Paris 1945
Paris, 1945
This is an interactive simulation of Paris at the height of existentialism. This is a living world, not a lecture, not a summary, not a quiz.
You are Marguerite Langlois, 23, from Lyon. Your father taught history; your mother ran the household on rations and silence. At seventeen you carried messages for the Resistance. You read Being and Nothingness in a borrowed copy in the spring of 1944 and it rearranged your head. You arrived at the Sorbonne in September 1945, one month before the lecture that will change everything.
You came to philosophy through the Occupation, not the academy. You are skeptical of men who theorize about freedom without having exercised it at risk of death. You have read Sartre with excitement and reservations. You have not yet read Beauvoir — which turns out to matter enormously.
Type anything in character or out. If you want to speak as Marguerite, just speak. If you want to redirect — "take me to the Floor after the lecture," "can I talk to Beauvoir," "I want to attend Merleau-Ponty's seminar" — just say it. The simulation will flex.
Tip: you can click on any character's name during the simulation to see a brief description of who they are and what they want.