At The Existentialist Café

It’s not often that you miss your bus stop because you’re so engrossed in reading a book about existentialism, but I did exactly that while immersed in Sarah Bakewell’s At the Existentialist Café. The story of Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Heidegger et al is strange, fun and compelling reading. If it doesn’t win awards, I will eat my proof copy – Katy Guest * The Independent on Sunday *My book of the year is Sarah Bakewell’s At The Existentialist Café, a marvellously rich and evocative journey through one of the most powerful philosophical movements of the twentieth century… This graceful book speaks to our parochial and inward-looking age. – Sudhir Hazareesingh * Times Literary Supplement, Book of the Year *A wonderfully readable combination of biography, philosophy, history, cultural analysis and personal reflection. – John Walsh * Independent *At the Existentialist Café takes us back to…when philosophers and philosophy itself were sexy, glamorous, outrageous; when sensuality and erudition were entwined… [Bakewell] shows how fascinating were some of the existentialists’ ideas and how fascinating, often frightful, were their lives. Vivid, humorous anecdotes are interwoven with a lucid and unpatronising exposition of their complex philosophy… Tender, incisive and fair. – Jane O’Grady * Daily Telegraph *Quirky, funny, clear and passionate…Few writers are as good as Bakewell at explaining complicated ideas in a way that makes them easy to understand. – Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *Packed with out-of-the-way knowledge and has a cast of weird characters such as only a gathering of philosophers could supply. – John Carey * The Sunday Times *[Bakewell] writes well, with a lightness of touch and a very Anglo-Saxon sense of humour… Bakewell is a skilful and nuanced teacher. Her explanation of the mysteries of phenomenology, clear and succinct, is as brilliant as any I’ve heard in a French university classroom… Fascinating insights. – Andrew Hussey * Observer *A riveting narrative. – Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller *A book that is a kind of collaboration between [Bakewell’s] exhilarated younger self and the more measured, adult writer she has become… A work that is both warm and intellectually rigorous… Bakewell has not written a textbook — but anyone looking for one on phenomenology and existentialism would be advised to read this instead. She has a knack for crystallising key ideas by identifying choice original quotations and combining them with her own words… Her book is a clearing in a dense philosophical thicket few of us have the ability or inclination to navigate alone. – Julian Baggini * The Financial Times *A surprisingly sparkling book… Interesting and amusing… Pleasant and entertaining. – Philip Hensher * The Spectator *

Sarah Bakewell had a wandering childhood, growing up on the “hippie trail” through Asia and in Australia. She studied philosophy at the University of Essex, and worked for many years as a curator of early printed books at the Wellcome Library, London, before becoming a full-time writer. Her books include How to Live- a life of Montaigne, which won the Duff Cooper Prize and the US National Book Critics Circle Prize, and At the Existentialist Cafe, a New York Times Ten Best Books of 2016. She was also among the winners of the 2018 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. She still has a tendency to wander, but is mostly to be found either in London or in Italy with her wife and their family of dogs and chickens.

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