476
PARTISAN REVIEW
IV
There are many kinds of escape which individual Jews try
to make from the common situation of loose negative togetherness
which the Christian culture of the West imposes upon them. It is in
his account of the psychology of these Jews that Sartre writes his most
powerful and poignant pages. But his psychological insight is obscured
by an untenable distinction he makes between the "authentic" and
"inauthentic" Jew-which I wish to discard in order to use these
terms in a different sense. For Sartre "authenticity consists in having
a true and lucid consciousness of the situation, in assuming the re–
sponsibilities and risks that it involves, in accepting it in pride or
humiliation, sometimes in horror and hate." Although he pretends
that no normative connotation is attached to "authentic living," he
quite clearly indicates that the person who lives inauthentically lacks
courage and dignity. Whatever else a man should be, he should be
authentic! But this is obviously wrong. "A true and lucid conscious–
ness of the situation"- by all means and in all situations. But whether
one should
accept
the situation- why, that depends upon the situa–
tion.
If
one is a thief, a sadist, an antisemite, or a Communist Party
functionary- it would be far better if he lived inauthentically. And
if in any situation, one carries out the responsibilities and risks it
involves with "humiliation" or "with horror," this is
prima facie
evidence that he has not accepted it.
The "authentic Jew" for Sartre is one "who lives to the full
his condition as Jew"; the "inauthentic J ew" is one who denies it or
attempts to escape from it. But to live to the full his condition as a Jew,
according to Sartre, is "quite simply to lay claim to and live in the situ–
ation of a martyr." Now one may praise an individual for living like a
hero or martyr; but one cannot condemn a human being for not living
like a hero or martyr. More important, there are many ways in which a
Jew can affirm his Jewishness without being a martyr. Sartre says noth–
ing about this because he does not recognize the plural ways in which
those who are recognized as Jews by Gentiles
can
live as Jews. What
he is really concerned with is the Jew who is recognized as such by
the Gentile community but who refuses to admit to himself, and
sometimes to others, that he is so recognized and that consequences
flow from that recognition.
As
I use the term " inauthentic" it applies
