sartre was the one who most easily passed beyond the confines of the academy to a general readership.

Editorial Reviews

Review

• Sartre is existentialism- the most popular philosophy of the modern day
• Renewed interest in this 'personality' philosopher with the recent publication of Hazel Rowley's Tete-a-Tete: The Lives and Loves of Simone Le Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre (read on BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week)
• Adding to 10 other titles currently available in the How to Read series --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Robert Bernasconi is Moss Professor of Philosophy at the University of Memphis. His books include The Question of Language in Heidegger’s History of Being and Heidegger in Question. He has edited anthologies on race and collections of essays on Levinas and Derrida.


Simon Critchley is Hans Jonas Professor at the New School for Social Research, and a part-time professor of philosophy at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. His many books include Infinitely Demanding, Ethics-Politics-Subjectivity and, most recently, The Book of Dead Philosophers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (January 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329526
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329520
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,003,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone interested in Sartre should read this, March 7, 2009

By 

Pen Name? "fluxus" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Read Sartre (How to Read) (Paperback)

Bernasconi has done a huge service to everyone with an interest in Sartrean (or post-Sartrean) philosophy. He has, in around 100 very readable and interesting pages, taken from 10 excerpts of Sartre's massive bibliography and managed to give a more comprehensive and sensitive account of Sartre's philosophy. Significantly, he traces Sartre's development from his earliest writings to his last period, and in doing so he situates Sartre historically, politically and philosophically and is able to show the core points of emphasis in his work as he encountered new situations and ideas. Sartre's philosophical path makes much more sense in the reading Bernasconi gives, moreso than any treatment of Sartre I have ever read (and yes, I've looked at a lot of them).
Thank you Bernasconi for not giving us another repetition of the same popularly narrow readings! This book should be a must for college courses, libraries and anyone who has had an interest in Sartre and existentialism.