Name: The Wall
SKU: 51333290
Price: 474.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Jean-Paul Sartre
ISBN: 9780714548517

Type

Physical Book

Author

Jean-Paul Sartre

Publisher

Alma Books

Synopsis "The Wall "

First published in 1939, a few years before his most influential works in theatre and philosophy, The Wall was Sartre's first and only collection of short fiction. The title piece tells the story of a prisoner during the Spanish Civil War, on the eve of his execution by a firing squad, who is told he will be spared if he can betray the whereabouts of a fellow Republican. This leads him to question his cause and his loyalty, as the mental torment that he and two other inmates endure unfolds in unflinching detail. This collection, which also includes `The Room', `Erostratus' and `Intimacy' - short psychological tales in which with individuals grapple with questions of madness, sexuality and death - as well as `The Childhood of a Leader', the extended chronicle of a young man's emotional deterioration and embrace of Fascism, provides a fascinating and accessible introduction to the author who would become the figurehead of Existentialism.

Jean-Paul Sartre

(Author)

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Jean-Paul Sartre (Paris, June 21, 1905 – April 15, 1980) was a French philosopher, novelist, playwright, and political activist, considered the main representative of existentialism and a key figure in twentieth-century thought. He studied at the École Normale Supérieure, where he met Simone de Beauvoir, his lifelong intellectual and romantic partner.

His most influential philosophical work, Being and Nothingness (1943), develops an ontology based on the radical freedom of human beings, proposing that “existence precedes essence,” meaning we are not predetermined and must construct ourselves through our choices. In literature, he stood out with Nausea (1938) and the play No Exit (1944), where he addressed the absurdity of existence and human relationships.

Sartre was also a committed political activist: he participated in the French Resistance during World War II, supported decolonization movements, and was critical of capitalism and totalitarianism. In 1964, he declined the Nobel Prize in Literature, believing that a writer should not be institutionalized.

He died in 1980, leaving a philosophical and literary legacy that continues to influence ethics, politics, and existential theory.

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