Les séquestrés d’Altona
A very fine copy, one of the first 45 printed on Dutch paper, in publisher's wrappers, as issued.
12mo, 223 pp. Paperback, uncut, untrimmed, as issued.
“There are many ways to imprison a man.”
The best is to arrange things so that he imprisons himself.”
First edition.
Fine copy, one of 45 numbered on Hollande paper, deluxe edition,
preserved in original wrappers as issued.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. The Condemned of Altona, a play in five acts.
Paris, N.R.F. Gallimard, 1960.
First edition.
One of 45 numbered copies on Hollande paper (no. 18), deluxe edition.
“I wrote The Condemned of Altona during the Algerian War. At that time, in our name, inexcusable acts of violence were being committed there and French opinion, anxious and poorly informed, hardly reacted. That is what compelled me to present torture unmasked and publicly. No thesis: it seemed to me that merely showing it bare was enough to condemn it.”
The play stages the conflict of bad faith consciences, expanding this theme into a tragic meditation on Evil and individual responsibility in History.
This play, first performed during the Algerian War, while evoking a Germany divided between prosperity and the haunting memory of a dreadful past, also touched on the drama of torture as it was experienced in France at that time.
The dramatic tension, the characters—at once compelling for the intensity of their feelings and repellent for the monstrosity of their actions—make this one of the most engaging and striking plays Sartre ever wrote.
Fine copy, one of 45 on Hollande paper, deluxe edition, preserved in original wrappers as issued.
