Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part One)

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

• Episode: Episode 212: Sartre on Literature (Part One)
• Website: The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ThePartiallyExaminedLife
• Duration: 00:53:18
• Published: 2019-04-01 17:25

On Jean-Paul Sartre's What is Literature (1948), ch. 1 and 2.

What's the purpose of literature? Why write prose as opposed to poetry? Sartre argues that while poetry is about the words themselves, prose is about the ideas, so it's necessarily political. A written work is essentially an ethical appeal for a reader to apply his or her own faculties and experiences to complete the work through the act of reading.

Don't wait for part two! Get your ad-free, unbroken Citizen Edition now. Please support PEL!

Sponsors: Please visit calm.com/pel for 25% off a stress-reducing subscription and the St. John's College Graduate Institute: partiallyexaminedlife.com/sjcgi.

PEL Live is this Saturday 4/6 4-6pm Eastern time! We will post live-stream info and other details at partiallyexaminedlife.com/pel-live.