French · b. 1905
Jean-Paul Sartre won the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature but refused it, the only laureate to decline voluntarily. The French philosopher and novelist developed existentialism through essays, plays, and fiction. "Nausea" made philosophical ideas live through narrative; "Being and Nothingness" systematized his thought. Sartre engaged politically throughout his life, from the Resistance through anti-colonial struggles, insisting that intellectuals must choose sides.