Original texts by J.-P. Sartre: interviews, lectures, articles
In the course of the many years of my studies of Sartre I collected many Interviews and articles by Sartre which are not available in bookshops anymore and which partly even are hardly available in libraries. Partly I had to travel abroad to have a copy of certain articles. To help you in becoming familiar with Sartre's thinking and life I publish some of the best of these contributions. The target is definitely not to compete with Gallimard or any other publishing house. Should any of the contributions published here become publically available again, I'd be more than happy to remove it from these homepage.
Documents to Sartre's late political philosophy:
"Volksfront nicht besser als Gaullisten": Der Spiegel, 12. Feb. 1973
Entretien avec Sartre (Sartre parle des maos): Tout va bien, Feb. 73
"Schreckliche Situation": Der Spiegel, 2. Dez. 1974
Pouvoir et liberté: Libération, 6. Jan. 1977
Gesprek met Jean-Paul Sartre: de Gids 150 (4-5/1977)
Libertà e potere non vanno in coppia: Lotta Continua, 9. Sep. 1977
Conversación con Jean-Paul Sartre - J. Goytisolo: El País 11. Juni 1978
Man muß für sich selbst und für die andren leben - Interview von R. Neudeck: Dez. 1979
Umanesimo e violenza - Interview von M. A. Macciocchi: L'Europeo, Okt./Nov. 79
Anarchie und Moral: November 1979
La Gauche. Le Désespoir et l'espoir: Le Matin, 10./11. Nov. 1979
in French:
Six interviews of the TV station of the French speaking part of Switzerland RTS with Sartre in the time between 1946 and 1970.
Les faux nex,
in:
La Revue du Cinéma,
nouvelle série, n°6, Spring 1947, pp. 3-27.
Haïti vu par J.-P. Sartre: Franc-Tireur, 21.-24.10.1949
Rencontre avec Sartre, interview avec Gabriel d’Aubarède, Les Nouvelles Littéraires, 1.2.1951
Les Boucs émissaires: Sartre wrote this contribution shortly before leaving for the USSR in 1954 when the Bolshoi Ballet was prohibited to perform in France after the defeat in Dien Bien Phu. This article shows very well the heated political atmosphere at that time. From: Libération, Lundi 17 mai 1954 4
La bombe H, une arme contre l'Histoire: Sarte's speech at the World Peace Coucil in East Berlin from where he flew to the Soviet Union, from: Défense de la paix, July 54
Les Impressions de Jean-Paul Sartre sur son voyage en U.R.S.S. : a series of articles Sartre wrote after this first visit to the Soviet Union in 1954. This series was very controversial, but the one who reads the whole text and not only the headlines will notice that Sartre nevertheless knew to differentiate (a hint: compare Sartre's text with the headlines which had been added by the editors of Libération). From: Libération 15.-22.7.54
La Leçon de Stalingrad: Next to the Impressions this is the second very controversial article with regard to Sartre's relationship to the USSR. To get a better understanding, read the whole article and take into consideration the discussion about the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany which was ongoing at that time. From: France - U.R.S.S., April 1955.
Le Théâtre peut-il aborder l’actualité politique ? A discussion between Sartre, Adamov, Vailland, Butor, Morvan Lebesque, and Martinet about the relationship between modern theater and politics, from: France-Observateur / L'Observateur littéraire, 13.2.58, S. 13-14.
La Conférence d'Araraquara: Sartre's lecture about Marxism, Existentialism, freedom and anthropology (in Brazil in 1960).
Interview by Jean Daniel: Interview by Jean Daniel for Express in 1958 about the war in Algeria and solidarity with the FLN; it was not published at that time, but later in Jean Daniel, Le Temps qui reste, Paris: Editions Stock, 1973.
Manifeste des 121: Text of the manifest signed by Sartre against the War in Algeria dated 6.9.1960.
Jean-Paul Sartre répond: Sartre explains his attitude to structuralism; from: L’Arc 30 : Sartre Aujourd‘hui, Okt 66
Débat sur le film le chagrin et la pitié: A debate about Marcel Ophüls's movieLe Chagrin et la pitié. Sartre does not say a lot and obviously tries to avoid to contradict the communist members of the former Résistance. The document nevertheless is of importance as it is the last document in which Sartre talks about a movie. From: La Cause du peuple-J’accuse, 31.5.1971, S. 18-19.
Pourquoi un tribunal populaire contre la police: Interview with Sartre about the project of a popular trial against the police, declaration in support of it included, from: La Cause du Peuple – J’accuse, 28.6.1971.
Déclaration de Jean-Paul Sartre à Toul: Sartre's declaration on the occasion of the prisoners' revolt in Toul, from: La Cause du Peuple – J’accuse, no. 15, 7.1.1972.
MM. Sartre et Clavel : c’était prévisible: about the Nogrette affair, from: Le Monde, 10.3.1972
Lynchage ou justice populaire?: Contribution in La Cause du peuple-J'accuse, 17.5.1972. It is a turning point in Sartre's political attitude, away from the uncritical support of the revolution (as e.g. in Iron in his soul) to a political attitude focusing more on human rights (see Sartre's dedication to the cause of the Jewish emigrants from the USSR or the boat people from Vietnam).
