Sartre’s final interviews showed him apologizing for earlier political stances

Evidence

A series of conversations between him and Sartre appeared in Le nouvel observateur in the last weeks of Sartre’s life and were later published separately as L’espoir maintenant (Hope Now). They show a Sartre who is unusually apologetic — about his earlier pro-Soviet and Maoist views, about his 1946 book on anti-Semitism (which Lévy considered flawed), and about his earlier fascination with violence. This new Sartre looks more benignly on religious faith, although he is still not a believer. He admits to being a daydreamer in matters of politics. He sounds chastened and defeated. Some of those close to Sartre thought Hope Now showed no genuine change of thinking, but only the weakness of a man whose illness and disabilities were making him vulnerable. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 973

Categorization

• XREF: The debate over whether a dying thinker’s softened views reflect genuine change or mere weakness is a recurring historiographical problem, similar to late-career reappraisals discussed elsewhere in this book. — connects to: Sartre’s late thought shifted from individual freedom toward political commitment — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 853; Sartre’s personal behaviour and political positions were monstrous even by his admirers’ account — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 1013; Sartre replaced Freud’s father totem with a mother totem in his final interviews — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 154 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Sartre replaced Freud’s father totem with a mother totem in his final interviews #expands (0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 154
• Sartre’s personal behaviour and political positions were monstrous even by his admirers’ account #complicates (0.78) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1013
• Sartre’s radical freedom doctrine unintentionally justified the status quo #responds-to (0.72) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 826
• Sartre’s late thought shifted from individual freedom toward political commitment #corroborates (0.70) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 853