Abstract

Jean-Paul Sartre's health had been deteriorating steadily during the last few years, mainly because of arthritis and a poor circulatory system. Since 1974, he was half blind: he could not write and had to curtail his activities. When I saw him for the last time in early July 1979 with Geneviève Idt to give him an informal report on the just completed Sartre colloquium at Cerisy-la-Salle, he was mentally and intellectually alert, with that mixture of passion and wisdom which characterized our last encounters. It was obvious, however, that, physically, age and sickness had taken their toll. I left him with the dismal impression that, given his poor overall physical condition, the next crisis would indeed be very serious.