Sartre’s personal behaviour and political positions were monstrous even by his admirers’ account

Evidence

Of course, he was monstrous. He was self-indulgent, demanding, bad-tempered. He was a sex addict who didn’t even enjoy sex, a man who would walk away from friendships saying he felt no regret. He gave free rein to his obsessions with viscosity and gloopiness, and with the feeling that other people were looking at him and making judgements; he never seemed to worry that some readers might not share these idiosyncrasies. He defended a range of odious regimes, and made a cult of violence. He maintained that literature for its own sake is a bourgeois luxury, that writers must engage with the world, and that revising one’s writing is a waste of time — all of which I disagree with. I disagree with quite a lot in Sartre. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 1013

Categorization

• XREF: Sartre’s views on literature and engagement connect to his essays ‘What Is Literature?’ and his commitment literature, as opposed to Murdoch’s aestheticism. — connects to: Sartre’s politics applied Heideggerian resoluteness over personal loyalty and even justice. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 814; Sartre’s final interviews showed him apologizing for earlier political stances — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 973