''The Words'' (french: Les Mots) is the philosopher

Jean-Paul Sartre Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and litera ...

's 1963Aronson, Ronald. 1980. ''Jean-Paul Sartre: Philosophy in the World''.
.

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life. It is a form of biography. Definition The word "autobiography" was first used deprecatingly by William Taylor in 1797 in the English peri ...

Structure and presentation

The text is divided into two near-equal parts entitled 'Reading' (''Lire'') and 'Writing' (''Écrire''). However, according to

Philippe Lejeune Philippe Lejeune (born 13 August 1938) is a French professor and essayist, known as a specialist in autobiography. He is the author of numerous works on the subject of autobiography and personal journals. He is a cofounder of the ''Association po ...

, these two parts are only a façade and are not relevant to the chronological progression of the work. He considers the text to instead be divided into five parts which he calls 'acts': *The first act presents in chronological order the 'prehistory' of the child by giving his family origin. *The second act evokes the different roles Sartre acted out in his seclusion to an imaginary world, enabled by his family. *The third act tells of his conscious realization of his imposture, his contingency, his

fear of death Death anxiety is anxiety caused by thoughts of one's own death, and is also referred to as thanatophobia (fear of death). Death anxiety differs from necrophobia, which is the fear of others who are dead or dying. Psychotherapist Robert Langs ...

and his

ugliness Unattractiveness or ugliness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically unfavorable of an aesthetic kind. Terminology Ugliness is a property of a person or thing that is unpleasant to look upon and results ...

. *The fourth act presents the development of a new imposture, in which Sartre took up multiple different postures of writing. *The fifth act relates Sartre's delusion, which he considers the source of his dynamism, and contains the announcement of a second book which he did not complete before his death. The first title which Sartre thought of was ''Jean sans terre''.

Reception

The book, consisting of Sartre distancing himself from writing and making his farewells to

literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

was very successful for the author and was hailed nearly unanimously as a "literary success". In November of the same year, 1964, he refused the

Nobel Prize for Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

awarded for his work, described as "rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, thas exerted a far-reaching influence on our age."

References

1963 non-fiction books French autobiographies Books by Jean-Paul Sartre Biographies about writers French non-fiction books George Braziller books {{lit-bio-book-stub