An atheist, Sartre did not believe in either religion, but retained some of the ideals of both. Religion played a key role in his education his grandfather was a staunch Protestant while his grandmother was Catholic. Sartre began writing stories during this time.
Sartre did not attend school instead, his grandfather, a language professor, taught him and arranged for tutors. His grandfather, Charles Schweitzer, doted on him and instilled a love of literature. Sartre’s father died when he was only 15 months old, and Sartre and his mother moved in with her parents in Paris. He was the only son of Jean-Baptist Sartre, a French naval officer, and his wife, Anne Marie. Jean-Paul Sartre was born on June 21, 1905, in Paris, France. Despite these mixed reviews, No Exit was voted the Best Foreign Play in New York in 1946. Still, most appreciated the clever concept: three people confined to a drawing room as their punishment in hell. Others thought that the play stretched the fundamental concept to its breaking point. Some critics did not know what to make of the play and its themes. In general, American audiences were not as appreciative as their European counterparts. No Exit was translated into English (and is sometimes known as Behind Closed Doors), and made its Broadway debut in 1947. The fact that Inez was a lesbian was an extremely controversial point for both audiences and critics alike. Critics, however, gave it mixed reviews, mostly because of the social and political climate of the time. Parisian audiences appreciated Sartre’s subtle message of resistance and implied subversiveness. The original production played in Paris for several years, even after the war ended and Paris was liberated. Despite such setbacks, No Exit opened in the spring of 1944, and it was an immediate success. During rehearsals, clearance to perform the play was given and taken away several times. Many forms of entertainment, including plays, had to be approved by German censors. Sartre deliberately wrote No Exit as a one-act play so that theater-goers would not be kept past the German-imposed curfew. At the time, during World War II, this part of France was occupied by Nazi Germany. Titled Huis clos in the original French, it was first produced in Paris’s Vieux-Colombier Theater. Sartre wrote the original draft in two weeks at the Cafe Flore in Paris. Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit is considered by many to be the author’s best play and most accessible dramatization of his philosophy of existentialism.
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