Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - No Exit and Three Other Plays

No Exit and Three Other Plays
No Exit and Three Other Plays
Author: Jean-Paul Sartre
When Sartre's first two plays (No Exit and The Flies) were published in the United States in 1947, Eric Bentley greeted them in the New York Times Book Review with the words: "Everyone interested in modern drama, modern literature or modern ideas might well read this book.... ...  more »
ISBN: 475118
Publication Date: 1961
Pages: 281
Rating:
  ?

0 stars, based on 0 rating
Publisher: Vintage
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Write a Review
Read All 1 Book Reviews of "No Exit and Three Other Plays"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

reviewed No Exit and Three Other Plays on + 813 more book reviews
The Flies
Before reading this update of a Greek tragedy you should read, or review, Aeschylus Oresteia and Sophocles Theban plays. The Flies, Sartres interpolation of these ancient works, centers on Orestes return to Argos to avenge the murder of his father, Agememnon: a deed which he fulfills with shocking brutality. The flies symbolize the curse placed on the city for the foul murder of Agememnonall characters, including walk-ons, are surrounded by them. I wonder how this was staged as the flies seem to have a larger role than many of the players. True to Greek form Zeus is omnipresent to instigate havoc on the community by assuming a vacillating role in the act of retribution.

Dirty Hands
Wade through act after act of political innuendo. A revolutionary volunteers to assassinate the leader of one of three totalitarian factions. He fails, sort of. He does waste him in the end but for the wrong reason, and even that isnt right. All this takes six acts and 120 pages. Camus could do it in half that.

No Exit
Welcome to Sartres version of Dantes Hell. The valet, really an unnamed devil, locks three people in a room: two women and a man. How good can it get for this guy? They dont appear to realize that they are dead. They explore one anothers sins. Eventually they realize where they are and that they have become one anothers torturers.

The Respectful Prostitute
Sartre explores racial tension and prejudice. A black, pursued by the Law for attack on a white, hides in a motel room that is being used by a prostitute. Naturally, she attempts to hide him. Why not? Eventually, there is no exit in this one also; she must give him up to the Law.


Genres: