Follows Sartre from his earliest years to the end of World War II, discussing Sartre's development into a political radical, his existentialism, his literary endeavors, his relationship with Simon de Beauvoir, and his Marxism.
An authorized, but not uncritical, biography following Sartre from his earliest years until 1945. This volume, the first of two, explores Sartre's development into a political radical through various transformations, addressing Sartre's existentialism, his literary endeavors, his relationship with de Beauvoir, and his Marxism. Using extraordinary primary materials Gerassi sheds brilliant light on both the life and the thoughts of the man who embodied one of the prime intellectual movements of the 20th c. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
Countless biographers have tried to unveil the real Jean-Paul Sartre without his consent or cooperation. Only John Gerassithe "non-godson" of Sartre, an atheistwas honored with the responsibility of being Sartre's official biographer. After drafting the commission with Sartre on the back of a menu at La Coupole, Gerassi recorded over one hundred hours of interviews with him between 1974 and 1979, and another hundred hours with Sartre's friends, colleagues, and enemies. Gerassi also immersed himself in Sartre's literary, philosophical, and personal writings. Gerassi had access to all of Sartre's files, unpublished manuscripts, and extensive notes for planned but undelivered lectures. Simone de Beauvoir gave many of Sartre's unpublished letters to Gerassi as well. Sartre trusted the integrity of Gerassi so completely that he considered Gerassi's biography to be the continuation of his own autobiography, Les mots. As a personal friend, Gerassi writes with advantages shared by no other biographer of Sartre.
