'At the Existential Cafe' by Sarah Bakewell

At the Existential Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails with Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Others, Sarah Bakewell (3)

This turned out to be a bit more of a biography of famous Existentialists and a description of the history around them as their philosophical movement was emerging than a book describing Existentialism. The main players are those in the title in addition to a couple of big players in phenomenology, the precursor of Existentialism. I enjoyed the parts that linked the events of history to the each person’s actions and beliefs, particularly those around WWII and the emergence of communism. Does true existentialism jive with communism? Likely not, though several of the leaders of the movement were enamored with it and suffered for that dichotomy. Unfortunately, I found the writing to be jarring at times, particularly when the author would change from third person to first. Her inserted opinions or feelings broke the flow of reading. I will give her credit for inspiring me to read Sartre and de Beauvoir’s most famous writings.