Abstract

CAMPOS, Carolina Mendes; ALT, Fernanda  and  P. EWALD, Ariane. Interfaces between philosophy and literature in Sartre: grounds for a phenomenological psychology of the self. Rev. abordagem gestalt. [online]. 2009, vol.15, n.2, pp. 126-132. ISSN 1809-6867.

While publishing his first philosophical texts, Jean Paul Sartre also initiates his career as a fictionist.Moving across a multiplicity of discourses, Sartre's thoughts find sound expression on the interfaces between philosophy and literature, forging a communicating neighbo r hood, in Franklin Leopoldo e Silva's terms. As a consequence, a kind of internal link between the philosophical narrative (technical and conceptual) and the literary narrative (aesthetic) allows for a full and rich comprehension of Sartre's writings. It's under the light of this understanding that we set out to explore the short story The childhood of a leader, 1939, one of Sartre's first literary texts, produced while he was working on the possible grounds for a Phenomenological Psychology. The story portrays the life of Lucien Fleurier from his early days as a child through a number of stages and situations in which he tries to redefine his existencial project. This way, Sartre weaves between the lines of his narrative several of the notions comprising that process, which end up settling the grounds for a phenomenological theory of the self, in keeping with his philosophical work entitled The transcendence of the ego. Therefore our work aims at using that literary text to support the study of a phenomenological theory of the self, as outlined by Sartre in both philosophical and literary fronts. Based on the intentionality of the consciousness the philosopher criticizes the formal and substantial notions of the self generally accepted by philosophy and psychology in his days, still persisting to date. Such understandings obliterate the way of being of the human condition, characterized by freedom, expressed by the distress our character Fleurier experiences trying his most to escape his inconsistency of being.

Keywords : Sartre; Phenomenological psychology; Philosophy; Literature; Phenomenology of the self.

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