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Huis clos, suivi de Les mouches

4.05 of 5 stars 4.05 · rating details · 3,492 ratings · 93 reviews

Garcin, révolutionnaire lâche et mari cruel: douze balles dans la peau; Inès, femme démoniaque qui rendra folle de douleur sa jeune amante: asphyxie par le gaz; Estelle, coquette sans coeur qui noie son enfant adultérin: pneumonie fulgurante. Morts, tous les trois. Mais le plus dur reste à faire. Ils ne se connaissent pas, et pourtant, ils se retrouvent dans un hideux salo...more

Mass Market Paperback, 247 pages

Published December 18th 2000 by Folio (first published 1947)

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Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Huis clos, suivi de Les mouches by Jean-Paul Sartre

La cantatrice chauve, suivi de La leçon by Eugène Ionesco

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May 18, 2009 Manny rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: french, strongly-recommended, too-sexy-for-maiden-aunts

Hell is other people. It's a terrific piece of theatre. Though every time I read this play - I have unfortunately never seen it performed - it occurs to me that, logically, heaven should be other people too, and that Sartre is perhaps taking an unjustifiably gloomy view.

There is an incident in Huis Clos where one of the characters offers another one her eyes to use as a mirror. (There are no mirrors in Hell). I have wondered several times whether the Velvet Underground's track "I'll be your mir...more

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Apr 18, 2013 Luís rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: classics, french-literature, philosophy, plays, read-in-2013

"HUIS CLOS"

"GARCIN : - Le bronze...
(Il le caresse.) Eh bien, voici le moment. Le bronze est là, je le contemple et je comprends que je suis en enfer. Je vous dis que tout était prévu. Ils avaient prévu que je me tiendrais devant cette cheminée, pressant ma main sur ce bronze, avec tous ces regards sur moi. Tous ces regards qui me mangent... (Il se retourne brusquement.) Ha ! vous n'êtes que deux ? Je vous croyais beaucoup plus nombreuses. (Il rit.) Alors, c'est ça l'enfer. Je n'aurais jamais cru...more

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Apr 28, 2013 Oskar Sherry rated it 1 of 5 stars

I'm writing solely on Huis Clos

You firstly all have to promise not to put this down to me still being in school, and therefore unable to handle the concepts put forward in this book.

I think that this may be the worse piece of writing that I have ever read. And I don't think that just by defying conventions of theatre that your play should be labelled good.

I heard an audio recording of the original performance of Huis Clos. Never have I heard something more ridiculous. The stories in my french te...more

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Jun 08, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Satre, was a man of letters, writing plays, novels, and screenplays, and of course, philosophy. He was a lot of things in his time, including a political activist (Marxist), and a literary critic. Everything I’ve read of his is supremely intelligent and thoroughly thought out, and it all makes me sense that he really has something valuable to say. And these couple plays only encouraged me to read more from Sartre in the future. They are short vignettes e...more The existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Satre, was a man of letters, writing plays, novels, and screenplays, and of course, philosophy. He was a lot of things in his time, including a political activist (Marxist), and a literary critic. Everything I’ve read of his is supremely intelligent and thoroughly thought out, and it all makes me sense that he really has something valuable to say. And these couple plays only encouraged me to read more from Sartre in the future. They are short vignettes expressive of his philosophy of man’s freedom to choose, and the responsibility to act; and in typical Sartre fashion, they are passionate in expression, and challenging to thought-norms. No Exit wasn’t my favorite, but The Flies was amazing.

No Exit was set in a room which signified the hereafter, and served as a rendezvous for 3 people who were assigned this confined space as their punishment for eternity. What follows is basically mind games between the three in which one of them struggles futilely to love themselves, another is doomed to unrequited love, and another questions his previous life’s level of courage and strength of will. The line from the play which best summarizes it: “Hell is—other people!”

The play was alright as a whole and packed some fun surprises in the dialogue, but I mostly liked the discussion surrounding the man who lacked courage. He wanted to believe that his acts in his previous life pointed towards a greater courage in posse that was never actuated. Through this character, Sartre neatly dismisses any myth we might cherish regarding the potential of one’s life apart from action with these brilliant words: “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.”

