Sartre

Existential philosopher Sartre is more man than myth in this middling biography, originally published in France. From his childhood hunger for knowledge to the intellectual triumphs that made him famous, this volume covers Sartre’s many relationships, including that with Simone De Beauvoir, and his controversial postwar activities. This thoroughness is satisfying to the Sartre-curious reader, but doesn’t make for much of a story; a lack of focus leaves this book feeling more like a student’s report on the life of a famous person than a riveting tale. The art, at least, is strong: Depommier’s characters have a jittery, bug-eyed energy that enlivens an otherwise rote tale. She also has a wonderful eye for surrealism–one standout sequence involves Sartre pondering a tomato, which becomes a bloodstream that symbolizes the prison of subjectivity. Ultimately, this book succeeds at what it sets out to do: telling the story of Sartre’s life. Unfortunately, it does little else. (Sept.)