Existentialism was always a confusing word at the edge of my psyche. I heard about it, especially in the phrase existential angst, but I never really understood what it was. More than that, although I was always interested in Simone de Beauvoir as someone who tended the light of feminism between the first and second waves, I hadn't heard great things about Satre, an apologist for Stalin etc. As an encouragement to those who say intelligent things to other people and think they may go unnoticed, a Spanish colleague of mine, Raul, told me not to dismiss Satre, and that...