Sartreβs...concept of hell in his 1944 play No Exit is tinglingly prophetic of our current predicament. The play is about three freshly dead strangers who have just arrived in a windowless room in hell. One of the first things they all notice about hell is the absence of mirrors...and they become each otherβs looking-glasses. The playβs conception of damnation, then, is a life in which your self-image is forged entirely in public. Your βIβ only exists because someone says βYou.β Garcin understands that βthereβs no need for red-hot pokersβ in this place, because both the scrutiny of his roommates and his terrible reliance on them is the torture. βHell is β other people!β
No Exit [is] a predictive text, a warning to the coming digital generations about living under the unblinking gaze of others. Sartreβs famous line is a recognition that the selfβother balance can never be adequately struck as long as the "others" are constantly "watching." Balance depends on our ability to retreat into a truly private place, released from the demands and appellations of our devices.
No Exit [is] a predictive text, a warning to the coming digital generations about living under the unblinking gaze of others. Sartreβs famous line is a recognition that the selfβother balance can never be adequately struck as long as the "others" are constantly "watching." Balance depends on our ability to retreat into a truly private place, released from the demands and appellations of our devices.
