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the value of prose, but beauty is not its main intent. Sartre proclaims, "our great writers wanted to destroy, to edify, to demonstrate." Sartre stresses that the underlying purpose of prose is to communicate meaning, despite the fallibility of its cause over time, because great prose is directly linked to the writer's external economy. Sartre considers it a mistake to divorce literature from the author, and accuses his critics of only appreciating literature after its authors are dead; thus supposedly removed from history, their work can be consumed without being considered "committed", or inherently political or philosophical.
237:
Sartre believes that prose communicates ideas, and is an appeal by the individual to feel essential from the world. The prose writer reveals or discloses his experience of the world to others. This contrasts with the poet, who performs acts of perceiving rather than disclosing. The art of writing is
207:
Sartre makes a significant distinction between prose and poetry; arguing that prose is committed writing, and that only poetry fits into his critics' conception of literature as an object (such as a painting or a sculpture). Sartre maintains that the prose writer utilizes language with deliberation,
228:
Contrarily, prose is utilitarian. The speaker interpolates, persuades, insinuates a particular aim. The prose writer recognizes the loaded nature of words, and deliberately works within the framework of language with resolute will. Sartre rails against aesthetic purism, saying that style determines
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Sartre attempts to devise an understanding of the effect literature has on those who are subjected to it. In the foreword Sartre addresses his critics who condemn him for supposing literature can be political rather than relegated to purely art. Using the term "committed writing" in relation to the
220:
Sartre distinguishes the art of writing prose from other forms of art such as poetry, painting, or a musical composition. In the latter group, the viewer subjects the piece of art to the viewer's own interpretation, and the work becomes an object. Meanwhile, prose remains attached to the social,
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Sartre describes the poet as "outside of language." The poet refuses to utilize language, and instead manipulates and disassociates words from the structure of language in an expression to change his internal economy of the world.
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deeply linked to freedom and thus ventures into the fields of politics and democracy. The poet frees himself by disassociation, and the prose writer fulfills a duty to utilize language for the end of a conceived free society.
181:, essays "What Is Writing?" and "Why Write?" were translated into English and published by the Paris-based literary journal Transition 1948. The English translation by Bernard Frechtman was published in 1950.
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writer who is politically active, Sartre begins his query into the art of writing. The book is divided into four chapters:
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philosophy that man is ultimately free, Sartre argues that committed writing communicates the ideal of a free society.
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political and historical contexts of the writer, and prose becomes a signifier rather than an object.
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in 1948. Initially published in freestanding essays across French literary journals
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307:Sartre, Jean-Paul (1948). "Why Does One Write?".
296:Sartre, Jean-Paul (1948). "What is Literature?".
776:Witness to My Life & Quiet Moments in a War
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623:Imagination: A Psychological Critique
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84:Methuen & Co. LTD. (London)
675:Critique of Dialectical Reason
208:and in keeping with his early
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728:Saint Genet, Actor and Martyr
279:Qu'est-ce que la littérature?
260:Literature and Existentialism
149:Literature and Existentialism
145:Qu'est-ce que la littérature?
51:Qu'est-ce que la littérature?
16:1948 book by Jean-Paul Sartre
660:Existentialism Is a Humanism
630:The Transcendence of the Ego
562:The Devil and the Good Lord
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816:Existence precedes essence
326:Sartre, Jean-Paul (1950).
277:Sartre, Jean-Paul (1948).
31:Cover of the first edition
882:Essays in literary theory
877:Books by Jean-Paul Sartre
538:The Respectful Prostitute
431:The Childhood of a Leader
108:Published in English
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892:French non-fiction books
200:For Whom Does One Write?
151:, is an essay by French
887:Essays about literature
735:The Henri Martin Affair
682:Notebooks for an Ethics
586:The Condemned of Altona
872:1948 non-fiction books
332:Methuen & Co. Ltd.
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76:Literature, Philosophy
840:Arlette ElkaĂŻm-Sartre
652:Being and Nothingness
147:), also published as
530:Morts sans sépulture
438:The Roads to Freedom
20:What Is Literature?
707:Anti-Semite and Jew
689:Truth and Existence
668:Search for a Method
485:Hurricane over Cuba
328:What is Literature?
136:What Is Literature?
47:Original title
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842:(adopted daughter)
835:Simone de Beauvoir
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546:The Chips Are Down
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256:Sartre, Jean-Paul
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453:The Reprieve
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807:Bad faith (
744:" (1971–72)
716:(1947–1976)
554:Dirty Hands
498:screenplays
469:In the Mesh
358:Sartre 1950
345:Sartre 1950
153:philosopher
866:Categories
405:Novels and
330:. London:
281:. France:
262:. U.S.A.:
242:References
233:Why write?
197:Why Write?
57:Translator
846:Situation
768:The Words
578:Nekrassov
514:The Flies
496:Plays and
283:Gallimard
161:Gallimard
81:Publisher
737:" (1953)
730:" (1952)
723:" (1948)
709:" (1946)
691:" (1989)
684:" (1983)
670:" (1957)
639:" (1939)
632:" (1936)
625:" (1936)
477:Intimacy
423:The Wall
258:(2000).
65:Language
795:Related
522:No Exit
506:Bariona
264:Citadel
185:Summary
73:Subject
787:(1984)
779:(1983)
771:(1964)
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663:(1946)
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418:(1938)
415:Nausea
141:French
102:France
68:French
37:Author
125:Pages
120:Print
570:Kean
175:and
112:1950
94:1948
128:238
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