SOURCE: "Source and Psychology of Sartre's Le Mur," in Criticism, Vol. VII, No. 1, Winter, 1965, pp. 45-51.

In the following essay, Braun traces the psychological basis of Jean-Paul Sartre's presentation of fear in "Le Mur" in the Traité de Psychologie of Georges Dumas.

Finding a number of similarities between Sartre's short story "le Mur" and Andreyev's "The Seven Who Were Hanged," this writer wrote Sartre some time ago to ask whether, in fact, he had been inspired by the Russian writer. Sartre, much too occupied with more important literary duties, did not have time to reply; but Simone de Beauvoir, who has often acted as his secretary, answered for him. In her courteous but direct reply, in which she denied the influence of Andreyev, she wrote: "En fait il a été inspiré pour le Mur par… le Traité de psychologie de Dumas au chapitre des émotions: la peur."¹

The...