With reference to his 1944 play No Exit Jean-Paul Sartre stated that “Hell is other people”, a concept that appears to permeate the “ordinary French town” depicted in Le Corbeau (1943). I will examine the extent to which Le Corbeau shares its themes and ideas with Jean Paul Sartre’s literary and existential play. This will raise several questions that I aim to address. Can Le Corbeau be read as an existential text? Despite its accusations, can it be read as a work detached from the political agendas into which it was born? Is it a work that epitomises Rolande Barthes écriture, rendering it a product of its time, or, does its existential nature (if indeed it has one) make it timeless and therefore adhere to Sartre’s binary model?

Feel free to email me if you would like the full transcript.