No Exit
by Jean-Paul Sartre · Huis clos
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1944
- Form
- Drama
- Language
- French
- Length
- Short · 50 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Approachable1 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendNo Exit and Three Other Plays, translated by Stuart Gilbert and Lionel AbelVintage, 1989Collects No Exit with The Flies, Dirty Hands and The Respectful Prostitute for little more than the price of one.
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A one-act play. Three people are shown into a windowless Second Empire drawing room with no mirrors and the lights permanently on: Garcin, a journalist shot for desertion, Inez, a postal clerk who drove her lover to suicide, and Estelle, a society woman who killed her baby. They wait for a torturer and gradually work out that there isn't one, because each of them is equipped to torment the other two. Each needs another's judgement to know who they are, and none will give it honestly. Garcin's conclusion is the line the play is remembered for.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns No Exit are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
