Sinopsis

From the best-selling author of How to Live, a spirited account of one of the twentieth centuryÂ’s major intellectual movements and the revolutionary thinkers who came to shape it

Paris, 1933: three contemporaries meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are the young Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and longtime friend Raymond Aron, a fellow philosopher who raves to them about a new conceptual framework from Berlin called Phenomenology. “You see,” he says, “if you are a phenomenologist you can talk about this cocktail and make philosophy out of it!”

It was this simple phrase that would ignite a movement, inspiring Sartre to integrate Phenomenology into his own French, humanistic sensibility, thereby creating an entirely new philosophical approach inspired by themes of radical freedom, authentic being, and political activism. This movement would sweep through the jazz clubs and cafés of the Left Bank before making its way across the world as Existentialism.

Featuring not only philosophers, but also playwrights, anthropologists, convicts, and revolutionaries, At the Existentialist Café follows the existentialists’ story, from the first rebellious spark through the Second World War, to its role in postwar liberation movements such as anticolonialism, feminism, and gay rights. Interweaving biography and philosophy, it is the epic account of passionate encounters—fights, love affairs, mentorships, rebellions, and long partnerships—and a vital investigation into what the existentialists have to offer us today, at a moment when we are once again confronting the major questions of freedom, global responsibility, and human authenticity in a fractious and technology-driven world.

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Review

“At the Existentialist Café is a bracingly fresh look at once-antiquated ideas and the milieu in which they flourished. Ms. Bakewell’s approach is enticing and unusual: She is not an omniscient author acting as critic, biographer or tour guide. As someone who came back to this material by rereading it later in life, she has made her responses part of the story.…she has tried to interweave the biographies and intellectual histories of a sprawling group of intellectual boldface names. Among them: Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Richard Wright, Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty,Edmund Husserl, Jean Genet and many others…the biographies of most people here intersect with either Sartre’s or Heidegger’s, sometimes both — and each man’s story requires its own telling, which Ms. Bakewell does fascinatingly. And the history of ideas leading up to existentialism is full of fine-tuning and tangents. What serious philosopher in this vein ever failed to rename and slightly redefine the very concept of existence? And which of them put their lives where their principles were? That, to Ms. Bakewell, is a hugely important question. She allows the figures of Sartre and de Beauvoir to tower over this book, not for reasons of charisma but because she thinks their ideas about defining oneself by the decisions one makes have new relevance today. Just as the existentialists came to prominence in postwar Europe by holding out the possibility of ‘fiendishly difficult’ freedom through choice, an unending but authentic struggle, so might their thinking have a place among people who feel overwhelmed by choice and bereft of authenticity in their lives. Who are these people? We are, she says.…(This book is full of winning small details. Some may find the description of Camus as ‘a simple, cheerful soul,’ as surprising as Sartre’s apparently charming Donald Duck imitation.)… ‘When reading Sartre on freedom, Beauvoir on the subtle mechanisms of oppression, Kierkegaard on anxiety, Camus on rebellion, Heidegger on technology or Merleau-Ponty on cognitive science,’ Ms. Bakewell writes, ‘one sometimes feels one is reading the latest news.’”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“Ms. Bakewell’s jaunty, colloquial style very successfully brought the ideas of Michel de Montaigne to a wide and general audience in her best-selling How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer (2010). The existentialists and their subtle differences from the phenomenologists in the context of World War II and its aftermath are a much greater challenge, which she meets with equal elan. In At the Existentialist Café, Ms. Bakewell has created a new form of group biography. Using the conceit of a café, she structures her book as a series of overheard conversations about life, death and politics. Sartre and Beauvoir are the regulars. Other thinkers—Husserl, Karl Jaspers, Albert Camus, Maurice Merleau-Ponty—pass through. [Bakewell] invites readers to join her at the imagined café and not to mind too much if the overheard conversations are interrupted or incompletely comprehensible… [F]or those who have time to sit and think, it is crammed with interest and rich in atmosphere. At its heart is a clear understanding of the relation between philosophy and biography… By the end of her book, it is clear that an understanding of philosophy cannot be separated from the lives that defined it. [Bakewell’s] whole book is a quizzically humane response to the question: What is existentialism anyway?" —The Wall Street Journal

