Sartre finished off

I confess that I was wary of doing Sartre in the literature seminar class. After all France is deeply committed to literature. Someone has said that in France literature is a religion, and nowhere is that more true than in Sartre. He said that literature was his religion.

Also France is deeply committed to philosophy, the home of existentialism (and lots more isms) so I could well imagine Sartre being a kind of hero.

I couldn't have been more wrong! Since about 1980 there has been a deep reappraisal of Sartre. Some defend him. Others expose him for the self-confessed opportunist hypocrite who wrote in bad faith that he was. Among them is our lecturer. At one point, after a string of words like those above I asked her "Are those simply your opinions or are they shared generally?" She said that opinion was somewhat divided but he was self-confessed in les Mots, and she'd like to know what I thought about what he says.

So there we are! Sartre the hero has become Sartre the villain, or at least Sartre the bloke. Coupled with the examination of the facts of Sartre's supposed resistance activities during the war (he seems to have assumed that role after the war - a little late for action, but just in time to benefit from the myth) it has led to nothing less than exposure.

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