Jean-Paul Sartre

1905-1980

Writer and Philosopher

I was introduced to the writings of Jean-Paul Sartre while a student of French language and culture in France at the Université de Strasbourg and Université de Tours and as a student of translation and interpretation in Germany at the Johannes Gutenberg - Universität Mainz in Germersheim am Rhein.

After reading many of his works I decided that he offered little hope, but much insight, and abandoned him for his mistress Simone de Beauvoir whose writing I found far less depressing and very insightful in their own way.

Both authors lived in Paris during the German occupation of France.

The work Huis clos (1944) was originally entitled Les autres. It is a theatrical piece that depicts society as a prison from which we cannot escape, but on which we utterly depend. It was well received by the officers of the German occupation.