Article révisé par les pairs
| Résumé : | While ample attention has been paid to the impact of the Second World War on Sartre’s turn to commitment, the earliest phase of the global conflict in which he was involved, the so-called Phoney War, is seldom mentioned in discussions of his postwar writings. Sartre’s experience of this period, which featured the dread of waiting for a conflict that would not set in, offers additional clues for interpreting the meaning of history in relation to the concept of commitment. This interpretation is intimately linked with a sustained reading of Sartre’s prime literary inspiration of the time, Franz Kafka. At various stages, including the mobilization, the journey to the front, life during the Phoney War, and the complexities of the postwar period, Sartre alludes to Kafka. It will become clear that The Trial acts as a historical metaphor, designating the impossibility to understand the historical meaning of one’s actions. As a source of influence on the concept of commitment, Sartre’s reading of Kafka unearths the paradoxical meaning of commitment, which is less the voicing of a political stance and more of an absurd pursuit carried out in ignorance. |
