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Humanistic Existentialism: The Literature of Possibility
"This study in humanistic existentialism is highly informative as well as entertaining. It is a scholarly, detailed analysis of the literary art, the philosophical ideas, and the psychologies of Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir. It is also a competent effort to explain the positive implications for the theory of freedom and possibility which lie half buried under this literature of nothingness, alienation, and absurdity.... Miss Barnes makes thoroughly enjoyable reading of a subject-matter which might have seemed forbidding."--Herbert W. Schneider, Journal of Philosophy.
"Recommended unqualifiedly as the most thorough and reliable exposition of the works of Sartre, Camus, and de Beauvoir to have appeared in this country."--Willard Colston, Chicago Sun-Times.
"Those who want a real understanding of existentialism instead of the usual superficial generalizations are certain to gain it from this book."--Walter Kaufmann, The American Scholar.
"The book captures much of the forlorn dark grandeur of the existentialist vision of the human condition."--Yale Review.
"The philosophy of Sartre is presented accurately and with rare elegance and simplicity.... The section on psychoanalysis compares Sartre to Freud, then to Horney and Fromm, then to the phenomenologists. The treatment is fair-minded and careful."--Robert Champigny, L'Esprit Crateur.
"Recommended unqualifiedly as the most thorough and reliable exposition of the works of Sartre, Camus, and de Beauvoir to have appeared in this country."--Willard Colston, Chicago Sun-Times.
"Those who want a real understanding of existentialism instead of the usual superficial generalizations are certain to gain it from this book."--Walter Kaufmann, The American Scholar.
"The book captures much of the forlorn dark grandeur of the existentialist vision of the human condition."--Yale Review.
"The philosophy of Sartre is presented accurately and with rare elegance and simplicity.... The section on psychoanalysis compares Sartre to Freud, then to Horney and Fromm, then to the phenomenologists. The treatment is fair-minded and careful."--Robert Champigny, L'Esprit Crateur.
- GenresPhilosophyNonfiction
419 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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About the author
Hazel E. Barnes
19 books14 followersHazel Estella Barnes was an American philosopher, author, and translator. Best known for her popularization of existentialism in America, Barnes translated the works of Jean-Paul Sartre as well as writing original works on the subject.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2019
Careful without being timid, dense with information without being thick with jargon, clear and precise and thorough.
Barnes explores how Camus, de Beauvoir, and Sartre worked through their philosophies with their fiction, drama, auto/biography, and, in Sartre's case, psychological theory.
The book was originally published in 1959. The edition I read had a brief postscript by Barnes concerning some of the writing and activity of the three writers in the years immediately afterward.
Barnes explores how Camus, de Beauvoir, and Sartre worked through their philosophies with their fiction, drama, auto/biography, and, in Sartre's case, psychological theory.
The book was originally published in 1959. The edition I read had a brief postscript by Barnes concerning some of the writing and activity of the three writers in the years immediately afterward.
January 1, 2024
College. Loved philosophy, especially existentialism.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews