Customer Reviews

The Wall: (Intimacy) and Other Stories (New Directions Paperbook)

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'The Wall' rises up as a catalogue of man's solitary and free application of the existentialist's understanding. Sartre leaves no dark corner unlit in what could be considered his most biting renderings of the human condition's anguish in the face of meaninglessness.

'The Wall' itself is an astoundingly suspenseful glimpse at the fine line between life and death, the insanity in ultimate human will-power, and the psychological effects of foreknowing one's own time of death.

'The Room' is stark and vague. Interpretations abound, all from absurd (in itself) to Sartre's most profound writing. Nevertheless, the story's 'insanity' brings about many insights into the world of the individual of nothingness.

'Erostratus' follows quite well, asking whether it is moral, immoral, right, or wrong, to kill and whether a modern man is truly free to commit conscious evil. Furthermore, it questions our modern society's knack for making celebrities of villains.

'Intimacy' is a wonderful story with heavy-handed, deadbolt dialogue, well-crafted absurd heroes, and philosophical wit, wound up in a woman's tale of love, adultery, loyalty, friendship, impotence, and existence.

Finally, 'The Childhood of a Leader' reveals the facist's facade of strength, the soft scar-tissue of their idealistic youth, the true childishness of their anti-semite reactions, and the way in which men allow themselves to follow or hunger to be followed.

"The Wall and other short stories" is a triumph in literature. Each story explores the depths of human thought and reason through an existential point of view. Each story can be interpreted different by all readers, therefore making this a great book for discussion.

"The Wall" is the first story presented. It consumes the reader because of its brilliant writing style. The story is narrated by a man named Pablo Ibbieta, who is in a jail cell with 2 others awaiting execution the following morning. Every event that transpires that particular night is analyzed almost too thoroughly thus leaving the reader in a trance. I wont get into it too deeply, but believe me, this story is worth reading...i guarentee it will have to be read again. After finishing the story, I felt as though nothing mattered. Who cares if the dishes were not washed, who cares if I would be late for work. Believe me, this story will have a profound impact on the way you think. Don't be surprised if you have a new appreciation for life. This story enlightens the mind.

Another great story from this book is called "Erostratus". Erostratus was a character who wanted to be famous, so he burned down the temple of Ephesus, which was one of the 7 wonders of the world. This is the central symbol of the story, the quest for glory. It also brings up an interesting point when the narrator asks one of his colleagues "Who built Ephesus?" and the colleauge did not know, he only knew who burned it. "Erostratus" in short is one mans decent into madness because of his quest to be remembered. The ending of "Erostratus" is filled with suspense and makes your heart beat in fear. It serves as a grim reminder that there are people of this type, and we should be prepared at any time for them to strike.

There are also 3 other stories, that being "The Room", "Intimacy", and "The Childhood of a Leader", which also draw the reader inside the workings of the mind through an existential window (ie: we are all here by accident, man is condemned to choose).

In short, these stories are all perfect, and leave the reader with a feeling of enlightment. Sartre is an extremely intelligent and clever writer. This is evident in these short stories. So turn off the television, buy this book, and start questioning your existence, you owe it to yourself. Besides, they are short stories, so you will be able to get through at least one a day...that isnt much to ask considering the benefits you will reap by reading them.

To the above comment, Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus are two compeletly different writers. Of course their wittings are different. If you find that Sartre is not understandable you are not alone. But just take another look at the last story of The Wall called "Childhood of a Leader." This story best explains Sartre's ideas, especially ideas of 'the other' and how we go about dealing with them. But each of the stories well represent his thought at least up until the 1950s. The book is really a good introduction to the theory of Jean-Paul Sartre.

The wall gives the reader the chance to infuse into the consciousness of characters with, seemingly, absurd & extreme behaviors. The depiction of the inner world of these marginal people, rationalize their conduct by using some common humane themes like willingness to survive, fear, submission to power, altruism etc.

indifference, neuroticism, dissidence...sartre's heroisms...read "the wall" and understood and conceptualized eminent death...i know "erostratus" only because sartre knew him...what i mean is that sartre wrote so descriptively and honestly, his readers feel his words...

What a phycological journey Sartre is presenting us in every little story of this book. Wow! All the stories are perfectly written. My favorite ones are "The Wall", "The room", and "Erostratus". I must admit though, I found "Intimacy" a bit hard to follow.
I recommend this book to everyone who wanna read a unique piece of work of existentialism. You won't regret :)

In fact "The wall" was one of the best stories in the book along with "Erostratus" where once more Sarte makes his claim on the proof of freedom, and how most of us tend to pretend we are not that free and crawl behind our available and yet limited choices.

This particular work of J P Sartre should be ranked as one of the masterpieces in modern literature...The author used to possess a penetrating insight in the complex mind and behaviours of a modern human being...It is true that he analyses different reactions of any human mind on the basis of the doctrine of existentialism, of which he is one of the main proponents...However one should not look upon his judgement as biased as the celebrated basis of his philosophical doctrine, ie. "Existence should precede the essence " is really logical and highly optimistic as well as humanistic....All the five stories that are presented in this book bear the mature signature of an efficient interpreter of human mind along with it's anxieties and the decisions and choices taken at such critical moments,eg., when a man is condemned to die.....It seems the stories in this book imply that one should always consider those anxious moments,those contradictions that are constantly perturbing the man and only his response and choices that he make, ultimately defines him and give him a relative meaning in this otherwise meaningless world..I feel this book should be read by those who are aware of the divine futility of human life but still are optimistic about the triumph of human mind and creativity.....

Well I started reading this book because my favorite author is Camus and I thought Sartre wrote simular work. I was greatly mistaken. Though the stories I read from this book started off well, I didnt understand where he was going. They seemed to be morbid and perverted for no reason. In short: These stories take you on a terrifying emotional ride, and then leave you at the end feeling lost and empty.