The Last Chance: Roads of Freedom IV

by Jean-Paul Sartre, Craig Vasey (Translator)

The first English translation of Sartre's unfinished fourth volume of Roads of Freedom, exploring themes central to Sartrean existentialism. Based on the French Pleiade edition, published by Gallimard in 1981, the book also includes an interview with Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir's account of his plans for the unfinished work, and introductory material by the editor of the French edition.

Genres: Philosophy, Fiction, France, Novels, Literature, French Literature

232 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

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

[Ece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being an admirer of Sartre and The Roads of Freedom, I loved this forth volume as well. It gives a strange, bitter feeling when you see the unfinished sentences, Sartre's death hits you in the face.
I would recommend this to every Sartre lover without a single tiny doubt.

[Tadzio Koelb · Rating 4 out of 5]

From my review in the Guardian:

"As the uncompleted fourth volume of Roads of Freedom, now one of Sartre’s least-read works of fiction, The Last Chance will perhaps attract a small readership – a pity, because the quality of Sartre’s writing has never been more evident than in this excellent translation by Craig Vasey. Accompanied here by engaging essays and interviews, it should hopefully renew interest in the first three volumes.

Mathieu and Brunet, now prisoners of war, face the danger (which, chillingly, they do not know to be dangerous) of being sent to a concentration camp. Brunet’s activism has brought him trouble, not with camp authorities, but Party insiders, whose shifts in ideology leave him bewildered. Mathieu, wounded, begins his stay in the camp hospital, where definitions of “lucky” can be turned upside-down: a man who lost his legs is sent home.

“Novels of ideas” often age poorly, perhaps because they usually feature automatons who mechanically intone in essay form the debate in the author’s head. This fictional counterpart to Being and Nothingness, in contrast, comes across as fresh, organic, and decidedly human, if disappointingly fragmentary."

[angelinakahlo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This felt alot more like a play than a novel, but I think that is due to it being a fragment of Sartre's work.

I enjoyed the developement both Mathieu and Brunet went through, with the main focus being the pressure to choose one's freedom.
However, I was a little confused by the events which occured... (it seems obvious that Sartre died shortly before finishing his novel!)

[Chris Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This link was hard to track down....

Most of the 'existentialist' books are quite forgettable: pompous claptrap, really; but this trilogy was excellent -- real literature, full of genuine psychological insight and quiet tragedy.

[Bruce Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth and final volume to Sartre's "Roads to Freedom." Completed after Sartre's death from unfinished manuscripts left behind. Satisfying conclusion to Sartre's work.

[David Baume · Rating 4 out of 5]

tolle Rezeption von Freundschaft, Verrat, Unsicherheit und Leid in Kriegsgefangenschaft!
„Die Partei ist Schuld, dass ich krepiere“(…)
Er murmelte wenn er bloß nicht stirbt. Aber er weiß, dass Vicarios sterben wird:die Hoffnungslosigkeit und der Hass gehen allmählich auf den Lauf dieses vergeudete Lebens zurück.(..)
die Partei ist schuld, dass er krepiert, selbst wenn die sowjetunion gewinnt, die Menschen sind allein.
Brunet beugt sich vor und vergräbt seine Hand in Vicarios verdreckte Haar, er schreit, als Könne er ihn noch vor dem Entsetzen retten, als können zwei verlorene Menschen in letzter Minute die Einsamkeit besiegen.
„Ich pfeife auf die Partei; du bist mein einziger Freund“
Vicarios hört nicht, sein bitterer Mund gurgelt und macht Blasen, während Brunet in den Wind schreit:
„Mein einziger Freund“

[Gia Jgarkava · Rating 4 out of 5]

ეს არათუ დაუსრულებელი, ფაქტიურად არდაწყებული რომანის ნაგლეჯებია, რომლის წერისას სარტმა ისიც კი არ იცოდა, ტეტრალოგიის ბოლო წიგნს წერდა თუ პენტალოგიის ბოლოსწინას :) შესაბამისად ამის შეფასებაზე ლაპარაკი პრინციპში ზედმეტია. თუმცა! აქვე არის სარტრის ერთი საკაიფო ინტერვიუ და რამდენიმე ძალიან კარგი სტატია იმაზე თუ რატომ არ/ვერ დაასრულა ეს თემა სარტმა. და კიდვე 1-2 სტატია მთლიანად სერიაზე.

