ISBN: 0394747097 9780394747095

Category: Biography & Autobiography / Philosophers

Page count: 256

Jean-Paul Sartre's famous autobiography of his first ten years has been widely compared to Rousseau's Confessions. Written when he was fifty-nine years old, <i>The Words</i> is a masterpiece of self-analysis. Sartre the philosopher, novelist and playwright brings to his own childhood the same rigor of honesty and insight he applied so brilliantly to other authors. Born into a gentle, book-loving family and raised by a widowed mother and doting grandparents, he had a childhood which might be described as one long love affair with the printed word. <i>The Words </i>explores and evaluates the whole use of books and language in human experience.