The Flies was amazing as a declaration of defiance against conventional, social penitence as a salve to conscience; and against obeisance paid to any god that might excuse us from taking personal responsibility. The way Sartre seems to possess his hero, Orestes, to stand in the face of Zeus and scream his threat of defection from a weak, anemic divinity who grows fat on the fears and tears of his worshippers is truly inspiring. When threatened with the lifting of God’s finger to destroy him, Orestes smugly replies in full confidence of moral conviction, “Then do so. Lift a finger, lift your whole hand while you are about it.” Smartass…but I loved it.

The play begins with the murder of a king and the subsequent mourning of the city for standing idly by while it happened. The new king falls into self-abasing remorse as well, and initiates superstitious rites that lead the people into lugubrious public grieving and intense psychological pressure to prostrate themselves before God in life-long repentance. Little known to the new king, the old king’s son, Orestes, was smuggled out of the city, and now returns to see if he can save his sister who is now the mistreated slave of the court. Flies, metaphors for the tormenting furies of guilt—“the goddesses of remorse”—swarm through the dispirited city, burdening the life of drudgery that the residents feel condemned to.

Orestes decides to commit himself to rid the city from the oppressive influence of the current king’s reign, and tries to free his sister from the grip that fear has on her. In the grand finale, he debates Zeus, mocking him in the spirit of Elijah, though he fully acknowledges that Zeus has the power to cause him anguish. But he has no remorse for doing what he felt was right, and he is committed to the furthest repercussions of his decision despite numerous opportunities to ‘take it back’. He would rather suffer under the hands of a tyrant-god than be his friend, and in doing so, he proved his superiority and power of freedom, rather than pay for the happiness of a slave in demonstrations of grief and cowardice.

Also emphasized in this play is Sartre’s well-known philosophy on the personalized nature of experience—the ‘own-able’ situations that people find themselves in. “Whatever happens to you, happens through you, and moreover, whatever happens to you is yours” (from Being and Nothingness). In claiming one’s situation and making the best out of it, one is claiming themselves, because every person is in part a product of their time and culture, and is therefore ‘co-author’ of their situation by choosing life instead of suicide or desertion of responsibility. In the play, Orestes, the old king’s son, willingly chooses to accept the role of pariah and hunted rebel, even though he knows he will be killed and will possibly lose his sister. He does this because, by owning a situation—any situation—he is coming to form a true identity through connections to the world and memories which endear life to him. He argues with his mentor throughout the story as his mentor tries to help him choose a safe life, a smart life, a wealthy life. He chooses instead a path that is dangerous and unknown, and declares boldly and proudly, “Today I have one path only, and heaven knows where it leads. But it is my path.” He has come to full possession of himself, and feels at home.

And nothing could have prepared me for the exhilaration I felt in reading Orestes cutting Zeus down to size by—get this—sympathizing with him. “You are God, and I am free; each of us is alone, and our anguish is akin.” He stands to his full height in this passage, feels no pity for himself, and takes on the full responsibility of his freedom and anxiety of existence. The ending is tragic-heroic, and is a challenge for us to realize our potential that often lies wheezing beneath the fat idol of religion or convention. Pushing that fat mother off us requires a willingness to hurt a little for love, and necessitates a real conviction of our worth and value in this universe that won’t be easily shaken when others, unable or unwilling to love themselves, tell us we’re worthless.

I especially admired the way the hero stands firm in the face of a ‘bad’ god, whom he doesn’t even feel the need to dismiss as unreal or powerless. Sartre seems to be implying that each of our gods, whatever name they may have, may very well be the highest power in our life, but if he/she isn’t good, then we have the responsibility to ‘out-moral’ him, and launch a resistance against their power. We may not fare well physically, but spiritually we conquer by our refusal to cower before evil. We win.

Sartre has masterfully demonstrated his philosophy in this play, and it is a perfect specimen to share with others to introduce them to Sartre’s thought and application of his theories.
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Jan 23, 2012 S'hi rated it 4 of 5 stars

As a preliminary to reading Sartre's Les Mouches (The Flies), I reaad Sophocles Electra and this was my response:

Although there are four plays in this book I didn’t get much out of the first one as I began it, so jumped across and just decided to read Electra.

I found this very interesting for the use of deception to give oneself an advantage about the situation one is entering before admitting one’s alliance with another. But this is an example given by the gods in some plays, just as it is wit...more As a preliminary to reading Sartre's Les Mouches (The Flies), I reaad Sophocles Electra and this was my response:

Although there are four plays in this book I didn’t get much out of the first one as I began it, so jumped across and just decided to read Electra.

