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Product Description
The classic Existentialist novel, with a newintroduction by renowned poet, translator, and critic Richard Howard.

Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature, Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, critic, novelist, and dramatist, holds a position of singular eminence in the world of letters. Among readers and critics familiar with the whole of Sartre's work, it is generally recognized that his earliest novel, La Nausee (first published in 1938), is his finest and most significant. It is unquestionably a key novel of the twentieth century and a landmark in Existentialist fiction.

Nausea is the story of Antoine Roquentin, a French writer who is horrified at his own existence. In impressionistic, diary form he ruthlessly catalogues his every feeling and sensation. His thoughts culminate in a pervasive, overpowering feeling of nausea which "spreads at the bottom of the viscous puddle, at the bottom of our time—the time of purple suspenders and broken chair seats; it is made of wide, soft instants, spreading at the edge, like an oil stain." Roquentin's efforts to come to terms with life, his philosophical and psychological struggles, give Sartre the opportunity to dramatize the tenets of his Existentialist creed.

Customer Reviews: Read 85 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Nausea October 3, 2004
95 out of 102 found this review helpful

With his first novel, Sartre began to explore what would later come to be known as existentialism, or the philosophy that: 'Holds that there is no intrinsic meaning or purpose, therefore it is up to each individual to determine his own meaning and purpose and take responsibility for his actions'. While this line of philosophical thought does have its origins in Kierkegaard, it was in the writings of Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus and Sartre that these ideas were fully developed.

Antoine Roquentin is a solitary man, recently afflicted with a recurrent feeling, one that he terms 'the Nausea'. At times, he feels that life is repugnant, a vapid, shallow game between mindless people who have no real idea of their own purpose or consequence, himself included. At first he dismisses these feelings as the typical lonely thoughts of an ageing academic who is unable to complete the book he has been researching for years, but as the feeling continues and he is able to examine himself with greater and greater clarity, Roquentin begins to learn that maybe he has stumbled upon one of the great truths of our reality.

He discovers that there is no essence, no importance in motion or in the petty labels that people like to attach to themselves and others in a bid to catalogue the world and everything in it, and by cataloguing, to control. He reasons that we are essentially impossible to control, that each person exists because they exist, and for no other reason that that. The terms of our existence are unspecific, but clear. We do not exist to be pawns to a god, or to move the path of humanity forward. Instead, we exist simply to exist, we are an end unto ourselves, and the inherent absurdity in our lives means that a meaningful existence is impossible and even blasphemous. Through clear-eyed, coherent thinking, we are able to control our lives as we choose, and it is up to every man and woman to independently reject suicide. For those that do not, the meaningless quality of our lives makes no different when compared to those that do, thus there is no dishonour or achievement in either.

During the novel, there are a few side stories involving an ex-lover and a child-molesting friend, but these characters are used mostly as foils for Sartre's philosophy. In presenting arguments to Roquentin, Sartre is able to adequately satisfy the objections to his philosophy. There is a sense, however, that while the elements of existentialism presented in Nausea are powerful and compelling, the picture is not yet complete and no real answers are given. Later on in his career, Sartre was able to provide a large number of these answers, but even this early on, with his first novel, the depth of his thinking and the power of his message is quite simply amazing. Nausea is a stunning book, an intellectual delight, and is recommended to all.

5 out of 5 stars

Stunning February 18, 2000
44 out of 48 found this review helpful

Nausea is one of the most powerful literary experiences one can find. The form of the novel enables us to enter into Sartre's brilliant (and warped)mind. There is a sort of inexplicable energy that keeps on pushing you to read further and further- it is impossible to put this book down. The work can be appreciated as a novel for the quality of the story, but can also be understood as a powerful argument for Sartre's existentialist philosophy. He takes the reader through different alternatives to realizing that one's knowledge of one's existence makes one sick or creates nausea. Common escapes such as glorifying the past, the hope of relentless self-improvement,placing faith in love, are all explored and dramatically proven by Sartre to be false delusions to the truth that human existence is sickening.

