Jean-Paul Sartre was a 20th-century French philosopher, novelist, playwright, and critic. He is often associated with existentialism, a philosophy that argues life has no inherent meaning and that humans should, in turn, define themselves. Sartre, in particular, believed humans were "condemned to freedom," meaning they were ultimately responsible for their own lives.
Sartre's romantic partner and sometimes artistic collaborator was the groundbreaking feminist theorist Simone de Beauvoir. The couple had a lifelong open relationship, an arrangement they believed was representative of their existentialist ideals but also inspired accusations of unethical behavior and abuse.
Sartre was a popular writer in his time, responsible for some of existentialism's defining works, like his 1938 novel "Nausea," the 1943 philosophical text "Being and Nothingness," and the 1944 play "No Exit," works that are still widely read today.
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The existentialist figurehead argued that humans are not born with an identity or purpose; instead, they develop them throughout their lives. For Sartre, this meant making meaning for oneself rather than relying on authorities (like religion or government) to provide it.
In "Existentialism is a Humanism," Sartre argues that humans are "condemned to be free"—they are not confined to a divine fate, which means they must take the responsibility of creating their own destinies. Those who reject this freedom, by his estimation, are living in "bad faith."
The line appears toward the end of the play "No Exit." One character, realizing that he's confined to live out the rest of his days with the play's other two characters, exclaims, "There's no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is—other people!"
After Charles Lindbergh completed his first solo transatlantic voyage in 1927, the French philosopher—then a student at Paris' École normale supérieure—called various newspapers to tell them the American pilot would be granted an honorary degree. Over 500 people showed up to find a Lindbergh lookalike Sartre had hired. "The public fell for it, and an old man even kissed his hand," Sartre later wrote.
In 1935, Sartre was injected with mescaline, a psychedelic drug that was then used to treat alcoholism and depression, by his friend at the Hôpital Sainte-Anne in Paris. It was not a good trip: Sartre saw nightmarish crabs for days and suffered a mental breakdown. For the rest of his life, crustaceans like the ones he saw during the hallucination appeared in his works.
The writer's physical limitations (including partial blindness and balance issues) prohibited him from serving on the front lines. Instead, he worked as a military meteorologist. The job was not very demanding, so he spent most of his time writing. He told Simone de Beauvoir it was "extremely peaceful work; indeed I cannot think of any branch of the services that has a quieter, more poetic job."
The Nazis invaded France in May 1940. Sartre, as a member of the French Army, was taken prisoner that June. While he was in captivity, he studied Martin Heidegger and worked on "Being and Nothingness," one of his most famous philosophical works.
While imprisoned by the Nazis, the French writer was given permission to write and produce a Christmas show for 15,000 of his fellow POWs. He took the opportunity to produce "Bariona, or the Son of Thunder," a Nativity play that subtly criticized his captors without arousing their suspicions.
The French philosopher wrote about a 1947 trip to a New York jazz club as a transcendent experience, describing the magic of the relationship between performer and audience: "You shout, they shriek, they whistle, they are possessed, you are possessed."
Jean-Paul Sartre was primarily known for his philosophy, fiction, and drama, but he was also a critic. In 1945, he wrote a rather negative review of Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane," deriding Welles' decision to tell the story in the past tense, writing, "film in the past tense is the antithesis of cinema. Therefore 'Citizen Kane' is not cinema."
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