I found this very interesting for the use of deception to give oneself an advantage about the situation one is entering before admitting one’s alliance with another. But this is an example given by the gods in some plays, just as it is with humans in others. Here we have Athena reporting to Odysseus – oops, that’s the Ajax story. Let that one go – it is just that I then went on to reading Sartre’s The Flies, and he uses Zeus with Orestes, Electra and Clytemnestra in his play, whereas Sophocles has Orestes, Electra and her sister Chrysothemus, with a reference to a dead sister who is unnamed but sacrificed by their father for a transgression he made against a god. This seems to be partly why the wife Clytemnestra decides to have an affair with another man who kills him and becomes king beside her. But this new king has also sent her young son off to be killed, but those charged with the task could not bring themselves to kill the boy, and thus Orestes is believed to still be alive by the loyal daughter Electra, wishing for vengeance for her fathers’ demise.

In both plays Electra is portrayed as an outcast of sorts in her own home. Because she is so outspoken about the death of her father she has been imprisoned by her mother in the palace (in Sophocles) or treated as a slave doing menial tasks all year (in Sartre) but allowed to be a show princess for the Day of the Dead (which Zeus rules, and thus his presence).

The ancient play uses a chorus to act as the voice of the common people, and as the voice of conscience which backs up Electra. She trusts them, and they expect that she will eventually see through the plan she has to free them all from the tyrant and the false queen.

Sartre on the other hand, has Electra caught in the same chimera as the townfolk, who are all deceived by the King’s annual pageant of drawing forth the ghosts of the dead to shroud them all in shadows. Although Electra knows of this farce, when her brother turns up and carries out the deed which she has long hoped he would do, she goes into shock over his actions and denies her own complicity in it.

Although she takes 15 years in dreaming of the return of her brother Orestes to take revenge, when he arrives he is not the type of character she has envisioned. Instead he appears as a pacifist from his easy upbringing away from the social milieu of his home town. He tells Electra that there is another way to live, not as a promising fantasy, but as a reality he has already experienced. She uses this image to spur herself on, and claim that she will do the deed if he is not strong enough. But when her passion ignites compassion within him and he transforms into the character she expected him to be, she then pulls back again and doubts that it was indeed justice to follow through.

Thus we have quite different issues arising from the same story. And these issues are about the society within which the plays themselves were written and performed. The one is merely the carrying out of ‘destiny’ or what has been prescribed to be the remedy for a particular transgression against a family and its society. The other is the freeing up from prescription for choice to be made based upon one’s own principles and one’s own interpretation of them. And this is determined to be a higher ideal than living by prescription.
but the real question is: who is writing the script. For Orestes makes much of his own freedom, then sways and responds to the terms his sister seems to place upon him. Yes, he can change his mind. But what is the real basis then for his decisions and actions? Is freedom enough of an ideal that it overrides being influenced by others who do not seem to know of let alone believe in such an ideal? It is an interesting twist in this play. But it is a twist which also demonstrates the power within the individual to work through their own stance on issues. And it is the acceptance within oneself of the consequences of one’s own thinking and choices and actions. Rather than awaiting the judgement of any other, the judgment made of oneself is the force by which all forward movement can occur. And then it becomes an invitation to others to also step clear of their own shadows and doubts and find their own freedom also.

Challenging ideas, frames through the use of ancient morality to place it at a remove from ‘current superstitions’ as Sartre would probably have said of modern religion.

“In Camera” goes on with a similar theme of considering one’s own actions and attitudes and judging for oneself to become free from one’s own torment. In this one act play Sartre has three strangers placed together in a room after their deaths. They are given the chance to work out for themselves what the meaning of their placement together is, and how to make best use of each others’ stories and perspectives to free themselves from their own shortcomings. The conclusion seems to be that they are in fact each others’ torturers, and so that is what they do for each other. But it is also suggested that they may in fact be able to work themselves beyond such a limitation if they can figure out a means by which to do so. Perhaps this is not as conclusive as it at first appears.
In a sense the ‘wheel of life’ which the Buddhists see us caught in through progressive reincarnations is here stripped down to an awareness with no spaces, no gaps, not even the ability to blink and be free from it from a moment. Once one has awareness it persists interminably. Is such awareness therefore hell rather than the freedom of choice that one would hope to arise from awareness?
An interesting proposition.
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Jul 17, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

This is my second reading of this play, but the first time in French. Reading it in its original language does give one a different perspective on the story. However, in both languages, it is a powerful and impactful play. It's definitely the most terrifying depiction of Hell I've ever encountered, and the most effective in making one question one's beliefs, thoughts, or feelings about what happens after death.

