From Publishers Weekly
With a decidedly political focus, these lively and candid conversations from the early 1970s between the famed French philosopher and his godson are a fascinating glimpse into Sartre's efforts to reconcile existentialism with Maoism and his own increasingly revolutionary leanings. That Gerassi (
Jean-Paul Sartre) is clearly on close personal terms with his subject is always apparent, and this allows for wonderfully frank accounts of Sartre's childhood, various affairs and women, as well as asides about his drug use and bizarre, recurring hallucinations of crabs. The author incessantly returns to political questions, examining Sartre's various left-wing commitments, his views on Soviet Russia, Cuba, the Israel-Palestine conflict, in addition to the broader questions of how social conscience relates to art and whether a doctrine of absolute individual freedom can be made compatible with Sartre's emphasis on collective action. This can make for repetition and occasional tedium that could easily have been remedied by more disciplined editing and a less ideologically strident framework. Still, as a document of both the thinker and the man, the volume paints a revealing picture of a restless mind in profound engagement with the philosophical and political crises of its time.
(Dec.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Review
“Gerassi''s conversations with Sartre are a treat, unprecedented in the voluminous Sartre archives. This is the unguarded Sartre; he forgets the tape recorder. We see it all—the voracious curiosity, political passion, probing honesty, self-deprecating humor, and bragging machismo. Some of the greatest gems are his passing comments. In between the lines we see into his soul.”—Hazel Rowley, author of Tête-à-Tête: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre
(Hazel Rowley )
“Talking with Sartre is like no other interview book that I’ve ever read. Sartre’s genius and fire figure on every page, often interwoven with the personal details that make his life every bit as interesting as his writings. Gerassi’s insightful and argumentative probing brings out the very best in Sartre. A masterpiece, an absolute delight to read.”—
Bertell Ollman, New York University
(Bertell Ollman )
