Les Séquestrés d’Altona

Among the criticisms provoked by the play’s first performance, given on 23 September 1959 at the Théâtre de la Renaissance, that of Bernard Dort clearly articulated the author’s intention: “Never had Sartre expressed as he does here his anguish before the world of today, the necessity of living it, of fully embracing it, of being not merely its witness but a responsible actor.” This “world of today” is that of Auschwitz and of the Algerian War; barely fifteen years had passed since the former, while the latter was contemporary with the play. Asked by a journalist, “What particular emotion do you intend to convey through Les Séquestrés?”, Sartre replied: “The sense of the ambiguity of our time. Morality, politics — nothing is simple anymore,” adding, in a barely veiled allusion to Algeria, “Yet there are acts that remain unacceptable.”

Publisher’s insert preserved.