Paris Post War: Art and Existentialism 1945-55
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.We do not have a philosophy. We are less subject than you to impulses and passionate intellectual enthusiasms.
Classics, Romantics, Parnassians, Realists, Symbolists, Surrealists, Neo-Classicism, Existentialism - on the whole, all the essence of French literature can be grouped, classed by school, or by movement. This has never been the case in England. The world of Wordsworth and of Coleridge is a world of sense and lucidity. Fin de Siecle is an epoch of decadence acknowledged as much in England as it is in France; and it is now 10 years since we have had a period of litterature engagee. But there has not been a succession of schools, there have been no regular waves of trends, of constant ebbs and flows. This is both a weakness and a strength.
From 'Une Lettre de Londres' by Philip Toynbee in Les Temps Modernes, Paris. January 1946.
Paris Post War: Art and Existentialism 1945-55 at the Tate Gallery until 5 September.
See next Monday's Independent for reader offers.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments