The Wall – Usado

The Wall, the lead story in this collection, introduces three political prisoners on the night prior to their execution. Through the gaze of an impartial doctor–seemingly there for the men’s solace–their mental descent is charted in exquisite, often harrowing detail. And as the morning draws inexorably closer, the men cross the psychological wall between life and death, long before the first shot rings out.

The other stories inclueded in this collection –The Room, Erostratus, Intimacy and The Childhood of a Leader- display the author’s narrative power and psychological insight at their most effective. Sartre’s characters and situations mirror the conflicts, complexities, neuroses and sensuality of the twentieth century.