Post-war existentialism thrived on the excitement of a shattered world

Evidence

In all these 1940s novels, stories and essays, the dominant mood was not so much one of post-traumatic exhaustion as of excitement. The world had fallen to pieces, but for that very reason almost anything could now be done with it. It made for a thrilling and frightening mixture — which was just the combination of emotions that characterised the first wave of post-war existentialism in general. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 529

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the reader’s purpose on how existentialism emerged from historical conditions; also resonates with the moral-panic energy described in ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’. — connects to: The twentieth century’s catastrophes shook faith in historical progress. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 58; Existentialist philosophy was shaped by the wars and politics of the European century — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 103; Europe’s 1930s political chaos formed the backdrop for existentialism’s rise — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 399 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Existentialism’s appeal rested on a world of sin, love, and politics. #expands (0.82) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 900
• Existentialism sought lived experience rather than explaining it away through abstract systems #expands (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1025
• Some postwar thinkers hoped catastrophe would transform human life for good #complicates (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 764
• Existentialism can be traced to a mood found across millennia of troubled thinkers #qualifies (0.78) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 7
• Existentialism holds that philosophy grows out of concrete lived experience #expands (0.75) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 54
• World War I felt to participants like will beyond human agency #corroborates (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2585
• Wartime disorientation can dissolve into a feeling of self-sufficient freedom rather than fear #complicates (0.72) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 423
• Popularized existentialism supplied the counterculture’s vocabulary and impetus #expands (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 915