French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Cohen-Solal, Sartre (1905-1980)
Writers: Biography, Letters and Memoirs
ANNIE COHEN-SOLAL
Sartre (1905-1980)
First published in 1985
New edition, expanded with a preface by the author, 2019
Folio essais collection (no. 353), Gallimard
Publication date: 18-04-2019
992 p. — ISBN: 9782072841637
“It is the entire world that I want to possess,” Sartre wrote in 1940.
It is no small task to chronicle the life of such a voracious thinker, such a versatile writer, and a polemicist who challenged all authorities and rejected—almost—every dogma. It is equally difficult to capture his hegemonic influence over the cultural trajectories of our century. Especially since, despite his passing, his legend has already been cast in stone.
This work is a true cultural event: the most representative intellectual of the 20th century comes to life in a biography that is as rigorous as it is accessible. A wealth of documents, letters, and previously unpublished accounts shed new light on every facet of this "little man" who was the only writer to decline the Nobel Prize in Literature and whom General de Gaulle once described as the "Voltaire of the 20th century."
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An article about this book can be read on nonfiction.fr:
Annie Cohen-Solal chronicles the extraordinary trajectory of Jean-Paul Sartre, one of the towering figures of twentieth-century French philosophy and literature. As a central voice of existentialism, Sartre redefined modern intellectual life through his novels, plays, essays and political activism. This comprehensive biography examines his complex relationship with power, his rejection of traditional authority, and his refusal of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Drawing on letters, documents and firsthand accounts, the author portrays a restless thinker whose ideas shaped global political and cultural debates for decades.
This expanded edition offers readers a rigorous yet accessible entry point into the intellectual landscape of postwar France. It is particularly valuable for students of modern philosophy, twentieth-century history and French literature seeking to understand how one individual came to embody the conscience of an era. By placing Sartre within the turbulent political movements of his time, the book helps clarify the lasting impact of existentialism and the enduring responsibilities of the public intellectual in a changing world.