In addition to millions of words, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir bestowed upon intellectuals around the world a love story for the ages. They met as ardent young philosophy students in Paris and immediately declared each other soul mates. They pledged undying troth, existentialist-style, which meant that, as self-created and totally free human agents, they would throw off bourgeois bad faith and hypocrisy. Marriage was out. Children too.
They would live and love with total transparency, sharing every secret, renouncing jealousy, exposing themselves to judgment and, in conversational marathons, analyzing every last sensation. Read more here. . .
While going through the above review of excellent (and very timely) book TÊTE-À-TÊTE, what hit the mind of a reader is this: Why this is no more possible to live and love with total transparency, sharing every secret, renouncing jealousy, exposing themselves to judgment and, in conversational marathons, analyzing every last sensation today; of course in marriage and with children? Or is it? Do we find people around us living this way or other ways? What I see is other ways, a few lucky exceptions aside.
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