French Literature Reviews - 2026

Alain Badiou, Pascale Fautrier, The Sartre Question
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Is Sartre ancient history? Quite the contrary. Among the great figures of twentieth-century thought, few have been so poorly understood. Often caricatured as the representative of an outdated political extremism, he was instead the one who, among the intellectuals of his era, most rigorously steered the course of a thought that refused to abandon the horizon of universal emancipation. At a time when the most terrible reactionary forces seem to be emerging from the dustbin of history to obliterate the last remnants of the struggle for equality and happiness, it is time to return to the study of the trajectory and ideas of a man who spent his life fighting all forms of fascism. Sartre's thought has always been at the heart of Alain Badiou's and Pascale Fautrier's own work. Together, in a kaleidoscope of texts, they correct malicious interpretations and restore the irreducible philosophical and political core of a thinker who is, now more than ever, of our time.

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You can read an article by Marc Lebiez on en-attendant-nadeau.fr about this work:

"The 'red philosopher' that Alain Badiou delights in being confesses with pleasure to having been struck like lightning at seventeen by reading the Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions. Philosophy 'suddenly appeared to him, in February 1954, as the coming of an angel might to religious conviction.' Yet, at the time, this book by Sartre was not the most likely to appeal to a high school student more drawn to mathematical scientificity than to the theme of anxiety or the description of contingency. This austere little book thus had the effect of a revelation on him—not of some religion, but of philosophy itself. It was also the origin of his own way of being a communist.

Badiou has never been a Sartrean in the sense of a wholesale endorsement of this vision of the world and things, but he recognizes himself in a number of themes, such as the conception of commitment or what the author of Being and Nothingness said about consciousness. The Sartre who interests him most was the author of The Devil and the Good Lord and then of the Critique of Dialectical Reason, his desire to approach the world through philosophy rather than pure revolt; his quasi-Pascalian vision of commitment; his reflection on political violence, dictatorship, and terror.

The work arriving this winter juxtaposes two collections of a different nature. First, three lectures by Badiou dedicated to Sartre and another presenting 'the communist idea' in a Platonic mode. Second, a work by Pascale Fautrier offering an in-depth analysis of Badiou's theoretical evolution. This study shows a deep familiarity with Sartre's work and is both clear and illuminating. However, it does not contradict the reader's intuition that the real subject of this book is rather the Sartre question for Badiou. And the answer to this question is simple enough for the reader to formulate, even if it was undoubtedly delicate for Badiou himself: he reads Sartre as another self, the self he would like to be. Not that he agrees with everything he says—he can even express clear disagreement, as with mathematics or individualism—but the author of the Critique of Dialectical Reason, the anti-colonialist fighter, appears as a model. It is no small compliment to credit Sartre with 'thirty years of accuracy in revolt' which 'are comparable in our literary history only to Voltaire, Rousseau, or Victor Hugo.' Having said that, one is not going to quibble over differences that anyone can guess: the Sartrean ideal remains." — Marc Lebiez

The volume brings together texts by Alain Badiou and Pascale Fautrier that examine the legacy of Jean-Paul Sartre. Badiou's lectures are dedicated to Sartre alongside a presentation of the communist idea in a Platonic mode, while Fautrier offers an analysis of Badiou's theoretical evolution. The publication explores Sartre's trajectory, his political commitments, and his engagement with concepts such as consciousness, violence, and revolutionary action. Rather than presenting a wholesale endorsement of Sartrean philosophy, the texts investigate Badiou's intellectual relationship with a thinker who has often been caricatured or misunderstood.

Readers interested in twentieth-century French philosophy, political theory, and the intellectual history of the Left may find this volume relevant to their inquiries. The work contributes to ongoing discussions surrounding the relevance of existentialism and Marxism in contemporary thought, situating Sartre within a lineage of engaged intellectuals that includes figures such as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Victor Hugo. Through lectures and analytical commentary, the authors address the enduring questions raised by Sartre's philosophy and its impact on subsequent generations of thinkers.