Sartre's powerful political passions were united to a memorable literary gift, placing him foremost among the novelists, as well as the philosophers, of our time. This study analyses and evaluates the different strands of Sartre's rich and complex work. Combining the objectivity of the scholar with a profound interest in contemporary problems, Iris Murdoch discusses the tradition of philosophical, political and aesthetic thought that gives historical authenticity to Sartre's achievement, while showing the ambiguities and dangers inherent in his position. Sartre begins with a critical analysis of Sartre's novels and his ideas of freedom, consciousness and language, and ends with an appraisal of his theory of la litterature engagee,