What Is Literature? What Is Literature? What Is Literature? (), also published as "Literature and Existentialism",) is an essay by French philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre, published by Gallimard in 1948. Initially published in freestanding essays across French literary journals "Les Temps modernes", "Situations I" and "Situations II", essays "What is Writing?" and "Why Write?" were translated into English and published by the Paris-based literary journal Transition 1948. The English translation by Bernard Frechtman was published in 1950. Sartre attempts to devise an understanding of the effect literature has on those who are subjected to it. In the foreword Sartre addresses his critics
What Is Art? Aylmer Maude, translator of many of Tolstoy's writings, calls it "probably the most masterly of all Tolstoy's works", citing the difficulty of the subject matter and its clarity. For a comprehensive review of the reception at the time of publication, see Maude 1901"b". Bayley, John (1986 [1966]). ""What is Art?" - excerpt from Tolstoy and the Novel" in Bloom, Harold (ed.). Leo Tolstoy. New York: Chelsea House. p. 141-152. Jahn, Gary R. (1975). "The aesthetic theory of Leo Tolstoy's "What is Art?"". "Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism" 34 (1): 59-65. Maude, Aylmer (1901a). “"What is Art?" - An Introduction”,