ARGUMENTS
SITUATING SARTRE
Lionel Abel
Situations/
the most recent collection of essays by Jean-Paul
Sartre, shows the writer's great virtuosity, but not, I think,
his
best
thought. Certainly the essay on Tintoretto is a remarkable piece. The
Venice of Tintoretto's time is brought to life; also the painter's rivalry
with Titian; or rather, since Titian was already canonized when Tin–
toretto started his career, I should say the essay brings to life Tintoret–
to's rivalry with his predecessor's reputation-a dead thing, in a way,
for a reputation is a monument rather than a man. And how Tin–
toretto struggled against the weight of Titian's fame, the manner in
which this dead thing made Tintoretto energetic and alive, is told with
wonderful verve and psychological finesse. Then the book contains
Sartre's tribute to Gide on the occasion of the latter's death, a bril–
liant and beautiful piece of writing. There is also Sartre's reply to Albert
Camus on the occasion of their break. But the volume does not contain
Camus' original letter to
Les T emps Modernes,
which Sartre's essay
is an answer to. So American readers unfamiliar with what led to Sartre's
quarrel with Camus may not grasp what Sartre is driving at in his piece
or be able to judge his judgment. Also there are essays on Paul Nizan,
Giacometti, Nathalie Sarraute, Rene Liebowitz, Merleau-Ponty, and
Andre Gerz; these, while often brilliant, and written with Sartre's
customary force, are not quite so searching as earlier essays by
him.
(Though I think the essay on Rene Leibowitz a better piece of Marxist
analysis than anything written by anyone during the thirties. When I
first read it some years back, I could not help thinking how Trotsky
would have admired it.) In any case, even when not at his best, Sartre
is more interesting than any other living writer.
1 SITUATIONS. By Jean-Paul Sartre. Braziller. $5.95.
