The Wall (Sartre short story collection)

The Wall (French: Le Mur) is a collection of five short stories by the French existentialist philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, published in 1939. The stories explore themes of existentialism, freedom, responsibility, and the human condition in the face of absurdity. Each story presents characters confronted with extreme situations that force them to confront their own mortality and the meaninglessness of existence.

The collection includes the following stories:

• The Wall (Le Mur): Set during the Spanish Civil War, this story follows Pablo Ibbieta, a prisoner of war awaiting execution. He and his fellow prisoners are offered a chance to save themselves by revealing the whereabouts of a hidden rebel leader. Pablo's attempts to manipulate his captors and grapple with the imminence of death form the core of the narrative. The story highlights the feeling of nausea and alienation one experiences when facing the absolute finality of death and the meaninglessness of choice in such a context.

• The Room (La Chambre): Explores the descent into madness through the perspective of Eve, a woman caring for her husband, Pierre, who has become mentally unstable and increasingly absorbed by his room and its distorted reality. The story examines themes of isolation, sanity, and the subjective nature of perception. Eve's struggle to maintain her own grip on reality while witnessing Pierre's deterioration is a central focus.

• Erostratus (Érostrate): Focuses on Paul Hilbert, a man driven to commit murder in an attempt to achieve a perverse form of recognition and significance. He plans to indiscriminately shoot people from a rooftop, believing that this act will elevate him above the anonymity of his existence. The story delves into themes of alienation, violence, and the desperate search for meaning in a seemingly indifferent world.

• Intimacy (Intimité): Depicts the inner turmoil of Lulu, a woman trapped in a loveless marriage who contemplates leaving her husband for her lover. The story explores themes of female sexuality, marital dissatisfaction, and the difficulty of making meaningful choices in the face of societal constraints and personal anxieties. Lulu's internal struggles and the complexities of her desires are central to the narrative.

• Childhood of a Leader (L'Enfance d'un chef): This longer story traces the intellectual and moral development of Lucien Fleurier, a young man from a bourgeois family in pre-World War II France. It portrays his gradual embrace of anti-Semitism, nationalism, and fascist ideology as he seeks a sense of identity and belonging. The story illustrates how individuals can be manipulated and molded by social and political forces, highlighting the dangers of conformity and the appeal of authoritarianism. It is a complex examination of the formation of ideology and the consequences of choosing easy answers over critical thinking.

The Wall is considered a significant work in existentialist literature, offering a bleak but insightful portrayal of the human condition. The stories grapple with the anxieties of freedom, the burden of responsibility, and the search for meaning in a world devoid of inherent purpose.