C’est ma deuxième lecture de cette pièce, mais ma première en français. Quand on lit c...more

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Jul 18, 2011 Sherry Johnson rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you're looking for dialogue written in a way that it grabs you by the ribs & shakes you & slaps you in the face, then these plays are for you. Here we have the by-now hackneyed existential themes... Yes, man creates himself, death can bring us into being alive, etc. And of course Sartre didn't invent these themes, but the treatment is very new for the time & the characters drawn with great complexity. These stifling worlds (in English, *No Exit* and *The Flies*, a reinvention of t...more

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Jul 04, 2011 Emily added it

Shelves: read-in-2011

On Les mouches

Once, when I was enrolled in a Victorian Literature class in college, reading novel after essay after poem that grieved deeply over the religious upheaval brought on by the scientific breakthroughs of Charles Darwin and others, I asked my professor whether there weren't any 19th-century authors who felt liberated, rather than bereft, by these developments. As a profoundly a-religious person myself, I can try to imagine myself into the position of Arnold, Tennyson, Ruskin, Carlyle a...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Colin rated it 4 of 5 stars

c'est une pièce qui vous ensorcelle tout de suite. il y a un sentiment fort d'angoisse qui se mêle à un autre d'humour. j'ai réfléchi, j'ai frémi, je me suis marré -- en fin de compte Huis clos est inoubliable.

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Mar 13, 2011 Malak rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: plays, livres-français

Je n'ai pas trouvé cette pièce engageante. Je ne me sentais pas sollicité ni attaché au personnages. Ce qui est une chose très bizarre, car d'habitude je trouve un éléments ou deux qui m'aident à m'attacher au plus part des histoires que Je lis.
Peut-être c'est à cause du thème central qui porte sur la liberté. Le message principale de cette pièce est de promouvoir la liberté chez la population de l'époque. Or, chez moi cette valeur est déjà encré à tel point que je ressens pas la nécessité de me...more

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Aug 05, 2012 Safa rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've read the book in the original language and have seen a french film adaption, aswell. As far as I have read and seen it, I can only say that this is a stunning masterpiece of a genuis. I would recommend it to everyone who is interested in existentialism.

"L'enfer,c'est les autres", Sartre's best quote. Nothing is more true than this statement.

Most definitely my all-time favorite book <3

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Mar 11, 2013 Rainbowgirl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: théâtre, fantastique_fantasy, contes_mythes

Deux pièces de théâtre assez radicalement différentes. Dans la première, trois individus se retrouvent enfer, qui consiste en une pièce close où ils sont forcés de cohabiter sans pouvoir s'ignorer. "L'enfer, c'est les autres", et c'en est une excellente démonstration. Moi qui n'aime pas les pièces trop classiques, j'ai vraiment adoré celle-ci.

La seconde est carrément une tragédie grecque, le récit du retour d'Oreste à Argos après avoir appris sa véritable identité : fils de Clytemnestre et d'Aga...more

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Dec 03, 2010 Nina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Although it's clearly not the best play ever written in a literary sense, but the idea behind it is what matters in this particular case. It's nothing more than a exemplification of the idea "L'enfer c'est les autres" in the most suitable surroundings one can think of: hermetic, with absolutely no privacy whatsoever and most important: dead and doomed.

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Sep 01, 2010 Sybil Güventürk rated it 5 of 5 stars

some say Sartre was a great thinker but a lousy playwright and novelist because he used too much "brain action" while writing fiction. i don't know about those but this one has a great perspective on what hell feels like and i felt it in places i didn't know i had.. and also i found out i'm a strictly left brain person so analytical fiction is fine by me:)

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Jul 28, 2011 Stéphanie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lit-generale

Huis Clos, est une pièce courte et efficace, les répliques sont savoureuses, parfois absurdes et parfois terriblement vraies.

