L’imaginaire. Psychologie phénoménologique de l’imagination

By Jean-Paul Sartre and revised by Arlette Elkaim-Sartre

Book Overview

First published in 1940, Sartre's The Imaginary is a cornerstone of his philosophy. Sartre had become acquainted with the philosophy of Edmund Husserl in Berlin and was fascinated by his idea of the intentionality of consciousness as a key to the puzzle of existence. Against this background, The Imaginary crystallized Sartre's worldview and artistic vision. Here he presented the first extended examination of the concepts of nothingness and freedom, both of which are derived from the ability of consciousness to imagine objects both as they are and as they are not. These ideas would drive Sartre's existentialism and his entire theory of human freedom, laying the foundation for his masterwork Being and Nothingness three years later. This new translation by Jonathan Webber rectifies flaws in the terminology of the first translation and recaptures the essence of Sartre's phenomenology. Webber's perceptive new introduction helps to decipher this challenging, seminal work, placing it in the context of the author's work and the history of philosophy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415287553
• ISBN13: 9780415287555
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.73 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Suite Francaise and Calumet City: two totally different, but equally absorbing novels.

"Suite Francaise' is a very fine book and deserves a wide audience. It tells, unsentimentally, the state of mind of the various characters fleeing Paris just before the Nazi occupation. There are certainly modern parallels, but this isn't the most important aspect of the novel. It is the element of the protagonists attempting to survive above all and trying to find the acceptable in evil. In the telling, we are entralled. May I also recommend a terrific thriller ""Calumet City'', by Charlie Newton? He goes places where 'crime' writers haven't ventured before and while there is lots of action, plot twists and turns, as go with the genre, the human heart emerges too. Newton is also a great experimenter with language, creating unexpected and delightful images.

War and Peace in France

A beautifully written, deeply moving description of the Nazi invasion and the Vichy aftermath. Clear and precise language, compelling and engaging characters. The author's perception of the inner lives and especially the moral self-delusion of her characters is amazing. The spectrum of nobility is very narrow, the range of misbehavior broad. There are few happy families. There are lots of unhappy families dividing their efforts between self-preservation and self-justification. The invaders who are active but unseen in the first book become real characters in the second. The soldiers billeted with French civilians aren't monsters, but their role as conquerors makes it nearly impossible for them to do the right thing as individuals.

Suite française

This is a magnificently written book (also available in English). It is historically accurate (I was in France in June 1940) and describes beautifully and with deep understanding the changing ambience of the time and the individual and collective behavior of Frenchmen (and women) from diverse economic groups as well as that of the German invaders (the newly arrived onquerors)...