The Story I Tell Myself: A Venture in Existentialist Autobiography

By Hazel E. Barnes

Book Overview

Best known as the writer who introduced French existentialism to English-speaking readers through her translation of Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Hazel E. Barnes has written an autobiography that is both the success story of a professional woman as well as a profoundly moving reflection on growing older. Transcending the personal details of her life, Barnes' memoir stands as an important contribution to the intellectual history of our century.

"An intimate record of our times and of the ongoing issues that challenge us to define ourselves over and over again."--Kirkus Reviews

"An engaging autobiography that spans not only Barnes'] self-identified period of 'flourishing' but virtually all the twentieth century."--Library Journal

"Thoughtful, gracefully written reflections. . . . Readers will be glad they pursued an unusual woman's intellectual and personal journey."--Booklist

"An accessible, wonderfully written book packed with wisdom and insight."--Denver Post

"Absorbing and satisfying."--Gertrude Reif Hughes, Women's Review of Books

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226037320
• ISBN13: 9780226037325
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Praise for H. E. Barnes

A very original autobiography and a demonstration of self-understanding and existential psychoanalysis at its best. A very useful read for all who look for new ways in self-understanding and psychoanalysis.

"We read to know that we're not alone...."

A brilliantly written autobiography by an academic, who leaves her conservative Christian upbringing to discover that one can bring meaning and "significance" to one's life without the security and structure of organized religion. Written with wit and charm, she takes us on her own journey past the nihilistic despair that often is associated with existentialism, to a wonderful place that is tender and life-affirming. Her last chapter, reflecting on aging and mortality, may be her best. It may not be an easy read, but Hazel Barnes tells her story without a hint of academic hubris. A must read for anyone wrestling with the angst, it is a privileged peek into the life and mind of an extraordinary human being.