Les Mouches m'a ennuyé par contre, parce que l'histoire est déjà connue et on y plonge moins facilement que dans la pièce précédente.

Sartre ♥

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Jan 05, 2012 Friedareads rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: school

Well, I only read Huis Clos, but I thought it was really interesting. Interesting is a boring adjective. Ah well, I can't say too much about it because French obviously isn't my native language and I probably didn't pick up on the nuances.

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Jun 08, 2011 Aya rated it 5 of 5 stars

mon Dieuuuuu ... meme si je n'ai jamais vu cette piece sur scene j' adore sa lecture et je l'adonne
les repliques de Sartre me touchent me tremblent du peau jusqu'aux veines

c'est une agreable formidable anti-piece

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May 24, 2013 Gaby rated it 4 of 5 stars

I haven't yet read Les Mouches, but I loved Huis Clos. It's terrifying and the characters are so wonderfully awful. I couldn't like any of them as people, but their characterization and their functions within the play and in the setting of hell were terrific.

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Aug 01, 2011 Nathalie added it

Huis Clos is an inspired work because it introduces a concept I hadn't seen anywhere else: Hell as eternity spent confined in a room with two other people, with whom you are at an impass... FOREVER.

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May 22, 2013 Tim rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Interesting portrayal of hell, written as a play in French. Three people are trapped together in a room, tormented by their own faults, as well as each others'.
English version is available too.

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Sep 27, 2011 Lara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature

In fact, I only read Huis Clos (I'll try Les Mouches later on), but what a great play! Intriguing, intelligent story, written in a witty manner, and concluding 'L'enfer, c'est les Autres'.

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Feb 11, 2008 Cynthia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: waring-canon, books-i-have-reread

I acted out scenes from No Exit while a student at Waring. I entered college willing to take an advanced class in 20th century literature because of having been exposed to books like this one in high school.
I have also had the opportunity to teach No Exit to AP students at a local public high school. It is a tough yet approachable text. The fact that it is a play makes it more accessible. I also found I could tell which students really understood what was going on when they acted out scenes fro...more

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Dec 29, 2010 Mose rated it 5 of 5 stars

I don't speak French that well, but I do prefer watching the performance in French... I can somewhat read French, but I prefered reading this one in English... Zut Alors!!!

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Jan 30, 2013 Anne Laure rated it 5 of 5 stars

Huis Clos.... or the BEST PLAY EVER !!! One of the very few things I would never read in any other language...
Simply AMAZING !!!!

L'Enfer c'est les Autres !!!

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Sep 19, 2012 Mehdi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Un livre envoutant, limite orgasmique.
J'ai ADORE "Les Mouches" : un mélange subtil de mythologie et de philosophie, rien de plus parfait. Sartre est un sans-faute.

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Jul 30, 2011 Dorian Neerdael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Huis Clos est une bonne mise en scène de la philosophie existentielle de Sartre. C'est là que paraît la fameuse phrase : "L'enfer, c'est les autres".

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Jan 26, 2011 Cyndie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Autant Huit Clos est facile d'accès, autant les Mouches peut sembler étrange si on ne remet pas l'œuvre dans son contexte politique.

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Dec 08, 2010 ofohsho rated it 5 of 5 stars

Seems sparse and simplistic, but the more you look at it, the more you find. Subtle yet deeply philosophical. An excellent read.

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Jul 27, 2011 Véronique rated it 4 of 5 stars

En attente vers la mort, dans un espace clos, on comprend que l'enfer c'est... .. ... Une pièce MAGNIFIQUE

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Aug 04, 2011 Benjamincottin rated it 1 of 5 stars

oui justement "l'enfer, c'est les autres" résume assez bien ce livre qui m'a foi...m'a un peu gonflé :)

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About Jean-Paul Sartre

Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre, normally known simply as Jean-Paul Sartre, was a French existentialist philosopher and pioneer, dramatist and screenwriter, novelist and critic. He was a leading figure in 20th century French philosophy.

He declined the award of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his work which, rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for truth, has ex...more

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“L'enfer, c'est les autres.” — 111 people liked it

“Alors c'est ça l'enfer. Je ne l'aurais jamais cru… Vous vous rappelez : le souffre, le bûcher, le gril.. Ah quelle plaisanterie. Pas besoin de gril, l'enfer c'est les autres.” — 3 people liked it

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