"No one wants to confront existence," says Sartre in a foreword to the first edition of this collection of stories. In it, he depicts people in very different boundary situations: Pablo, the Republican in the Spanish Civil War, who tries to preserve his freedom beyond death; Eve, who wants to penetrate the delusional world of her mentally ill husband; Paul, who intends to shock people with a shocking crime; Lulu, who succumbs to self-deception; and Lucien, who flees from his role as a boss. Masterful narratives, an important mosaic piece in the work of the significant writer and philosopher.