Existentialism was the new religion, the new salvation. This was the atmosphere in Brussels in 1945 where I first read L'Etre et le Ne'ant and where I briefly (and on this occasion only) met Sartre. His presence in the city was like that of a pop star. Chico Marx, who was there at about the same time, was less rapturously received. The only other occasion when I saw a philosopher being hailed as a prophet was in California in 1984 when I attended a lecture by Jacques Derrida (Un autre temps, toujours la meme France)

Murdoch, Sartre, 10