A critical figure in twentieth-century literature and philosophy, Jean-Paul Sartre changed the course of critical thought, and claimed a new, important role for the intellectual.

Christine Daigle sets Sartre's thought in context, and considers a number of key ideas in detail, charting their impact and continuing influence, including:

Sartre's theories of consciousness, being and freedom as outlined in Being and Nothingness and other texts

the ethics of authenticity and absolute responsibility

concrete relations, sexual relationships and gender difference, focusing on the significance of the alienating look of the Other

the social and political role of the author

the legacy of Sartre's theories and their relationship to structuralism and philosophy of mind.

Introducing both literary and philosophical texts by Sartre, this volume makes Sartre's ideas newly accessible to students of literary and cultural studies as well as to students of continental philosophy and French.