Jean-Paul SARTRE. L.A.S., Madrid February 22, 1960, to Maurice Escande, "Administrator of the Comédie-Française"; 3pages and a quarter in-8 on the letterhead of the Hotel Ritz, Madrid, envelope. About Huis clos. He thanks him "for the great honor you are doing me, by thinking of Huis Clos for the Comédie-Française. I have thought long and hard about this very tempting offer, and I hope you will excuse the delay in my reply: as you can imagine, I couldn't make up my mind right away. But he was unable to contemplate these performances: "a month before receiving your letter, I met my friend Jean Louis Barrault, whose talent as a director and actor I deeply esteem, and I felt I had to decline, for very personal reasons, his proposal to stage Huis Clos at the Odéon. You will understand [...] that I do not want to risk making J. L. Barrault - whom I have known for twenty years - a perfectly undeserved affront". He therefore had to give up, "with the regrets you can imagine, the hope of seeing any of my plays performed at the Comédie Française over the next few years"...