“We have been taught to take [evil] seriously. It is
neither our fault nor our merit if we lived in a time when torture was a daily
fact. Chateaubriant, Oradour, the Rue des Saussaies, Tulle, Dachau, and
Auschwitz have all demonstrated to us that Evil is not an appearance, that
knowing its causes does not dispel it, that it is not opposed to Good as a
confused idea is to a clear one, that it is not the effect of passions which
might be cured, of a fear which might be overcome, of a passing aberration
which might be excused, of an ignorance which might be enlightened, that it can
in no way be turned, brought back, reduced, and incorporated into idealistic
humanism.... We heard whole blocks screaming and we understood that Evil, fruit
of a free and sovereign will, is, like Good, absolute.... In spite of
ourselves, we came to this conclusion, which will seem shocking to lofty souls:
Evil cannot be redeemed.” —Jean-Paul Sartre, “Literature in Our Time,” section
iv, Partisan Review, XV, No. 6 [June 1948]
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