Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century [Hardcover]

Bernard-Henri Levy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 19, 2003

'A whole man, made of all men, worth all of them, and any one of them worth him.' This was how Jean-Paul Sartre characterized himself at the end of his autobiographical study, Words. And Bernard-Henri Levy shows how Sartre cannot be understood without taking into account his relations with the intellectual forebears and contemporaries, the lovers and friends, with whom he conducted a lifelong debate. His thinking was essentially a tumultuous dialogue with his whole age and himself. He learned from Gide the art of freedom, and how to experiment with inherited fictional forms. He was a fellow-traveller of communism, and yet his relations with the Party were deeply ambiguous. He was fascinated by Freud but trenchantly critical of psychoanalysis. Beneath Sartre's complex and ever-mutating political commitments, Levy detects a polarity between anarchic individualism on the one hand, and a longing for absolute community that brought him close to totalitarianism on the other. Levy depicts Sartre as a man who could succumb to the twentieth century's catastrophic attraction to violence and the false messianism of its total political solutions, while also being one of the fiercest critics of its illusions and shortcomings.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this impenetrable rhapsody to the apotheosis of French intellectualism, Sartre emerges as a force of nature: a novelist comparable to Faulkner and Joyce; a thinker whose existentialism rivaled Marxism and Freudianism for sway over the modern mind; a political activist whose mistakes are grander than others' successes; a great (though technically lousy) lover whose countless betrayals of Simone de Beauvoir only cemented their soul bond; "a tremor, a torrent, a tidal wave." Levy, a French philosopher and writer, assumes readers are as steeped in Sartriana as he is and so dispenses with biographical context and narrative thread in favor of a hop-scotching thematic treatment, full of obscure references. He avoids any systematic development of Sartre's philosophy, indulging instead in vapid color-commentary (Sartre's philosophical writings were "a series of raids, offensives, commando operations") and opaque ruminations ("Truth is a very long and complex movement in which a 'true' which is no longer 'subject' but 'substance' emerges from itself..."). His denunciations of Sartre's "Stalinist cretinism" are more coherent, but his insights into Sartre's politics ("there were two Sartre's...almost at war") remain banal. Essentially a 450-page love letter, the book overflows with fawning endearments, petulant reproaches and intimate allusions to epiphanies and quarrels that outsiders will not be able to grasp. Unfortunately, in the haze of grandiloquent verbiage with which Levy surrounds every facet of Sartre's life ("it was in order to have big ideas, to create huge colossal things, that...he had to drug himself") the man and his ideas are lost.
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Review

"The book's enthusiasm is infectious. It delves sympathetically into Sartre's ideas and makes a strong case for their importance."

The Economist

"This biography of the French guru is brilliant."

George Walden, The Sunday Telegraph

"Enthralling, absolutely enthralling."

Christian Sauvage, Le Journal du Dimanche

"Bernard-Henri Lévy wonderfully resurrects Jean-Paul as a colossus bestriding the age...It would be hard to imagine a better translation of BHL oracular French. Andrew Brown succeeds in bringing Lévy so flamingly to life as a passionately engaged and combative speaker that you can hear him holding forth on the other side of the table in the Flore or the Deux Magots"

Andy Martin, Daily Telegraph

"Sartre, who had refused all kinds of introspection, is here thoroughly revisited in both his life and work. In this journey through the century in which Sartre lived, one learns as much about the twentieth century as one does about Sartre. This is Bernard Henri Lévy at his very best."

Marcel Neusch, La Croix

"Levy is seldom a less than engaging guide to the drama of the rise and fall of one of the last century's most prominent writers and thinkers"

Aengus Collins, Irish Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Polity; 1 edition (September 19, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 074563009X
• ISBN-13: 978-0745630090
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,256,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Satire as person, provides context, August 26, 2004

By 

P. Nagy "revreader" (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century by Bernard Henri Levy (Polity Press) 'A whole man, mode of all men, worth all of them, and .any one of them worth him' This was how .Jean-Paul Sartre characterized himself at the end of his autobiographical study, Words. And Bernard-Henri Lévy shows how Sartre cannot be understood without taking into account his relations with the intellectual forebears and contemporaries, the lovers and friends, with whom he conducted o lifelong debate. His thinking was essentially a tumultuous dialogue with his whole age and himself. He learned from Gide the art of freedom, and how to experiment with inherited fictional forms. He was a fellow-traveller of communism, and yet his relations with the Party were deeply ambiguous. He was fascinated by Freud but trenchantly critical of psychoanalysis. Beneath Sartre's complex and ever-mutating political commitments, Lévy detects a polarity between anarchic individualism on the one hand, and a longing for absolute community that brought him close to totalitarianism on the other. Lévy depicts Sartre as a man who could succumb to the twentieth century's catastrophic attraction to violence and the false messianism of its total political solutions, while also being one of the fiercest critics of its illusions and shortcomings.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Mess, February 15, 2006

By 

Francis McInerney (Katonah, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

Levy needs help. This book is incoherent and poorly constructed. Except when Levy takes a detour to unload on Heidegger, which he does wonderfully and with real passion, he meanders all over the place. The book is full of non sequitors and bizarre assertions. It is not clear at all what his point is. Must be in here somewhere.

Editing: Zero Stars. Someone needed to have a quiet word with Bernard-Henri. Sentances running 39 lines are a bit much. Where is the verb?

Copy Editing: Five Stars. Very Clean.

8 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, essential reading for students of Sartre's life, September 14, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sartre: The Philosopher of the Twentieth Century (Hardcover)

Sartre: The Philosopher Of The Twentieth Century is an impressively researched biography by French provocateur Bernard-Henri Levy of Sarte, the famous French novelist whose existential works held up a mirror to reflect the confusion of the twentieth century. Presenting the events of Sartre's life that worked to shape his intellectual and political views; Sartre's fascinat-ion with Freud and psychoanalysis; and the enduring qualities of literature, Sartre: The Philosopher Of The Twentieth Century is a very highly recommended addition to 20th Century Philosophy Studies in general, and insightful, essential reading for students of Sartre's life, thoughts, and works in particular.