Dictionnaire Sartre (review)

This is a splendidly conceived, encyclopaedic dictionary. It is rich in detail, precise in philosophical definition, impressively wide-ranging, and entirely up-to-date. Its editors are at the forefront of a new generation of Sartre scholars, and they have been able to draw on the resources of colleagues in the international Groupe d'Études sartriennes, as well as having been assisted by the founders of that group, in particular Michel Contat, Michel Rybalka, Geneviève Idt, and Vincent de Coorbyter. The editors have followed the alphabetical order common to all dictionaries, assimilated in the Avant-Propos to the quest of the Autodidacte in La Nausée as well as to Sartre's own alphabetically organized notebook of reflections in his early twenties. As they rightly point out, the aleatory nature of such apparent ordering produces some incongruous juxtapositions: Hugo and Huis clos; Janet and Japon; Manuscrits and Maoisme; Névrose and New York. Genres and chronology are replaced by the hasards of spelling, though the series of entries for anti- (anti-Americanism, anti-Communism, anti-dialectic, anti-psychiatry and so on) or for guerres (guerre froide, guerre d'Algérie, guerre de Corée, guerre d'Espagne) gives a clear indication of some of Sartre's major preoccupations. The scholarship of the entries is of an exceptionally high standard, and indeed, despite the relative brevity of the entries — there are around 850 — most of them will teach something even to the most specialized of Sartreans and will also open up possibilities for further reading since the referencing is unusually generous. There are some minor quibbles to be made, of course: cross-referencing, though present, is incomplete — Henri Martin, for example, is to be found under A (L'affaire Henri Martin) but not under M; the entry for theatre does not refer the reader to the entries on the actor; there is no entry for death; the entries for Hegel and Descartes are disproportionately longer than those for Kant and Heidegger. But with over sixty-five contributors to reconcile, the general level of consistency is remarkably high. The Dictionnaire provides much more than its title promises: it is a fascinating book to dip in to for surprises, as well as a real research resource.