The Aftermath of War, Situations III

Situations III, published in English for the first time in the form that Sartre himself gave to the collection, contains essays from the philosopher's most creative period, 1945-49. The first section, comprising articles written at the end of World War II and published variously in Paris, New York and London, conveys Sartre's immediate post-War reflections on collaboration, resistance and liberation. Part Two brings together the most telling of the pieces that reflect his long trip to the USA in January-May 1945. After a lucid philosophical exposition of the failings of philosophical materialism in Part Three, Sartre focuses in the fourth section on the new revolutionary poetry of 'Negritude' in the famous long essay 'Black Orpheus'. Part Five is devoted to meditations on the visual arts, with penetrating essays on the work of Alberto Giacometti and Alexander Calder, both of whom Sartre knew well.