Lettres au Castor et à quelques autres, tome 2 : 1940-1963

by Jean-Paul Sartre

Quiet Moments in a War, the companion volume to the acclaimed Witness to My Life, reveals Jean-Paul Sartre at the peak of his powers and renown, engaged in an exchange of ideas and intimacies with his "beloved Beaver," Simone de Beauvoir. Spanning the years 1940-1963, these letters describe Sartre's war - as a soldier, a prisoner of the Germans, and a man of the Resistance - and chart his path to fame with the publication of his major works. From September 1939 to June 1940, Sartre wrote Beauvoir almost daily from the front as he waited for the Germans to attack. It was a time of great productivity for Sartre, as he wrote the novel The Age of Reason and sketched out Being and Nothingness. In late 1940, he wrote his first play while interned in a German prison camp. The letters after his release reveal the wartime uncertainties and delays in securing a production of The Flies, an existential retelling of the Oresteia with a thinly veiled protest against acquiescence toward the German occupation. After 1942 there are fewer letters, as the couple was less often apart, but extraordinary ones. In almost every one, there is mention of a new play, novel, or essay underway. In 1946, Sartre writes Beauvoir from New York, where No Exit has opened and he is the toast of the town: "Here it is the same as in Paris: everyone is talking about me and everywhere I'm dragged through the mud"; and in 1959, from the Irish estate of John Huston, where the two men were working on a film about Freud. The collection ends in 1963, with a simple statement written by Beauvoir after Sartre's death and shortly before her own: "This letter is the last that received from Sartre. Thereafter, during our brief separations, we used the telephone." Quiet Moments in a War completes the extraordinary correspondence of one of modern history's most celebrated couples, and documents the emergence of a great intellectual figure.

Genres: Nonfiction, Philosophy, France, Biography, German Literature

366 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 1983

About the author

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French philosophy and Marxism. Sartre was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology). His work has influenced sociology, critical theory, post-colonial theory, and literary studies. He was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature despite attempting to refuse it, saying that he always declined official honors and that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution."
Sartre held an open relationship with prominent feminist and fellow existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Together, Sartre and de Beauvoir challenged the cultural and social assumptions and expectations of their upbringings, which they considered bourgeois, in both lifestyles and thought. The conflict between oppressive, spiritually destructive conformity (mauvaise foi, literally, 'bad faith') and an "authentic" way of "being" became the dominant theme of Sartre's early work, a theme embodied in his principal philosophical work Being and Nothingness (L'Être et le Néant, 1943). Sartre's introduction to his philosophy is his work Existentialism Is a Humanism (L'existentialisme est un humanisme, 1946), originally presented as a lecture.

Reviews

[Steven Godin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sartre really did have it bad for de Beauvoir, I'm surprised, whilst away from her, he even managed to function properly at all!

Although these letters do sometimes feel repetitive, especially the opening few lines where he lays down his heart for her, I've simply never known such devotion from one person to another before.

I only wish I could have seen their faces light up on receiving the latest mail!

[Jimmy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, here's the funny part. The great philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (the author of Nausea, No Exit, and Being and Nothingness) referred to his true love Simone de Beauvoir (author of The Second Sex) as "My darling Beaver" in virtually every letter he wrote to her.

As if that weren't bad enough, he ended his letters with thoughts like the following:

My dear little flower, I love you with all my might.
I yearn to cover your face with kisses.
I'm burning to see you again.
I send you a warm hug.
I love you so much, you little paragon.
I'm almost there within your little paw, which I kiss fervently.
We two are one, my little jewel.
I send you a big kiss, face of the well-trod path.
I send you a kiss for your little cheeks.
I would so like to squeeze your little arm.
I want to squeeze you like a lemon.

Now in between all of that, you would think two great philosophers would talk about something . . . oh, I don't know . . . say . . . philosophical? Unfortunately, no. Just sheer boredom. I learned almost nothing about either of them. Except that Jean-Paul is a dork.

Jean-Paul used the code name Emma to evade censorship.

Sartre was famous for lacking in personal hygiene. In another book, I read that it was Beauvoir who convinced him to smoke a pipe to cover up his body odor. Here his male friends refer to him as "too filthy." One man refuses him objects until "Once you've washed." Once he shaved and washed up, which "created quite a stir in the courtyard." And he kept unclean "despite the danger of catching lice."

Sartre wanted Camus to direct and play the male lead in No Exit.

[Britta Böhler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reread

[Diana Polansky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be and interesting read; So far, and just flipping through, Sartre's letters are somewhat frenzied, emotionally labile, and rather neurotic as opposed to his controlled philosophical writing. However, I was hoping the 1948-1949 section would mention Juliet Greco, and Miles Davis; They are not mentioned...of course, 3/4 of the letters are from 1940. The title is misleading.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A- Oh, to receive love letters like these…Sartre was such a romantic, but of course, honest in their bizarre relationship. Many of these letters are during the war (and you see what a cushy gig he had, even when he was POW!). Good interesting insight into S & dB.

[Kiridaren Jayakumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

How it was to be in Nazi camp and how Sartre might would have felt stuck in it.

[Flora Jurgens · Rating 5 out of 5]

poder leer en una carta el amor entre dos de las grandes mentes del siglo pasado es realmente una experiencia.

[Gris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quin parell i quina relació. Tot molt xungo. Deixeu de posar la seva cara en tote bags.

[Martin Macor · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting glimpse into the relationship between Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre... I think the most interesting aspect are his references to polyamory (back when it was called "fooling around" or "having a bit on the side.") Sartre quite openly discusses with Simone his various liaisons and erotic friendships with other women. There is some mention of Simone's bisexuality (he tends to paint her as hesitant or reluctant to return the affections of women, although he may have only been teasing.)

[Cocoa Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Estas cartas me han ayudado a conocer un poco más la vida de Sartre y también de Beauvoir, además de conocer de primera mano algunas cuestiones de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Me ha encantado, aunque es cierto que he leído una traducción que he encontrado por la red y eso ha empeorado en algunos momentos la lectura.

[Lazarus P Badpenny Esq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gossip mixed together with a gently self-deprecating good humour; surprisingly little thought (which was saved for the notebooks) but some interesting insights into the 'phoney war'.

[Laura Book Binge Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved it.