In the philosophy class there had been a good deal of lively interest in Communism, and Mathieu had evaded the issue by explaining what freedom was. Boris had promptly understood: the individual’s duty is to do what he wants to do, to think whatever he likes, to be accountable to no one but himself, to challenege every idea and every person. Boris had constructed his life on this basis, and he kept himself conscientiously free: indeed, he always challenged everyone, excepting Mathieu and Ivich: that would have been futile, for they were above criticism. As to freedom, there was no sense in speculating on its nature, because in that case one was then no longer free. Boris scratched his head in perplexity, and wondered what was the origin of these destructive impulses which gripped him from time to time. ‘Perhaps I am naturally highly strung,’ he reflected, with amusement and surprise. Because you believed she was dead? Look here, Boris, pull yourself together, this is becoming ludicrous. You made a mistake, well then – that’s the end of it.’ The Spanish Civil War is still being fought, but it's an isolated conflict; the threat of war in the rest of Europe looms larger now after the Austrian Anschluß, but does not feel immediate yet.

June 1938 – Evening. (The Age of Reason). Mathieu has not been able to borrow the money he needs. He has arranged to meet Ivich and Boris to hear Lola sing. Daniel visits Marcelle. The novel series was adapted into a thirteen-part television serial by David Turner for BBC Television in 1970, with Michael Bryant as Mathieu and directed by James Cellan Jones. The adaptation was nominated for several BAFTA awards for 1970. [30] The entire series was screened by the British Film Institute over the weekend of 12–13 May 2012, attended by the director and several surviving cast members. [31] The series had not been broadcast on television since 1977, and is unavailable on any format. In 2022, it was finally announced it would be repeated on BBC4.June 1938 – Evening. (The Age of Reason). Ivich has failed her examinations and Mathieu has failed to persuade her to stay in Paris. He has also just stolen money for an abortion and given it to Marcelle. The accused makes a rebuttal by stating Marcelle shares the same views on marriage. Jacques, a wealthy lawyer, responds: The Age of Reason is also a surprisingly indecisive novel: almost none of the characters act decisively. Filled with mirth and their senses dulled with alcohol, Boris unexpectedly produces a Basque knife upon everyone’s return to their table.

Yes, some do, in the end act, rather decisively -- but it's questionable that they've really thought things through properly; the 'solution' to the Marcelle situation, specifically, sounds like a catastrophe waiting to happen.) You can’t help but believe Sartre developed the likes of Daniel, Boris, and Ivich from people he knew, and they’re so magnificently observed as individuals it’s as if they really were living and breathing in the 1930s. Mathieu’s devotion to this philosophy is no secret, with Lola and Boris even openly discussing how Mathieu approaches his life with personal freedom in mind (it’s also what he teaches to his students). Ivich gave a jump and uttered a piercing scream, which she promptly stifled by putting her hand to her mouth. ‘I’m behaving like a kitchen-maid,’ she said, crimson with confusion. The young workmen were already at a distance. ‘What’s the matter?’ asked Boris, with astonishment. ‘He touched me,’ said Ivich with disgust. ‘The filthy fellow.’

June 1940 – Afternoon. (The Defeated). Boris meets his sister Ivich telling her he wants to escape to Britain to continue the fight. Mathieu's unit has been deserted by their officers and the men are getting drunk whilst awaiting capture. After initially hesitating, Mathieu decides to join them to prove a kinship he does not feel. It’s at this moment Delarue finally announces his situation to Boris, who suggests Lola will provide him with the four thousand francs he needs. “You don’t understand,” he tells Boris, “I don’t want to borrow from Lola because she dislikes me.”

The first volume in his Roads to Freedom trilogy, Jean-Paul Sartre's The Age of Reason is a philosophical novel exploring existentialist notions of freedom, translated by Eric Sutton with an introduction by David Caute in Penguin Modern Classics. Reception was mixed. The series drew several comments over its nude scenes and frank sexual references, including a comic yet highly sympathetic portrayal of a homosexual man. Some doubted if Sartre could or should be adapted for television. [3] [4] [5] Episode 5, first broadcast 1 November 1970, includes what may be the first same-sex female kiss on British television, between Alison Fiske and Consuela Chapman. The Age of Reason has long been a favourite of mine. From first reading it in 2005 I’ve since returned to it three more times and it remains such a stunning novel. It’s also added extra weight if you move on to the remaining two books of the Roads to Freedom trilogy. Oh yes, you are, only you pretend you aren’t because you are possessed by theories. You have fallen into a habit of life with this young woman: you go to see her quietly four days a week and you spend the night with her. That has been going on for seven years, and there’s no adventure left in it; you respect her, you feel obligations towards her, you don’t want to leave her…Will you tell me how that differs from marriage – except for cohabitation?”The conversation trails off, however, with Delarue retorting: “Pah! Your age of reason is the age of resignation, and I’ve no use for it.” Jacques goes on to provide Delarue with a familiar ultimatum—marry Marcelle to clear up the situation. Paine's book followed in the tradition of early 18th-century British deism. Those deists, while maintaining individual positions, still shared several sets of assumptions and arguments that Paine articulated in The Age of Reason. The most important position that united the early deists was their call for "free rational inquiry" into all subjects, especially religion. Saying that early Christianity was founded on freedom of conscience, they demanded religious toleration and an end to religious persecution. They also demanded that debate rest on reason and rationality. Deists embraced a Newtonian worldview and believed that all things in the universe, even God, must obey the laws of nature. Without a concept of natural law, the deists argued, explanations of the workings of nature would descend into irrationality. This belief in natural law drove their skepticism of miracles. Because miracles had to be observed to be validated, deists rejected the accounts laid out in the Bible of God's miracles and argued that such evidence was neither sufficient nor necessary to prove the existence of God. Along these lines, deistic writings insisted that God, as the first cause or prime mover, had created and designed the universe with natural laws as part of his plan. They held that God does not repeatedly alter his plan by suspending natural laws to intervene (miraculously) in human affairs. Deists also rejected the claim that there was only one revealed religious truth or "one true faith". Religion had to be "simple, apparent, ordinary, and universal" if it was to be the logical product of a benevolent God. They, therefore, distinguished between "revealed religions", which they rejected, such as Christianity, and "natural religion", a set of universal beliefs derived from the natural world that demonstrated God's existence (and so they were not atheists). [1] [2] [3] You’ve had an accident. All right. Then let us hope I shall be better at my job than you were at yours – and that’s all I have to say. Good night. Brilliant Boris June 1940 - Morning. (The Defeated). The news of the fall of Paris has reached America even though the expected armistice hasn’t yet been signed. Mathieu's unit is waiting in a village to surrender, but Pinette hopes that they will fight. September 1938 - Morning. (The Reprieve). Hitler has made a provocative speech against Czechoslovakia and mobilisation continues. Ivich has returned to Paris and gone to Mathieu's flat to find him leaving to report for army duty.