“The writer is a man who commits himself completely to his work. He engages himself; his work is his engagement in the world... Literature must take a stance, must be committed (engagé). Silence is complicity with oppression.”
—
Jean-Paul Sartre
What is Literature? (Qu'est-ce que la littérature?, 1947)
Commentary
Sartre argues for 'committed literature' (littérature engagée): the writer cannot remain neutral or purely aesthetic. Writing is action and intervention. The writer addresses a freedom (the reader) and appeals to that freedom to choose better.
This politically engaged existentialism made Sartre a public intellectual and activist. Literature is not escape or entertainment but ethical action in the world. The writer's silence in the face of injustice is a form of complicity.
Commentary
Sartre argues for 'committed literature' (littérature engagée): the writer cannot remain neutral or purely aesthetic. Writing is action and intervention. The writer addresses a freedom (the reader) and appeals to that freedom to choose better.
This politically engaged existentialism made Sartre a public intellectual and activist. Literature is not escape or entertainment but ethical action in the world. The writer's silence in the face of injustice is a form of complicity.