While at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Sartre targeted Gustave Lanson, his teacher, with pranks that led to Lanson’s resignation. Initially, Sartre impersonated Lanson, but the pranks escalated when Sartre and his classmates convinced the media that Charles Lindbergh would visit the school. They staged a look-alike appearance, fooling the press and sparking widespread attention, which ultimately forced Lanson to resign for failing to manage his students. [1]
Jean-Paul Sartre, born on 21 June 1905 in Paris, became one of the most influential French philosophers and writers of the 20th century. After his father died when he was just an infant, Sartre was raised by his mother and grandparents until his mother remarried and moved the family away when he was 12.
His early intellectual brilliance stood out, and he entered the prestigious École Normale Supérieure at 16, where he studied philosophy. It was here that he formed important friendships and started developing his philosophical ideas.
Sartre’s writing career took off with his novel Nausea (1938), which introduced existential themes like meaninglessness, freedom, and personal responsibility. This novel marked the beginning of his exploration into the human condition and laid the foundation for his later philosophical work. His next major work, Being and Nothingness (1943), further explored existentialism, asserting that humans are “condemned to be free,” meaning we must constantly choose and define ourselves.
During the 1940s and 50s, Sartre became more politically engaged, particularly with Marxism, and his writings expanded into plays and essays. His political involvement was especially evident in his criticism of French colonialism and his support for movements like the Algerian independence struggle. His political and philosophical writings, including Critique of Dialectical Reason (1960), blended existentialism with Marxist thought.
In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. While he technically declined the award, the Swedish Academy claimed this did not change his having won it. He lived a long life and died on 15 April 1980, aged 74.
Sartre wasn’t just a philosopher but also an outspoken public figure whose works continue to shape discussions on freedom, identity, and responsibility to this day.
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