Sebastian Gardner: Sartre's Being and Nothingness Initiation

This book is the 23rd volume in the Readers' Guide series translated by Seogwangsa Publishing from the UK's Continuum Press to make philosophical classics easily understandable to everyone. Sartre's *Being and Nothingness* was published in 1943 during World War II. As a work heralding the emergence of French existentialism, it was accepted as a ray of light in the world of thought, which was in chaos following the war. It has since exerted a profound influence on humanity for nearly a quarter of a century, and it is said that it is difficult to find another specialized philosophy book that has achieved such a high number of copies sold. The newly published *Introduction to Sartre's *Being and Nothingness** was written by Sebastian Gardner, who teaches Sartre at University College London. Sartre's text captivates readers by traversing back and forth between various perspectives and diverse topics. However, due to this characteristic, readers sometimes struggle to grasp the text's overall arguments. Sebastian Gardner is well aware of this, and thus explains the core concepts and system of *Being and Nothingness* through a concise and clear analysis that does not deviate significantly from the table of contents of the original work. The strength of this book as an introductory text lies in its examination of the philosophical and social background of Europe around the time Sartre began writing *Being and Nothingness*, its explanation of how the work is received within the context of modern philosophy, and its suggestion of various ways to read the text from diverse perspectives. However, the author never excessively imposes his own interpretation. Additionally, the inclusion of "questions for research" at the end of each chapter will be useful to readers.

Korean title: 사르트르의 존재와 무 입문

Korean author: 세바스찬 가드너

Korean publisher: 서광사

ISBN-13: 9788930612197