Sartre's Existential Literary Theories

Jean-Paul Sartre, as one of the most outstanding cultural tycoons in the twenty's century, influenced profoundly philosophical field as well as literary theories. Based on his existential philosophy, Sartre nurtured his peculiar existential literary theories by inferring a series of invoking ideas, thus broadening our vision in literary theories. This paper mainly expounds some essential statements proposed by Sartre concerning the essence of literature, literary creation, literary evaluation and social effects of literature at the same time surveys his practices in employing literary theories on the history of literary development by probing into his deep creative ideas and deficiencies.The thesis consists of four parts. The first part indicates that the relationship between philosophy and literature should be paid attention to since the conscious interaction is a vital characteristic of Sartre's literary works. His philosophy is the pillar and core of Sartre's literature whereas his literature showed his philosophical thoughts graphically and concretely. This kind of relationship is dialectical.The second part focuses on Sartre's existential view of literary theories. WhatttoHia* is literature, as a representative of Sartre's literary^works, states his literaryproposals on the whole. Therefore, based on this works, the paper firstly analyses Sartre's view on the essence of literature.What is tightly followed sets forth my humble understanding of liberty in Sartre's literary creation. Sartre's famous symposium "I write so I exist" entitles an new independence with the survival of individuals, regarding creation as one of the styles tightly connected with individual's liberty. Liberty is a relative concept. On one hand, writers are fairly free as far as their initiatives in literary crealtion, the full process of creation and the existing style of their works are concerned.On the other hand, writers are not completely free: firstly, writers must take into accounts their audiences and the requirements of readers at the first beginning of creation. Secondly, the reappearance of works demands reader's consciousness in the process of reading. In addition, writers cannot abuse their liberty blatantly; they should take characters as their standing point.The thesis analyzes Sartre's proposals in literary acceptance. Sartre argues that reading is the integration of reader's awareness and creation and readers are free during this process. As a result, reading becomes a "generous bond" between writers and readers.Finally, the thesis probes into Sartre's theories in the social effects of literature. Sartre's understanding of this problem is attentively embodied in his intervention hypothesis. He believes that literary works should not only stress on pure presentation of realistic world but also unveil social life. Thus Sartre's intervention hypothesis becomes a reflection of his emphasis on the philosophical spirit in literature. Besides. Sartre also pays attention to the correlation of literature and liberation of human as well as the deep relationship between literature and the epoch.Part three of the thesis reviews in details the application of Sartre's literary theories to literature. Apart from expounding his view of literature from many different dimensions, Sartre stresses on the connection of pure literary theories with the diachronic development of French literature starting from the relationship of reading and writing. Meanwhile, Sartre traces back the evolvement of the relationship between writers and readers, pointing out that the liberty of writers in any eras concerns their concrete experiences, which is somewhat reasonable and worths further consideration.Part four talks about the contribution and influences of Sartre's literarytheories by analyzing mainly the advantages and disadvantages of Sartre's view of "literary liberty" and his intervention hypothesis, i.e., we should absorb his literary theories selectively and objectively.The main purpose of the thesis lies in...