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Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre. Born 1905 From France Worked with the French Resistance in World War II Wrote novels, short stories, and plays Became a Marxist Turned down Nobel Prize (1964) Died 1980. Sartre’s Contributions. Popularized existentialism

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Jean-Paul Sartre

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  1. Jean-Paul Sartre • Born 1905 • From France • Worked with the French Resistance in World War II • Wrote novels, short stories, and plays • Became a Marxist • Turned down Nobel Prize (1964) • Died 1980

  2. Sartre’s Contributions • Popularized existentialism • Argued for absolute freedom and responsibility for human beings • Author of many memorable quotations and examples • “Man is a useless passion” • “Hell is other people”

  3. Existentialism is a philosophy of human existence • The existence of a human being is prior to that human’s essence • What I am now is a matter of the free choices I have made • “Subjectivity must be the starting point”

  4. Atheist Existentialism • Denies the existence of God • If there is no God, there is at least one kind of creature, the human being, in whom existence precedes essence • There is no human nature, because there is no God to conceive of it: man is only what he wills himself to be

  5. Subjectivity • The starting point for humans is subjective because humans make themselves what they are • Making ourselves what we are leaves us responsible for our own actions • Humans are responsible not only for themselves, but for all humanity, since we “create an image of man as we think he ought to be” • We always choose the good, which is good for all

  6. Forlornness • Heidegger described humans as forlorn because we must face the consequences of the non-existence of God • It is distressing because there is no ultimate source of values if God does not exist • Dostoyevsky: If God does not exist, everything is permitted

  7. Reality Alone Counts • An person is of a certain kind (e.g., writer) only insofar as he engages in that activity • What a person hopes or wishes to be does not matter; only the produced realities do • In assessing a person, we must take all his activities into account • For man is the sum of his undertakings

  8. Optimistic Toughness • Existentialists write of people with character flaws • They do not attribute these to circumstances or heredity, but to free choices • The existentialist keeps open the possibility of change in anyone in any circumstance

  9. Subjectivity Again • The only firm beginning is “I think; therefore, I exist” • Everything else is mere probability • This prevents man from being reduced to an object

  10. Universality • There is a universal human condition: mortal being in the world • This is objective, and the situation of any human can be understood • But it is subjective, as the human condition is always being built through individual human choices

  11. Extended work of fiction written in prose; Foer’s novel includes: detective story humor writing first-person testimonials epistles (letters) photographs and concludes with a reversible flip-book Walter Kirn on Foer’s work: “Everything is Included” like an “overstuffed fortune cookie” The Novel (Defined)

  12. Literary Terms • Stream of Consciousness: the uninterrupted flow of impressions and perceptions, thoughts, and feelings • Especially popular among the Modernist writers post-WWI (i.e. Woolf, Joyce and Faulkner) • This technique mingles memories, feelings, and seemingly random associations • Also termed free indirect discourse • Technique is reflective of human mind

  13. Synonyms for “coming of age” • Aging • Growth (esp. “growing up”) • Development • Maturation • Initiation

  14. Protagonist: 9-yr-old boy who invents • Setting: Post-9/11 NYC • Tension: Loss of father, obsession • Style: groundbreaking, demanding

  15. Themes • Growth after loss • Finding meaning and one’s place in the world • The human experience- we all have an unspoken human connection • Father-son relationships • Mortality-life and death

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