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But the scandal caused by the Revue of 1927 hits him directly: court
of inquiry, disciplinary counsel, the students are blamed, the press is
suspected , the reputation of the Ecole is threatened . The gentle
mockeries of 1925 and 1926 have been replaced by an act of subver–
sion . The traditional folklore of respectable Normaliens has explod–
ed, without any tact, in this bomb, this gob of spit in the face of the
principal. "Party propaganda and social hatred ," notes the military
report, which labels the perpetrators "RP," R evolutionary Party.
During his first years at the Ecole, Sartre was the fearsome in–
stigator of all the revues, all the jokes , all the scandals.
10
On one oc–
casion , he sent a letter to the police accusing a fellow student of hav–
ing murdered a woman , the wife of a diplomat , whose body had
recently been found in the neighborhood. Some time later, with the
help of Maurice Larroutis, Jean Baillou, Louis Herland, and Nizan ,
he spread the news that the famous Charles Lindbergh had been
named an honorary student at the ENS . The press is summoned,
and the event is announced in all the papers . In no time , that part of
the Rue d'Ulm that goes from the Rue Rataud to the Rue Claude–
Bernard is jammed with journalists, photographers , spectators . "We
asked Berard, who looked a bit like Lindbergh, to climb out his win–
dow, slide down a lamppost onto the Rue Rataud , and come back to
the school a quarter hour later, by cab. As soon as he arrived , we
gave him a terrific ovation, grabbed him by the shoulders , and car–
ried him around in triumph . The public followed us ; an old
gentleman kissed 'Lindbergh's' hands . Meanwhile, a piano and two
violins struck up
La Marseillaise
and the public joined in . Little by lit–
tle, the crowd dispersed and when Berard -left to get to one of his
classes, the only people remaining were three policemen, who tailed
him the rest of the morning.
ll
An investigation is immediately
started, the evening papers toss "a few barbs in the direction of Lan–
son," and the principal of the Ecole Normale resigns.
How directly was Sartre responsible for Lanson's departure
and the damage to the school's image? Did Sartre really try to pro–
voke Lanson as a personal challenge, from the moment he entered
the Ecole, or did he merely follow a general movement, initiated by
others? For Sartre, to attack Lanson was not merely to attack a
10. Interviews with J ean Baillou , June 9, 1982 , and with Emile Delavenay, May
16, 1983. Also, testimony of Rene Fredet and Georges Lefranc.
11. L et/res au Castor et
a
quelques autres
(Paris: Gallimard , 1983), p . 35.