“Brisk and perceptive…A fresh, invigorating look into complex minds and a unique time and place.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Bakewell brilliantly explains 20th-century existentialism through the extraordinary careers of the philosophers who devoted their lives and work to 'the task of responsible alertness' and 'questions of human identity, purpose, and freedom.' Through vivid characterizations and a clear distillation of dense philosophical concepts, Bakewell embeds the story of existentialism in the 'story of a whole European century,' dramatizing its central debates of authenticity, rebellion, freedom, and responsibility." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Bakewell follows her celebrated study of Montaigne…with a lively appraisal of existentialism and its leading thinkers… [At the Existentialist Café] focuses upon key individuals—Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and Martin Heidegger—and on their interactions with each other and with the historical circumstances of the harsh twentieth century. With coverage of friendship, travel, argument, tragedy, drugs, Paris, and, of course, lots of sex, Bakewell’s biographical approach pays off… The result is an engaging story about a group of passionate thinkers, and a reminder of their continued relevance.” —Booklist (starred review)

“In her sweeping and dazzlingly rich At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails, Sarah Bakewell intro­duces us to those most closely associated with existentialism by approaching ‘the lives through the ideas, and the ideas through the lives.’… Bakewell… sees her cast of char­acters engaged in a ‘big, busy café of the mind.’ Their ideas remain of interest, not because they were right or wrong in their decisions, but because they dealt with real questions facing human beings. This wonderfully readable account of one of the 20th centu­ry’s major intellectual movements offers a cornucopia of biographical detail and insights that show its relevance for our own time.”—BookPage

"Tremendous...rigorous and clarifying...Highly recommended for anyone who thinks." —Library Journal (starred review)

“These days, the word 'existentialism' brings to mind black turtlenecks, French cigarettes, and a distinctly European sense of despair. But as Sarah Bakewell describes them in this vivid, vital group biography, existentialists like Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvior, and Albert Camus were courageous free thinkers in an age of fascism, totalitarianism, and conformity…Bakewell is a lover of philosophy but not a philosopher herself, which may explain why her prose remains lucid and warm no matter how challenging the ideas she’s dissecting. She brings wry humor to her subjects’ foibles…but is clear-eyed in describing their more substantive failings…When first reading the existentialists, Bakewell recalls that she was less attracted to their individual biographies than their theories; now, she writes, she’s changed her mind: ‘Ideas are interesting, but people are vastly more so.’ Much to the great fortune of her readers, this book is richly populated with both.”*—The Boston Globe

“Bibliophiles will feel equally welcome arriving At the Existential Café, Sarah Bakewell's vivid and warmly engaging intellectual history. It is an exemplar of the notion that ‘books come from books.’ This is a text that sings the writing life — of the existentialists, of their critics and of their biographers…  the book finishes with a roll call ‘Cast of Characters’  that runs 79 names long. Even the screenplays of Terrence Malick, with their heavy doses of Martin Heidegger, swing briefly into view. She draws on each one, symphonically, to make a case for existentialism as more pertinent to the 21st century than a nostalgia for black turtlenecks, booze, cigarettes and rebellious alienation.”—The Los Angeles Times

“Bakewell tells us that she wrote At the Existentialist Café because she believes existentialism has much to offer a world grappling with questions of mass surveillance, data mining and serious ‘racial, sexual, religious and ideological conflict.’ Amid the tumult of World War II, Sartre invented existentialism to understand how to live freely, and that question is perhaps now more present than at any time since… This latest book is a skillful history of the existentialist milieu. Fascinating and well written, it will help many readers discover the likes of Sartre, Beauvoir and Merleau-Ponty…At the Existentialist Café very successfully distills a large number of challenging philosophical ideas. Bakewell pulls off this sizable achievement by enmeshing us in the lives of these philosophers, showing how their ideas emerged from their experiences, problems and dilemmas…Bakewell has made weighty, complex philosophical ideas feel exhilarating — for that she should be praised, and read.”—The SAn Francisco Chronicle*

