I admittedly read this a long time ago so I'm recollecting...

I'm not really that well-versed in plays, but I'm coming at this as an enjoy of Sartre's philosophical works.

I really enjoyed No Exit and Dirty Hands because I could see the connection. I was too dense to see the connections in the other two plays, but I kind of like greek plays so I enjoyed them somewhat all the same. ( )

Sartre foi uma grande romancista - e um dramaturgo talvez ainda maior. Huis-clos, sua poderosa, ameaçadora e claustrofóbica peça que influenciaria outros dramaturgos como p.ex. Harold Pinter tem três pessoas condenadas a passarem a eternidade despedaçando-se mutuamente para expiarem seus ¨pecados¨ terrestres: Ines, Garcin e Estelle. Como no filme Heaven can wait, de Ernst Lubitsch, está claro tratar-se de um grupo de pecadores que, de elevador, desce rápida e subliminarmente às chamas... L'enfer c'est les autres... Chegam ao saguão de um hotel de luxo que tem a placa 'Recepção'. E ocorre-lhes que estão de fato mortos e condenados a passar a eternidade atormentando um ao outro. ( )

4 stars for Dirty Hands ( )

Jean-Paul Sartre is a writer I am familiar with. I don’t remember what of his material I read off the top of my head, but I do know that I read something of his. Perhaps I merely have one of his books. It is of no consequence though.

This particular book is a collection of four plays written by Sartre. The main event of the book is No Exit, a story that was spoiled for me long ago in a manner similar to Lord of the Flies. It is a cultural touchstone, a piece of literature that has become part and parcel of our society as a whole. I mean, I already know how it ends. That does not change the fact that it is a masterpiece. What is surprising is that the characters are aware of where they are. For some reason, I thought there would be some kind of slow realization. However, that is not the case. They can recall everything and know that they are dead and so on. So we are in Hell and following three characters; Garcin, Inez, and Estelle. They are all terrible human beings, but we know that they are in Hell, so I suppose that isn’t surprising. They discuss how they died, why they are where they are, and what kind of people they are. Eventually, we get to the crux of the matter which is that Hell doesn’t need whips and chains and lakes of fire. All they need is some kind of room and three people to get on each other’s nerves. “Hell is other people” as the play states.

The following three plays are more interesting in that I don’t know what they are about at all.

The Flies is a play about Orestes and Electra. I will have to look into why Zeus hates this family so much, but they aren’t really noble people in my estimation. I mean, Agamemnon was a king, so he at least was an interesting person, but the people of Argos didn’t deserve to be attacked by flies, right? In any case, Zeus is punishing the people of the city for some reason. Also, Zeus is using Flies instead of his Thunderbolts. Orestes enters and pretends to be someone else. Zeus comes along and tells him to bug off. Orestes kills people and runs away with Electra to Apollo’s Temple wherein he has sanctuary against arrest and retribution. Finally, Orestes takes the sins of the people on himself and tells the people to be free.

Dirty Hands is the longest play at seven acts. It’s about some guy who kills another person for reasons that become the central focus of the play. We know that he murdered, but the biggest issue concerns the reason for which he did so.

The Respectful Prostitute is a play that might have been based on the Infamous Scottsboro Trials. Americans initially didn’t really like it due to the way people were painted. The truth hurts I suppose.

Anyway, these plays were okay. Like Waiting For Godot, it deals with some Existential Tones. I mean, the author of these plays is Jean-Paul Sartre, the big boy in Existentialism. I liked all of them well enough. No Exit was great. the other three plays were what the cover said they were. ( )

This collection includes four of Sartre’s plays, and it’s a bit difficult to give it an overall rating. Why? Here’s the issue in nutshell:

No Exit (46 pages) – brilliant account of three individuals in a very different kind of hell, with some devastating observations about love – 4.5 stars.
The Flies (78 pages) – solid and enjoyable version of the Electra/Orestes story – 4 stars.
Dirty Hands (118 pages) – extremely tedious story of political forces at work in the WWII era – 1 star.
The Respectful Prostitute (34 pages) – scathing indictment of racism in America, impressive for 1946 – 4 stars.

You see the problem? My apologies for being crass, but Vintage International slipped a real turd in the middle here, which is a shame. If you read this book, my advice is to simply skip that play in its entirety.

Quotes from ‘No Exit’:
On adoration:
“But, my poor little fallen nestling, you’ve been sheltering in my heart for ages, though you didn’t realize it. Don’t be afraid; I’ll keep looking at you for ever and ever, without a flutter of my eyelids, and you’ll live in my gaze like a mote in a sunbeam.”

And this one:
“I'm going to smile, and my smile will sink down into your pupils, and heaven knows what it will become.”

On death:
“One always dies too soon – or too late. And yet one’s whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are – your life, and nothing else.”

On desire:
“She wants a man – that far you can trust her – she wants a man’s arm round her waist, a man’s smell, a man’s eyes glowing with desire. And that’s all she wants. She’d assure you you were God Almighty if she thought it would give you pleasure.” ( )