A sociological view on Sartre’s “Érostrate” and deviance

This article explores Jean-Paul Sartre’s short story “Érostrate,” in Le mur (1939), through sociology—an area of inquiry he apparently neglected or so misjudged by the critique, at least until Critique de la raison dialectique (1960). However, his early fictions are infused with perceptive views of selfhood creation and role relationships that present intriguing avenues with interactionist sociology and staged socialization. Role models opted for by Sartre’s antihero, Paul Hilbert, stem from publicized faits-divers (“news items”) and the dark perpetrator from Antiquity, Erostratus. The study goal is aimed at existential situations anticipated in Sartre’s interwar writings and later theorized by Erving Goffman and Anthony Giddens. It is directed toward the comprehension of deviant individuals who resort to violence for life resolution and public attention.