Tag Archives: literature

Jean-Paul Sartre in 1952

After years of gradually moving away from his initially apolitical outlook, Sartre unambiguously sided with the Communist Party in 1952. He also became involved in a very public falling-out with former friend Albert Camus over their political differences, with both men attacking one another in the press. They never again met.

In this year, he also published Saint Genet, comédien et martyr, his extended study of the writer Jean Genet, whom he considered to be an outstanding example of existential authenticity.

 

Source:

Drake, David. Sartre. London: Haus, 2005. pp. 83-88, 162-163

William S. Burroughs, “Junk” (novel completed in 1952)

Cover of original 1953 edition, published by Ace Books.

Cover of original 1953 edition, published by Ace Books.

 

Semi-autobiographical first novel by William S. Burroughs, written 1950-1952, renamed Junkie when first published in 1953 (under the pseudonym, “William Lee”), and later released as Junky. Starkly compelling literature, and considerably more lucid than the subsequent experimental texts for which Burroughs is better known.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkie_(novel)

Burroughs, William S., and Oliver Harris. Junky : the definitive text of ‘Junk’. London: Penguin, 2008. (Contains a number of texts left out of previous editions, and an informative introduction by Oliver Harris.)