Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in the 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary and philosophical existentialism. Whew! Catch all that? He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964 but refused it. In all fairness, he had written them a letter saying that if he won he would refuse it so they may as well take him off the list. They had never read the letter. During WWII he was captured by the Germans and spent nine months as a prisoner of war. He later wrote a trilogy called The Roads To Freedom which drew upon his experiences during the war. This article is about this trilogy of work. I didn't translate the entire article, but it did say that The Roads To Freedom were originally intended to have a fourth volume that was never completed. He was such an interesting man. He was once arrested for civil disobedience when French President Charles de Gaulle intervened and pardoned him, commenting that "you don't arrest Voltaire."