Les Temps modernes is a French journal, founded by Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. It first issue was published in October 1945. It was named after the 1936 film by Charlie Chaplin. Les Temps modernes filled the void left by the disappearance of the most important pre-war literary magazine, La Nouvelle Revue Française, considered to be André Gide's magazine, which was shut down by the authorities after the liberation of France because of its collaboration with the occupation. Les Temps modernes was first published by Gallimard and was last published by Gallimard. In between, the magazine changed hands three times: Julliard, Presses d'aujourd'hui, Gallimard. Les Temps modernes ceased publication in 2019, after 74 years.
Early history
The first editorial board consisted of Sartre, Raymond Aron, Simone de Beauvoir, Michel Leiris, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Albert Ollivier, and Jean Paulhan. All published many articles for the magazine. Sartre's contributions included "La nationalisation de la littérature", "Matérialisme et révolution", and "Qu'est-ce-que la littérature?". Simone de Beauvoir first published Le Deuxième Sexe in Les Temps modernes. In the preface to the first edition, Sartre stated the review's purpose: to publish littérature engagée. This philosophy of literature expresses a basic creed of existentialism—that an individual is responsible for making conscious decisions to commit socially useful acts. Thus literature in the magazine would have a utilitarian component; it would not be just culturally valuable. Other intellectuals, such as André Gide, André Breton, and Louis Aragon, disapproved of this orientation. Sartre's response: "Le monde peut fort bien se passer de la littérature. Mais il peut se passer de l'homme encore mieux." The works of many writers appeared in Les Temps Modernes. They include Richard Wright, Jean Genet, Nathalie Sarraute, Boris Vian, and Samuel Beckett. Political divisions between board members soon surfaced. Raymond Aron quit in 1945 because of the magazine's Communist sympathies, becoming an editor at Le Figaro. At the time of the Korean War of 1950–1953, Merleau-Ponty resigned. Originally more supportive of Communism than Sartre, he moved progressively to the right as Sartre moved to the left. At the time, Sartre still endorsed Communism in his writings but in private expressed his reservations. Sartre disapproved of Camus for seeing both sides in the Algerians' rebellion against their French colonial masters. In his bitterness against Camus, Sartre selected Francis Jeanson, who did not like the works of Camus, to review the Camus essay L'Homme Révolté. When Camus responded to the review with hurt feelings, Sartre put the final blow to a friendship that had lasted for years. He said, "Vous êtes devenu la proie d'une morne démesure qui masque vos difficultés intérieures.... Tôt ou tard, quelqu'un vous l'eût dit, autant que ce soit moi."
1960–present
Les Temps modernes enjoyed its greatest influence in the 1960s. At this time, it had more than 20,000 subscribers. During the Algerian War it strongly supported the National Liberation Front, the primary group in the ultimately successful battle against the French. It fiercely denounced the extensive use of torture by French forces. For this, it was censured and its premises seized. From its inception the review has published many special issues. These include Sartre's 1946 description of the United States, an attempt to discredit the myths that many of the French held about this country. In 1955, Claude Lanzmann described Sartre's Marxist philosophy in an issue called "La Gauche". An issue on "La révolte hongroise" denounced Soviet repression. In 1967, at the time of the Six-Day War, an issue, "Le conflit israélo-arabe", contained articles by both Israelis and Arabs. In 2001, a special edition was devoted to Serge Doubrovsky. From 2016, the chief editor of Les Temps modernes was Claude Lanzmann until his death on 5 July 2018, after a short illness. The editorial board consisted of Juliette Simont, Adrien Barrot, Jean Bourgault, Joseph Cohen, Michel Deguy, Liliane Kandel, Jean Khalfa, Patrice Maniglier, Robert Redeker, Marc Sagnol, Gérard Wormser, and Raphael Zagury-Orly. It was published bimonthly. In 2019, following Lanzmann's death, Les Temps modernes ceased publishing, after 74 years.
