Sartre’s Acceptance And Deviation From Marx And Engels’ Literary Theory

Jean-Paul Sartre is a famous writer,philosopher and thinker in the 20 th century.He is not only the representative of existentialism and the main theorist of "Existential Marxism" in Western Marxism,but also the most active advocate of Western socialism.Throughout his life,he tirelessly used literary creation to write and interpret his philosophical thoughts and political propositions.Sartre has been carrying out exchanges and dialogue with Marxism as a "fellow traveler" of Marxism from 1940 s to 1960 s.Although he failed to become a Marxist in the end,his thought is closely related to Marxism.Influenced by Marxism,in philosophy,he revised the existentialism theory of early extreme individualism into dialectical humanitarianism;In social practice,he became an activist who actively participated in social practice and intervened in society from a writer who did not care about politics and was lofty and arrogant,and became a fellow traveler of Marxists;In literature,he changed from a writer advocating personal freedom to a class theorist and an agitator of proletarian literature,and became a humanitarian writer who used literature as a weapon to fight against aggression and slavery.Sartre’s "Existential Marxism" literary theory is the product of his combination of Marx and Engels’ literary theory and literary practice in the 20 th century.He has both accepted and deviated from Marx and Engels’ literary theory.The relationship between Sartre and Marxism is complex.Taking time as the starting point to investigate Sartre’s acceptance of Marxism can be divided into three stages: early stage,turning stage and alienation stage.Although Sartre read the works of Marx and Engels in his early days,he mainly accepted the influence of phenomenology and existentialism.On the whole,his philosophy and literary view belong to the category of idealism.In the turning period,due to the outbreak of World War II,Sartre began to pay attention to Marxism,had materialistic thinking about social reality,gradually accepted the socialist ideological trend with Marxism as the core,and made great efforts to integrate existentialism and Marxism.Sartre deviated from Marxism because of his dissatisfaction with the political strategy of the European Communist Party,but he did not completely give up his thinking on Marxism,but tried to integrate psychoanalytic theory with Marxism and make the so-called "supplement" and "amendment" to Marxism.Under the influence of Marx and Engels’ literary theory,Sartre changed the literary view of early idealism,accepted the literary reflection theory,literary class theory,literary tool theory and literary acceptance theory in Marx and Engels’ literary theory,and emphasized the authenticity,class nature,tendency and subject object dialectics of literature.Sartre extended Marx and Engels’ literary theory to a certain extent in the process of accepting it,which is mainly manifested in that he focused Marxist Literary Thought on the special field of literary production in the 20 th century,and specifically answered such major questions as why writers wrote after World War II,for whom they should write,and how they should write.While accepting Marx and Engels’ literary theory,Sartre also deviated from it to a certain extent.The focus of his research is different from Marx and Engels’ literary theory.His main points of view are different from Marx and Engels’ literary theory,which are embodied in the excessive requirements for literature to show individual subjectivity,the excessive emphasis on the political attribute of literature and the excessive exaggeration of the function of literature to transform society.Therefore,Sartre’s literary theory has the color of Marxist literary theory and existential literary theory at the same time.It is not completely integrated with Marxist literary theory,but around Marxist literary theory,but always retains its own relative independence.There are many reasons for Sartre’s acceptance and deviation from Marx and Engels’ literary theory,including both Sartre’s personal subjective influence and the objective factors of social reality;It has both ideological roots and special historical background.Specifically,Sartre accepted Marx and Engels’ literary theory not only because his thought shared the theoretical origin of Hegel philosophy with Marx and Engels,but also because of the practical needs of literary production practice after World War II for Marxist literary theory,but also because he had similar personality qualities with Marx and Engels;Sartre deviated from Marx and Engels’ literary theory not only because he could not get rid of the influence of early idealism philosophy,but also because he was dissatisfied with the defects of contemporary socialist camp countries in political practice,but also because of the limitations of the inherent mode of thinking in his own subjectivity.Sartre’s acceptance and deviation of Marx and Engels’ literary theory provides important enlightenment for the development of literary theory.First,we should take seriously the tendency that Sartre overemphasized the political nature,"contingency" and freedom of literature.Second,the inheritance and development of Marxist literary theory should adhere to four principles: the realistic spirit of literature,the direction of literature serving the public,the ideological attribute of literature,and the particularity of literary production.Third,when inheriting and developing Marxist literary theory,we should highlight the basic position and fundamental attitude of continuous innovation on the basis of subjectivity.