In 1947, Sartre's Qu'est-ce que la littérature? made political engagement the essence of literary writing. Sartre's own engagement as a "compagnon de route" of Marxism began a few years later. By the end of Sartre's career as a writer, he had entirely abandoned literature in favor of philosophy and biography, but his political commitment persisted until his death in 1980. The marriage of literature and politics proved to be a difficult one. The declining political fortunes of Marxism in Europe in the years since Sartre's death has, furthermore, placed the politically engaged period of his career in a strange light. The posthumous reception of Sartre's works has been complicated by the posthumous defeat of Sartre's politics. How should we understand the relation between Sartre's political stances and the value his works have for contemporary readers?
Sartre: Retrospective Illusions and the Losers of History
JVF Conference Papers