“Existentialism has come to be seen as something of a young person’s game, intoxicating and fresh in spirited youth but shallow and pretentious in sober maturity. Historically it also seems past its prime, having gone from being a radical new philosophy to just another movement in the history of ideas. No wonder, then, that Bakewell says: 'It has become harder to revive that initial thrill.' Yet that is exactly what she has managed to do in a book that is a kind of collaboration between her exhilarated younger self and the more measured, adult writer she has become. These co-authors are as generous with each other as they are with their subjects, resulting in a work that is both warm and intellectually rigorous…Bakewell made her name with her brilliant How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer. At the Existentialist Café is an even more ambitious attempt at interweaving life and thought. Not only does it have a cast of characters large enough to merit their own appendix for reference, their writings are usually opaque at best and obscurantist at worst. Despite these obstacles, Bakewell has done it again and made it look effortless… Although biography provides the narrative momentum of At the Existentialist Café, much of the meat comes from the philosophy…She has a knack for crystallising key ideas by identifying choice original quotations and combining them with her own words…Perhaps the aphorism that best captures the book is one of Bakewell’s own: 'Thinking should be generous and have a good appetite.' Her hunger is infectious. Bakewell is fond of Heidegger’s image of a mind as a clearing in a forest, and her book is a clearing in a dense philosophical thicket few of us have the ability or inclination to navigate alone.”*
—Financial Times

“Having written a book called How to Live: A Biography of Montaigne, and obviously deeply steeped in French thought, Sarah Bakewell is expertly equipped to tell us the story of existentialism. It helps that she writes well, with a lightness of touch and a very Anglo-Saxon sense of humour…This is not, however, a silly book and it is sometimes very profound indeed. Bakewell’s deepest aim is to resurrect and re-examine existentialism as a way of thinking that can transform reality; this is what separates existentialism from more abstract philosophies…[A] skillful and nuanced teacher…[Bakewell’s] explanation of the mysteries of phenomenology, [is] clear and succinct…For the uninitiated, phenomenology is a philosophy of German origin that focuses on the world as it appears… rather than questioning the interpretations of reality….This is what makes existentialism so passionate and exciting, whether you are a 1950s Left Bank starlet or, as in Bakewell’s case, a lost teenage girl in the 1980s. [At the Existentialist Café] offers fascinating insights into the cultural impact of existentialism on the English-speaking world…Existentialism, in all its incarnations, is really about making choices. How to live? How to be free? How to be an “authentic” human being? In her summing-up, Bakewell makes the case that these questions remain as important today as they ever were.” —The Guardian (US)

“[Bakewell’s] intellectually sharp and fluent narrative centers on Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, one of the great intellectual couples in modern history. Yet it extends back to the 19th-century philosophical movement called phenomenology, and forward to de Beauvoir’s death in 1986. Along the way, Bakewell interweaves engaging portraits of many of the great European and American intellectuals of the last century and half: Hannah Arendt, Albert Camus, Martin Heidegger and many others — showing how their ideas developed through their relationships with one another and in response to the Great Depression, World War II and Cold War…Bakewell writes with a sunny disposition and light touch…She combines confident handling of difficult philosophical concepts with a highly enjoyable writing style. I can’t think of a better introduction to modern intellectual history.”—Newsday

 “Bakewell’s How to Live [was] a remarkably erudite and accessible study of the life of Montaigne…At first skeptical, I was soon warmed over by the author’s preternaturally smooth style. At the Existentialist Café does precisely the same for Jean-Paul Sartre, Si