“I feel within me that void which is myself; I feel that I am not.” (63)
“One never arrives anywhere. There are only points of departure.” (51)
“Nothing will deliver me from the risk and anguish of my freedom.” (71)
Two essays: “What is Existentialism?” and “Pyrrhus and Cineas” — the first short, the second long, and both stellar. Her explorations with the human condition are a free-flowing wit engaged with a vast breadth of philosophy and literature and at the same time transcending it; her voice is singular, biting, yet open-ended. Reading this is like floating down a river, not knowing where the river leads, or what rapids might appear round the next bend, suspense and pleasure mixed into a sweet ambivalence.
I love the way the title is written on the cover! What is is is? Brilliant.