PHILOSOPHICAL READING Jean-Paul Sartre: Key Concepts, Steven Churchill and Jack Reynolds (eds.), Acumen, 2013 Reviewed by Arsalan Memon, Lewis University This is a collection of scrupulously written essays by contemporary Sartre scholars seeking to explain, as the title suggests, Sartres fundamental concepts. The volume is divided into three parts -- Part I: Psychology, Psychoanalysis and Literature, Part II: Ontology: Freedom, Authenticity and Self-Creation, and Part III: Ethics and Politics. The three parts roughly correspond to Sartres early, middle, and late periods, respectively. The book contains nineteen essays. Each stands alone even if each of them builds off of the previous essay. There is some overlap among the essays, but that is inevitable given the interconnectedness of Sartres concepts. The aim of the book is to make Sartres broader body of work accessible to a wider audience (3). Some essays emphasize depth over breadth whereas others stress breadth over depth. Admittedly, it may have not been easy to balance depth and breadth, especially given the books aim. Taken as a whole, the book achieves its aim and is a valuable, accessible, reliable guide for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, non-Sartrean scholars, and Sartre experts. My only overall complaint is that most authors could have been more critical of Sartre. First-time readers of Sartre would have benefited from that.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Jun 2014 15:11:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015