“Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world - and defines himself afterwards.” He can formulate this understanding, even write it out in French, and still find himself hiding booze around the house. As remembered by Simone de Beauvoir:
One Sunday morning at the beginning of March Arlette [Sartre’s adopted daughter] found [Sartre] lying on the floor with a dreadful hangover. We learned that he got his various young women, who knew nothing of the danger, to bring him bottles of whiskey and vodka. He hid them in a chest or behind books. That Saturday night … he had got drunk. Arlette and I emptied the hiding places, I telephoned the young women asking them not to bring any more alcohol, and I scolded Sartre vehemently … I could not understand the return of this passion for drinking. It did not square with his apparent mental balance. He put my questions aside, laughing. “But you’re fond of drinking too,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment