The Early Sartre and Marxism by Sam Coombes

Abstract

MLR, 104.4, 2009 ii53 of poor proof-reading. Most regrettably of all, this study of the reading of a great nineteenth-century critic lacks the indispensable critical tool of a bibliography, leav ing readers to scrabble for references between the footnotes and an index of names. University of Leeds Rachel Killick The Early Sartre and Marxism. By Sam Coombes. Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang. 2008. 330 pp. ?40. ISBN 978-3-03911-115-2. It is commonly held that Sartre's work falls into two distinct parts, a non-Marxist existentialism' and aMarxist phase. This assumption is shared by thosewho see his development towards Marxism as progress and those who regard it as a betrayal. In this carefully documented and comprehensive study, Sam Coombes launches a devastating attack on such views. He argues that the early Sartre (up to the late 1940s) is closer toMarxism than isusually believed: 'the existentialist and Marxist anthropologies [...] have a great deal more in common than they do not' (p. 167). This leads him to a rereading of the entire body of Sartre's earlier work, on the basis of which he claims 'there are a number of important reasons for believing that Sartre had already conceived some kind of over-arching vision which was both ontological, ethical, and even political as early as 1940-1' (p. 141). That isnot todeny that Sartre's standpoint changed radically His positions were in a constant state of development and self-criticism. But by stressing the continu ities,Coombes is able to clarify the nature of the changes. Thus he is able tomake some illuminating parallels between the early Sartre's notion of inauthenticity and theMarxist theory of ideology. Sartre's concern for the relationship between free thought and action is shown to be similar to theMarxist stress on the unity of theory and practice. Drawing on Thomas Flynn's Sartre andMarxist Existentialism (Chicago: University ofChicago Press, 1984), he argues that the notion of situation is a 'bridge concept' (p. 60) linking existentialism andMarxism. All toomuch ofwhat has been written about Sartre andMarxism suffersfrom an inadequate knowledge either of Sartre or ofMarxism. Coombes cannot be faulted on either count. He shows an impressive knowledge, not only of Karl Marx, but of a range ofMarxist thinkers, including Leon Trotsky, Antonio Gramsci, Georg Lukacs, and Henri Lefebvre, and draws insightful comparisons with various aspects of Sartre's work. The whole of Sartre's work is considered: the explicitly philosophical work, in particular VEtre et leneant (which, Coombes warns, should not be taken 'as awork which encompasses all the key aspects of Sartre's philosophical world-view at the time that it was written' (p. 77)), the fiction, and the early plays, as well as posthu mously published material such as thewar diaries and the correspondence with de Beauvoir. A fascinating section is devoted to the complex relationship between Sartre and Paul Nizan. Coombes shows how several of Sartre's fictional works, in particular some of the stories in Le Mur, can be seen as a conscious, and ironic, response toNizan's malicious portrayal of Sartre as a potential Fascist in the guise of the character of Lange inLe Cheval de Troie (1935). 1154 Reviews Coombes's convincing account of the complex unity of Sartre's work thus un dermines many of themore facile interpretations, notably Bernard-Henri Levy's much overrated Le Siecle de Sartre (Paris: Grasset, 2000), which seeks tomobilize Sartre's early existentialism against hisMarxist self, in a latter-day re-enactment of Cold War cliches. There are several detailed points on which Coombes's judgement could be queried?for example, his claim that the cultural policy of the French Communist Party was not crudely Zhdanovist' (p. 312). But that is simply an indication that his work will provide a stimulus for further research. No serious study of Sartre's philosophical, ethical, and political evolution in the futurewill be able to disregard Coombes's work. London Ian Birchall Consuming Autobiographies: Reading and Writing the Self inPost-War France. By Claire Boyle. London: Legenda. 2007. x+176 pp. ?45. ISBN 978-1 905981-10-6. In Claire Boyle's study of the autobiographical writings of Nathalie Sarraute, Georges...