5 out of 5 stars

Extremely important and a must read, but whiny and weak October 26, 2001
28 out of 42 found this review helpful

It's surprising that a philosopher as well read as Sartre, heavily influenced by the likes of Nietzsche or Breton, should assent to such an ineffectual, non creative view of human existence as the one given in this book. It's likely that even the most joyous and optimistic person knows the feeling that Sartre is trying to convey--the awkwardness and occasional revulsion of concrete, everyday perception as contrasted with our inner life or imagination. There seems to be a curious division between actual reality and the abstractions or ideals we form of it, an unpleasant divide between the material and the mental. Of course, we should give all due respect to Sartre for having the rare ability to articulate this very vague feeling that a less talented artist or thinker would undoubtedly fail to depict as vividly as he does, but at the same time anyone deeply interested in philosophy (particularly the existentialist movement) can't help but feel disappointment at a book that seems at times like a pointless exercise in useless morbidity and weakness. I'm puzzled that some call this book 'visionary', when in fact the truth is that it's the opposite of visionary or imaginative, that is, deliberately impoverished and bleak. I personally have no doubt that Nietzsche or Sartre's others predecessors would feel nothing but contempt and hatred for this novel. You come away wondering why Sartre wrote it at all, since it is so negative and despairing that if the author actually felt the way Roquentin did, the only thing left for him to do would be to kill himself. At least Camus, who I find tame, boring and depressing, had the strength to affirm life even while acknowledging it's possible meaninglessness and ultimate futility. It is true that there is a curious and unsettling divorce of the human mind from the material reality it inhabits, but I hardly think it follows from this that life is wholly in vain or 'nauseating'. Admitting the very existence of this feeling does indeed take a great deal of philosophical courage and intellectual integrity (given it's possible consequences), but drawing the conclusions from it that Sartre supposedly did is simply mistaken. Read it just for the experience, but try to recognize how subjective and relative Sartre's conclusions are.

5 out of 5 stars

Incredible piece of writing April 29, 2001
23 out of 25 found this review helpful

When I bought this book I could not put it down. The emotions and thoughts that Antoine has very much mirrored the way I felt about life and existence. As a few of the reviewers have pointed out, the whole story is depressing and grim. This is the whole point of the story!!! Life and existence, as the books name suggests, is nauseating and disgusting.

The writing style of Jean Paul Sartre is nothing less than breath taking. The anger, the depression, and the fear of existing is captured beautifully in Sartre's writing. Highly recommended if you want to learn and get a feel of the main ideas of existentialism.

By the way, as to the question of "If existence is meaningless, why not just kill yourself?" Well, why do people climb mountains if they are just going to come back down? Some people create their own personal purpose and give meaning to their lives through some medium. So, why not kill myself? I suppose it's the same reason Bertrand Russel didn't kill himself: I wish to learn more Mathematics.

Anyways, Albert Camus answers this very question with lucid prose in his book "The Myth of Sisyphus."

5 out of 5 stars Existence over Essence July 9, 2002
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

'Nausea' - Sartre used a negative sounding title for a philosophy which, albeit incomplete, is still positive.

The book is about a lonely historian, Roquentin, who moves into this small town of Bouville to further his biographical research on a French Nobleman - Monsieur Rollebon. Roquentin has a certain uneasy feeling about everything going on about him - but he is not able to pin it down.

"Something fundamental has changed. I know it. Is it me who has changed or is it from the outside, I do not know. But I must decide". This is the chilling statement in the first page of the diary of Roquentin. Here, Sartre is using the gist of existentialism and Husserl's phenomenology to analyze the most basic issue of all - What the hell is existence?

Existentialism - Simply put, it means existence over essence. Its better to live as it is rather than condition oneself to existence(Wherin the essences are intravenously fed into our consciousness).

'You have to be good and kind if you need salvation';

'Spare the rod and spoil the child'.

These are rather simplistic aspects of conditioning that I am citing but if one were to actually map his/ her life from the beginning, he realises that right from day-1, the world as represented by parents,family & society has been preparing him in an effort to make him 'ready' to survive in the world and 'live'. This conditioned sense of 'Living' is what Roquentin loses all of a sudden. Those things which once mattered a lot to him like his own work on Rollebon, his love for Annie, even the very sense of day-to-day living fall away. And what is left is this rather naked sense of 'Nausea'.

Thus Roquentin's feeling of uneasiness or nausea is the predicament of a man who suddenly has abrogated himself from(both voluntarily and involuntarily) all previous notions of conditioned existence.

But whats the answer and solution to this nausea?

Roquentin has flashes of naked existence or what Eckhart called as 'Isness' when he listens to a black Jazz singer. The sheer sense of music without the baggage of 'Interpreted music' acts like a breath of fresh air in Roquentin's otherwise stale life.

But I think, Sartre did not complete the answer to the riddle of 'How does one live authentically?'. But this is not to be seen as a limitation of the book. The writer is remaining true to his thoughts, I feel, and Sartre himself was possibly looking for answers.

Read this book if you want old, wrong answers about life in your mind to be decimated. You might not get readymade solutions but possibly, the right questions would pervade your intellect and lead you on to other streams of philosophy which deliver the answers to these questions.

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