Jean Paul Sartre

The War Diaries of Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Quintin Hoare (Pantheon: $17.95) France, along with Britain, declared war on Germany upon the latter's invasion of Poland in September, 1939; and then waited eight months for Germany to attack her. It was an odd situation, featuring the more or less peaceable coexistence of French and German troops facing each other across the border. An occasional patrol, venturing too far, would be seized, questioned and sent back.

"TeTE-a-Tete," Hazel Rowley's compulsively readable account of the lifelong relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86), is the surprise page-turner of the season. Their sexual high jinks make the stuff of tabloids seem tame and conventional by comparison. As Rowley states at the outset, her book is neither a full-scale biography of the two most famous French writers and existentialists of the 20th century nor a study of their work.

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are icons that won't go away. He was our last great philosophe , and she was the most adored feminist of her time. They both grew famous after World War II with the "wild success of existentialism" and its belief that women and men had their own "gift of fate" in a lonely, mechanized universe. They were comrades, lovers, friends, with a "little morganatic marriage," where each of them had other liaisons. As Beauvoir was bisexual, she and Sartre shared the same "mistress" more than once.

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are icons that won't go away. He was our last great philosophe , and she was the most adored feminist of her time. They both grew famous after World War II with the "wild success of existentialism" and its belief that women and men had their own "gift of fate" in a lonely, mechanized universe. They were comrades, lovers, friends, with a "little morganatic marriage," where each of them had other liaisons. As Beauvoir was bisexual, she and Sartre shared the same "mistress" more than once.

(Editor's Note): Gene R. La Rocque, who reviewed "Fighting for Peace: Seven Critical Years in the Pentagon" by Caspar Weinberger (Book Review, May 20), is director at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. SIMONE SAYS In reference to Richard Eder's review of "Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography" by Dierdre Bair (Book Review, April 15), Mr. Eder writes of Sartre's final years: "Old and ill, he gave a series of interviews to Benny Levy, a young Maoist adept whom many of the old Sartrians saw as an evil genius, in which he notably reversed the existentialist notion of the autonomous man."

In reference to Richard Eder's review of "Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography" by Dierdre Bair (Book Review, April 15), Mr. Eder writes of Sartre's final years: "Old and ill, he gave a series of interviews to Benny Levy, a young Maoist adept whom many of the old Sartrians saw as an evil genius, in which he notably reversed the existentialist notion of the autonomous man." What was Beauvoir's reaction to such goings on? Again, Eder according to Bair: "Beauvoir wept tears of rage when she read the manuscript.

The idea zings out over the Hollywood Hills like an awry Frisbee. Industry insiders clustered around Deirdre Bair rock with laughter. The hostesses, Marcia Nassitir and Anne Goursaud, are stunned. Nassitir (producer of "The Big Chill") and Goursaud (editor of "The Two Jakes") have optioned Bair's new biography, "Simone de Beauvoir," and are throwing one of La-La Land's more cerebral thirst-quenchers up on the cloud-high terrace of a mountain adobe.

"TeTE-a-Tete," Hazel Rowley's compulsively readable account of the lifelong relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and Simone de Beauvoir (1908-86), is the surprise page-turner of the season. Their sexual high jinks make the stuff of tabloids seem tame and conventional by comparison. As Rowley states at the outset, her book is neither a full-scale biography of the two most famous French writers and existentialists of the 20th century nor a study of their work.

Attention, all you movie people out there who cruise the paper looking for ideas. Here's one from Lesley Stahl: "A story of a girl and her presidents, a girl and her mother, a girl and her daughter and a girl and her hair." Especially the hair. "When I went to '60 Minutes,' [Executive Producer] Don Hewitt said, 'I hate your hair.' " Actually, so did we. But we were too polite to say so. "He said it was too stiff. It looked too much like Nancy Reagan's.

* "The Cat's Meow"--Joseph Fuqua, clockwise from top left, as Charlie Chaplin, Kimberly Bieber as Marion Davies and Nancy Cartwright as Louella Parsons star at Coast Playhouse. * "Borrego"--The tale of four people on a low-budget, isolated sci-fi film shoot opens Friday at Hudson Theatre. * "No Exit"'--Jean Paul Sartre's play about two women and a man trapped together for eternity in a room opens Friday at Theatre of Arts.

The idea zings out over the Hollywood Hills like an awry Frisbee. Industry insiders clustered around Deirdre Bair rock with laughter. The hostesses, Marcia Nassitir and Anne Goursaud, are stunned. Nassitir (producer of "The Big Chill") and Goursaud (editor of "The Two Jakes") have optioned Bair's new biography, "Simone de Beauvoir," and are throwing one of La-La Land's more cerebral thirst-quenchers up on the cloud-high terrace of a mountain adobe.

(Editor's Note): Gene R. La Rocque, who reviewed "Fighting for Peace: Seven Critical Years in the Pentagon" by Caspar Weinberger (Book Review, May 20), is director at the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C. SIMONE SAYS In reference to Richard Eder's review of "Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography" by Dierdre Bair (Book Review, April 15), Mr. Eder writes of Sartre's final years: "Old and ill, he gave a series of interviews to Benny Levy, a young Maoist adept whom many of the old Sartrians saw as an evil genius, in which he notably reversed the existentialist notion of the autonomous man."

In reference to Richard Eder's review of "Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography" by Dierdre Bair (Book Review, April 15), Mr. Eder writes of Sartre's final years: "Old and ill, he gave a series of interviews to Benny Levy, a young Maoist adept whom many of the old Sartrians saw as an evil genius, in which he notably reversed the existentialist notion of the autonomous man." What was Beauvoir's reaction to such goings on? Again, Eder according to Bair: "Beauvoir wept tears of rage when she read the manuscript.

The War Diaries of Jean-Paul Sartre, translated by Quintin Hoare (Pantheon: $17.95) France, along with Britain, declared war on Germany upon the latter's invasion of Poland in September, 1939; and then waited eight months for Germany to attack her. It was an odd situation, featuring the more or less peaceable coexistence of French and German troops facing each other across the border. An occasional patrol, venturing too far, would be seized, questioned and sent back.

Because of delays in renovating its Santa Ana facility, the Alternative Repertory Theatre has postponed the opening of its first production--Jean-Paul Sartre's "No Exit"--from Friday to Nov. 14. Artistic director Patricia Terry said the production is still scheduled to run at least six to eight weekends at the 50-seat, industrial-sector facility at 1636 S. Grand Ave.

In "Around The Town" on Nov. 11 ("Where Everybody Knows It All--And Your Name Too") Beverly Beyette writes that American author Sinclair Lewis refused the Nobel Prize for literature. It was the Pulitzer Prize in 1926 he refused (for "Arrowsmith"). In 1930, he received the Nobel Prize, the first American writer to receive the honor. Nobel Prize winners in literature who declined the honor were Jean Paul Sartre in 1964 and Boris Pasternak in 1958. JOHN S. JENSEN Downey Editor's note: The Soviet government forced Pasternak to decline the Nobel Prize.