Sartre's second century

The Literary-Philosophical Experience of Hope Now 171
observes in his introduction, the interviews open and end with discussions
of hope. 41
Consequently, when we read Hope Now these two philosophers appear
to us as persons inside a world—a world, moreover, that emerges from the
tension between the very words on the page (in all their varying
vocabularies), as well as between the metastable identities of the interlocutors,
with whom we share a particular duration from beginning to end.
As a result, we become part of the discussion as well. The They comes to
include the reader. It is we who decide whether Sartre is a Jew or an
atheist, a traditional Marxist or a disenchanted Maoist. Like the waiter in
Being and Nothingness, we are still playing and taking the specific
identities of the characters in our imaginary world a little too seriously. 42
But in the ebb and flow of this play, we experience that truthful
"something" that exists beyond the work itself, and which is given to us as
a particular so that we can, once again, play the role of the judge.
In the quarter-century since its publication, the two most common
verdicts handed down on Hope Now have been either to dismiss its
contents as an unsalvageable mess, or to celebrate it as a clear turn in
Sartre's thought towards Judaism or mysticism. Even Aronson, who tries
to find a middle ground in his introduction to the text, ultimately treats the
tensions in Hope Now as obstacles that we must overcome as readers. My
approach is the opposite. The confusion that Hope Now induces in us—
much like the kind that an impersonator of Chevalier once did for Sartre—
is ultimately what is most enjoyable about it. The most fruitful approach
we can take towards Sartre's last words is not to lament their peculiarity,
or to regret the friendship that produced them, but to consider them the
product of yet another way of discussing philosophical ideas and
disclosing ineffable, ambiguous, literary truths.
Perhaps the most appropriate way to end this chapter is by once again
immersing ourselves in Benny Levy's vocabulary, for our own purposes.
Indeed, one way to summarise the project of Hope Now is to borrow
Levy's thoughts on a different but related issue: the future of radical
politics. In section seven of the interviews, L6vy says to Sartre: "To be
radical, then, would be to pursue in a radical way the bringing together of
scattered intentions to the point where they achieve an adequate unity." To
this, Sartre answers: "Yes, insofar as it is possible." 43
41 Aronson, "Sartre's Last Words", 29.
42 See Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 101-102.
43 Hope Now, 81.