Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Les Mouches' (1943): a classical tragedy revised as a pièce de résistance

During the last decades, reception studies of classical antiquity have been highlighting how formal and substantive aspects of classical antiquity live on in modern and extra-European cultures. However, the reception of classical myth and tragedy in the French theatre at the beginning of the 20th century has not yet been subjected to a profound investigation. In 1943, during the German occupation of Paris (1940-1944), the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre adapted the classical theme of the revenge of Orestes in his play Les Mouches. Although the play was being performed during the occupation, and though it was not being received as such at the time, Sartre declared after the war that he was making an appeal for resistance in this play. Because Sartre acquired the image of a resistance hero shortly after 1944, this article aims to elucidate the circumstances in which Les Mouches could have played a role in this image building of its author as a war hero.

Jaar van publicatie:2011