... და ნუ ის ნაგლეჯებიც მაინც ჯობია სულ არაფერს, მესამე წიგნის მერე რა ხდებოდა ცოტა ხანი მაინც, ძალიან საინტერესო იყო და ზოგადად რა მიმართულებით აპირებდა სარტრი ამბის განვითარებას, ეგეც ცხადი ხდება პრინციპში. და 1-2 სარტრულად უმაგრესი მომენტიც არის! ასე რო ნებისმიერ შემთხვევაში ღირდა $14-ის გადახდა ამაზონზე ელექტრონულ ვერსიაში (რაც ობიექტურად უნამუსოდ ძვირია!).

[Ebrahimemami · Rating 4 out of 5]

ژان پل سارتر،قورباغه متوقع و همیشه ناکوک

[Rahrahreading · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book functions fantastically as a piece of war literature first and foremost. I would certainly rank it alongside books like Goodbye to All That, and Her Privates We for its treatment of the subject of war alone. The conversations between the inmate troops do much of the time take the form of existentialist philosophical dialogues that move the reader towards the centre of what the book is about, how people become themselves and the nature, and various forms of freedom, but Satre weaves these in quite naturally. His description is very visceral too. It is very easy to dwell where his characters dwell. The major weakness of this book and the whole series is the weakness of characterisation of characters that are not the main protagonists. If they had a little more flesh on their bones the world of the book would feel even more real. If you compare this to say the work of Spark or Waugh who could sum up a secondary character with the flick of a wrist and therefore prevent them from just being window dressing, Satre lacks in this area.

[C. Quabela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was pleased to have found this book. It is not easy and cliche as it is I found it at Powell's. I, as most, was under the impression that The Roads of Freedom was simply a trilogy. The essays accompanying it are at times insightful as well as just dull. I was appreciative of their respect of Sartre as a writer rather than a philosopher, for most of what is considered to be existentialism is literary and not codified - something that is often abused with Sartre's Being and Nothingness in academia and followers.

These two stories definitely create a much more holistic representation of this series of books. Unfortunately, with their not having been completed, the tragic and operatic stylistics are not fully formed and so much of the aesthetic impact (an important quality in existential fiction) is lost. Nevertheless the characters of Mathieu and Brunet are given justice in what was completed and so I feel brings, in an outlined version, Sartre's essential vision its justification. Although it is asserted throughout that Sartre had abandoned the final book as an impossible act, I must disagree. Had this novel been fleshed through the temporal nuances it would have been the highest and most profound of his writings, however ambiguous and uncertain it may have ended, and so would have in my opinion reached a level (though not the length) in post-idealist literary history as Proust's In Search of Time Lost. Granted, Sartre is far from the literary genius of Proust, the ethos and method would have had a similar impact philosophically between the two in one of the most important aspects of literature - Time - and consequently the hermeneutical depth of the Being of an important part of human development.

Consequently I give this book four stars for what I consider a lack of courage on the part of Sartre, although giving credit to his essential confession to that.

[Karthick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concluded a journey of about 1400 pages of Sartre's 'Roads of Freedom' series. The novels were interesting in a few parts, but it requires a great patience and a great resistance against boredom to sit through the whole series. The novels do not have the intensity of his Nausea nor the lithe movement of his short stories. Of course, Sartre is any day a better thinker (and a better man) than his contemporary Camus, but the latter wrote better stories. Good fiction needs truthful bluffing; maybe that is a task too great for a great philosopher. While 'Roads of Freedom' is indispensable to studies on Sartre, I would not recommend it to someone beginning with the man - one is likely to exercise their free choice to close reading owing to the tediousness of the novels.