financial support after they had become simply friends. But he managed
to guard a special place in his life for Beauvoir.
Philosophical reflections in a literary mode
A prodigious worker, Sartre continued to pursue his literary vocation
while writing his thesis for advanced study (Diploˆme d’e ́tudes supe ́rieures),
completing his courses at the Sorbonne and the ENS and twice studying
for the formidable agre ́gation examination. For someone noted for
valuing freedom and spontaneity, we observe that Sartre maintained a
strict work schedule for the rest of his life.
During these final years of academic life and military service he
produced three works, of which only a portion of the third was published
in his lifetime:A Defeat(Une De ́faite, 1927 ),Er, the Armenian( 1928 ),^19
which he showed to Beauvoir soon after they passed theiragre ́gation
exams, andThe Legend of Truth( 1931 ) which was probably written or at
least substantially revised during his initial military service near Tours.^20
Each reveals a proto-existentialist, quasi-Nietzschean character along
with the usual valorization of freedom that was to sustain Sartre’s
thought in subsequent publications. All three pieces employ a
mythical/narrative mode to communicate their philosophical concepts.
In view of his classical education, it is surprising that Sartre did not mine
Greek mythology to a greater extent than he did in search of vehicles for
his philosophical themes. Aside from one major play,The Flies( 1943 )
and a couple of short stories and film scenarios, this is the last time
(^19) A Defeat(Une De ́faite, 1927 ) andEr, the Armenian( 1928 ) are reprinted inEJ.The Legend of
Truth, a portion of a larger work that was never published, appeared in the reviewBifurno. 8
(June 1931 ) along with the French translation of Heidegger’s “What is Metaphysics?,” which
Sartre does not mention at that time but of which de Beauvoir remarks: “Since we could not
understand a word of it, we failed to see its interest” (Simone de Beauvoir,The Prime of Life,
trans. Peter Green [New York: World Publishing Co./Lancer Books, 1966 ], 92 ; hereafter
20 Prime;La Force de l’aˆge, vol.i[Paris: Gallimard,^1960 ],^84 ).
In the fragments discovered after its initial publication, which may be additions to or a basic
rewriting of the earlier work, see Vincent de Coorebyter,Sartre avant la Phe ́nome ́nologie:
Autour de “La Nause ́e” et de la “Le ́gende de la ve ́rite ́”(Brussels: Ousia, 2005 ), 176 – 177 ;
hereafterSaP. Rybalka and Contat date at least the published version from 1929 .De
Coorebyter hypothesizes that its definitive form dates from 1930 – 1931 during his military
service, which lasted from November 1929 to February 1931 (seeSaP 176 n. 2 andE ́crits
posthumes de Sartre, intro. Juliette Simont [Paris: Vrin, 2001 ],ii: 20 [hereafterEPS]).
Philosophical reflections in a literary mode 27