Abstract
The attempt to present and discuss Sartre’s phenomenology without including the whole of his philosophical thought has to face more than the usual amount of difficulties presented by such a selective enterprise. They begin with the fact that a man of Sartre’s versatility and vigor defies all conventional classifications. Thus, in studying Sartre the philosopher and phenomenologist, one must consider not only Sartre the novelist, the critic, the playwright, and the editor, but also the political figure. For after World War II Sartre became so involved in political action and in the theatre that one might well have wondered whether he had not turned away from philosophy for good, had it not been for the persistent announcements of major philosophical works still to appear in the near future. One might conceive of dividing up the task by concentrating on either the philosopher, the dramatist, or the novelist Sartre, as some of the more successful studies published thus far have done.1 But Sartre’s work is more than the sum of the output of his separate talents. There was a common source for all his multifarious activities. At their center was a unique philosophic concern. Some attempt to determine this core is therefore indispensable for any attempt to understand Sartre.
I am greatly indebted to my colleague at Washington University Michel Rybalka, who not only checked this revised chapter carefully but also gave me new information and specific criticisms which I adopted in most cases.
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Selective Bibliography
Major Works
L’Imagination (1936). Transl. (1962) by Forest Williams — sometimes rather free. The subtitle (“A Psychological Critique”) and the Table of Contents are additions.
La Transcendance de l’ego (1937) (TE), originally an article in Recherches philosophiques VI, since 1965 published independently with introduction, notes and appendices by Sylvie Le Bon. transl. by F. Williams and R. Kirkpatrick — careful, with introduction and helpful notes.
La Nausée (1938). A Novel. transl. by Lloyd Alexander.
Esquisse d’une théorie des émotions (1939). transl. by B. Frechtman under the title The Emotions: Outline of a theory — fair.
L’Imaginaire: Psychologie phénoménologique de l’imagination (1940). Transl. anonymous, under the title Psychology of the Imagination (1948), with some misleading mistakes.
L’Être et le néant. Essai d’ontologie phénoménologique (1943) (EN). transl. by Hazel Barnes as “Being and Nothingness” — good, but not free from serious errors. Adds an introduction, a helpful index of names and a key to special terminology of limited value, but no index of subjects.
L’Existentialisme est un humanisme (1946). transl. by B. Frechtman (1947), not free from serious mistakes.
Situations vol. I (1947) — X (1976). transl. of selected essays in one volume by Benita Eisler and in various other volumes.
Saint Genet, comédien et martyre (1952). transl. by B. Frechtman.
Questions de méthode (1957). transl. by Hazel Barnes as “Search for Method” (1963).
Critique de la raison dialectique vol. I (1969). Transl. A. Sheridan-Smith. Edited by Jonathan Rée (1976). Adds helpful divisions of the two parts into chapters, sections, and subsections, a full table of contents and indexes.
L’Idiot de la famille: Gustave Flaubert de 1821 à 1857 vol. I, II (1971), III (1973). Transl. by Alan Sheridan-Smith (1976).
Secondary Literature For Biographical Background
SARTRE, J.-P. Les Mots (1963); tr. B. Frechtman as The Words (1964).
BEAUVOIR, SIMONE DE, Mémoires d’une jeune fille rangée (1958). transl. by J. Kirkup as Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (1959).
BEAUVOIR, SIMONE DE, La Force de l’âge (1960). transl. by P. Green as The Prime of Life (1962).
BEAUVOIR, SIMONE DE, La Force des choses (1963). transl. by R. Howard (1965) as The Force of Circumstances (1965).
JEANSON, FRANCIS, Sartre par lui-même (1955). Emphasizes mostly Sartre’s plays.
JEANSON, FRANCIS, Sartre dans sa vie (1974).
JEANSON, FRANCIS, Le problème moral et la pensée de Sartre (1948). Preface by Sartre. Basic for an understanding of Sartre’s failure to complete his promised ethics. transl. by Robert V. Stone (1980) with Postface 1965.
Secondary Literature For Sartre’s Phenomenology
GUTWIRTH, RUDOLF, La phénoménologie de J. P. Sartre de L’Être et le néant à la Critique de la raison dialectique. Antwerp: Sentiers (1973). Not an explicit study of Sartre’s distinctive phenomenology but of some of its ontological and anthropological results in his two major philosophical works, followed by critical discussions, only partially from a phenomenological and sometimes from a political angle.
Varet, Gilbert, L’Ontologie de Sartre (1948). Penetrating analysis, chiefly an attempt to derive Sartre’s ontology as a necessary consequence of Husserl’s phenomenological method, but insufficiently familiar with Sartre’s German sources.
Studies in English
CAWS, PETER, Sartre (1969).
Cranston, Maurice, Jean-Paul Sartre (1962). Introductory; takes no special interest in phenomenology.
DESAN, WILFRED, The Tragic Finale (1954). Based largely on Varet; sees chiefly the “despair” in Sartre’s existentialism.
DESAN, WILFRED, The Marxism of J.-P. Sartre (1965). Helpful as an introduction to the problems of the Critique of Dialectical Reason.
MURDOCH, IRIS, Sartre, Romantic Rationalist (1953). Perceptive and sympathetic study, based largely on Sartre’s novels.
NATANSON, MAURICE, A Critique of Jean-Paul Sartre’s Ontology (1951). In addition to a succinct presentation, Natanson blames the defects of Sartre’s ontology on his failure to apply Husserl’s phenomenological reduction.
WARNOCK, MARY, The Philosophy of Sartre (1967). A brief study from the analytical angle with negative conclusions.
Most Complete Bibliographies For Primary Literature
CONTAT, MICHEL et RYBALKA, MICHEL, Les Écrits de Sartre (1970). This unique collection of bibliographical data, backed by Sartre himself, gives first a concise chronology (21 pages) followed by an annotated bibliography of 511 items, adding information about the history, reception and subsequent self-evaluation of each piece (some 430 pages). An Appendix reprints “rediscovered” texts. Excellently indexed. Transl. Richard McCleary with additional material up to 1973 in two volumes (Evanston, 1974). Indispensable for Sartre studies even in philosophy.
Most Complete Bibliographies For Secondary Literature
LAPOINTE, FRANçOIS, Jean-Paul Sartre and His Critics. An International Bibliography (1938–1980). Bowling Green State University (1980). With annotations, 2nd edn.
BELKIND, ALLEN, “Jean-Paul Sartre: Sartre and Existentialism in English.” A Bibliographical Guide. Kent State University Press (1970). Tries to cover both the primary and secondary English literature; some annotations.
WILCOCKS, ROBERT, Jean-Paul Sartre: A Bibliography of International Criticism. University of Alberta Press, 1975. Much superior to the preceding ones in scope and organization.
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Spiegelberg, H. (1994). The Phenomenology of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980). In: The Phenomenological Movement. Phaenomenologica, vol 5/6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-7491-3_12
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