Huis Clos and Other Plays

These three plays, diverse in subject but thematically coherent, illuminate one of Sartre''s major philosophical concerns: the struggle to live and act freely in a complex and constricting world. Lucifer and the Lord, Sartre''s favourite among his plays, explores this theme in depth, dealing in the process with fundamental questions of faith and disillusionment; in Huis Clos - arguably Sartre''s most important play - he contends that ''Hell is other people'', and details the afterlife of three souls trapped together in locked room and the torments that they inflict on each other; while The Respectable Prostitute, set in the Deep South of America, is concerned with racism, subjugation and the demands of conscience.