Sartre parle des maos: this is definitely one of the best, maybe even the best political interview given by Sartre in the first hal of the 70s. Feb. 73
Radioscopie: Interview by Jacques Chancel on Radioscopie of Radio France Culture on the 7.2.73 . Sartre's first major radio interview since 1947. He did it to support the newspaper Libération.
Où commence le viol?: Libération, 15.11.1973
Jusqu'à ce que tout le monde puisse enfin parler un autre langage: Discussion betweenCatherine, Hélène, Marcuse, Sartre, Gavi, Victor, Libération, 7.6.1974
Sartre et le Portugal, Libération, April 75
Les militants socialistes et la construction de l’Europa: Le Monde 10.2.77
in English:
American Novelists in French Eyes: Atlantic Monthly, Aug. 46
Sartre's appeal
to the defense of Nizan in 1947 (signed byAron, Camus, Mauriac etc.)
Americans and Their Myths published in The Nation
on 18.10.47
Those who are confronting Apartheid ...
Statement by Sartre
given during a press conference of the French Anti-Apartheid Committee in Paris
on 9.11.66 under the headline: "Those who are confronting Apartheid should know they
are not alone."
The New York Review of Books:
eleven texts, amongst them against oppression on Castro's
Cuba, the oppression of Polish workers and Iraki Kurds, for an amnesty of
American conscientious objectors and for a new tribunal against the war in
Vietnam and for the release of writers in Franc's Spain.
Iron in his soul: On 4.9.71 the Guardian (Manchester) published this interview made by John Gerassi. It shows a more than usually radical Sartre, but is also an evidence for the fact that Sartre's radicalness depended on the interviewer as well.
Sartre's Preface: preface to an antipsychiatric publication by the Socialist Patients' Collective in Heidelberg/Germany in 1972.
The Slow Death of Andreas Baader:
The English translation of La Mort lente d'Andreas Baader
published first in
Libération on 7.12.1974
Max Charlesworth, The Existentialists and Jean-Paul Sartre: Interviews by Pierre Vicary, from: Max Charlesworth, The Existentialists and Jean-Paul Sartre, St. Lucia, QLD, Australia 1975
Terrorism can be justified: in: Newsweek, 10.11.75
in German:
Swiss Film News dated 31.5.1946: Sartre speaks German - and he speaks it well.
Die falschen Nasen: Review of and excerpts of the never published screen-play Les Faux nezs, from: dionysos, I/5, 5.12.1947
Foreword to The Flies:
(in German) this is a foreward Sartre wrote in 1947 on the occasion of the first
showing of The Flies in Germany; unfortunately this foreward was skipped
in the last German edition of The Flies.
.
Besuch bei Jean-Paul Sartre : Article about Sartre with various statements made by him, from: Die Presse (Wochenausgabe), 12.7.52
Gespräch mit Jean-Paul Sartre. Treffpunkt Capri: An interview which Sartre gave in a relaxed environment on Capri in 1957, from: Welt am Sonntag, 6.10.57
Gott ist bescheidener als der General in Der Spiegel, 17.9.58: about de Gaulle's coming to power in 1958
Wir sind alle Luthers Opfer: in: Der Spiegel, 11.5.60: on the occasion of a performance of Les Séquestrés d'Altona
Sie haben gewartet, sie haben geweint:
Sartre's report about the Cuban revolution in four parts
4 published in August 1960 in Der Spiegel: Redaktioneller Vorspann, Teil 1 , Teil 2, Teil 3, Teil 4 . Es ist ein Auszug aus der Serie Ouragan sur le sucre.
QUICK spricht mit Jean Paul Sartre:
An interview the magazine QUICK made with Sartre. Sartre talks particularly
about the political situation around the war in Algeria, and he gives
interesting statements about women, youth and the relationship between France
and Germany, too. From: QUICK,
31.3.62
Ein Sartre-Interview. Anlässlich seines Stückes „Der Teufel und der Liebe Gott“, in: Frankfurter Rundschau, 23.5.1964, S. 53. Originally Sartre gave this interview on the occasion of the premiere of Le Diable et le bon Dieu 1951.
Die Revolution kommt wieder nach Deutschland: in: Der Spiegel, 15.7.68, about May68: Redaktioneller Vorspann, Interview
Aktion statt Druckerschwärze: an interview by Alice Schwarzer. Her interviews with Sartre (and especially Beauvoir) were always very productive and interesting. As Alice Schwarzer enjoyed Sartre's and Beauvoir's personal confidence, their answers were honest and frank for the most part. From: Neues Forum, Mitte Nov. 70
Die Werksbullen haben uns verprügelt in: Der Spiegel, 19.6.72; about his activities with the gauchists
Volksfront nicht besser als Gaullisten in: Der Spiegel, 12.2.73: about his relationship to the Left and politics: "I am a Marxian and not a Marxist."
Schreckliche Situation in: Der Spiegel 2.12.1974; on the occasion of his visit with Andreas Baader of the Rote Armee Fraktion. Redaktioneller Kommentar
in Italian:
Cristo e il marxismo: report about Pasolini's visit with Sartre 1964. What was Sartre's opinion about the islamic veil? Here is the answer.
Non fate il processo a Pasolini: from: Corriere della Sera, 14.3.1976
Libertà e potere non vanno in coppia: from: Lotta Continua, 9.9.1977
for further links see also the website of GROUPE D'ÉTUDES SARTRIENNES