Some Nausea for the Reader - Sometimes Depressing, Sometimes Beautiful
Written: Aug 13 '01
Product Rating:
Pros: A brilliant philosophical exploration; challenges reader to question his own existence.
Cons: A philosopher trying to write a novel; some really slow parts; sometimes hurts the brain
The Bottom Line: As a novel it is sub-par, but as a philosophy text it is a unique exploration of existentialism and its meaning in principle and action.
Adamjazz's Full Review: Jean Paul Sartre - Nausea: The Wall and Other Stor...
Anton Roquentin is a middle-aged historian with a lock of flaming red hair who resides in Bouville, France. He is here to complete a study on an obscure figure in 17th century European politics. He has travelled extensively throughout his adult life, seeing the sights of the near and far east, amassing all sorts of experiences, meeting many women, and even falling in love with one, Annie. After four years, though, they separated, and Roquentin settled in Bouville, a 40-something workaholic bachelor, and a social recluse. One day in his blase existence, he ends up on the beach, where he picks up a small stone. He looks at it's smooth surface, worn down by years and years of salt-water weathering. He turns it around in his hand, feels it; and realizes something.
This "something" is a glimmer of the Nausea, a general discomfort that envelopes mind, body, and soul. It eventually blooms to an understanding that he will live and then die, and that anything he does for enjoyment, any accomplishment, his life, will weather away--just like the stone--with the sands of time. This empty feeling gnaws at him throughout the story, drives him to begin to find out what is real.
The story is a series of entries in the hero's journal, and with each entry we learn a little bit more about him, his lifestyle, his past, and most importantly--his concerns and discoveries about the relationship of his self to reality. These last parts are what open the eyes of the reader. Since we are so intimate with Roquentin we live his boring life, see the absurdity of social tradition, feel the Nausea along with him, and try to come to terms with it through certain philosophical positions embedded into the storyline, from platonism to positivism.
Sartre's tale is potentially unexciting. In order to feel connected to the hero's problems, you must keep in mind the philosophical symbolism of characters, events, and statements made throughout the story. At times the narrative is quick and strong. At other times, there are loads and loads of description that weigh down the briskness of the narrative, making for drudging reading. And in some of the dialogue it is obvious that Sartre is using his characters to give philosophy lectures. But, if the reader pays close attention to the sequence of events, one will see that under the surface, Roquentin's problem is sorted out by him turning around a number of different philosophies in order to size up the problem of human existence. Unless the reader understands this exploration, which is at times submerged a little too well, the book is quite uninteresting. If the book is read as a novel before it is read as a philosophical debate, then it will be somewhat dissatisfying, perhaps even nauseating.
Yet on the level of content, this novel is an excellent way to learn what existentialism means, and, regardless of the academic tone, what it is to FEEL it in one's day to day habits. If the reader keeps his eyes open, he will laugh and cry and squirm and squeal at what an existentialist position stands for in the face of other philosophies. To learn what it stands for, read "Nausea" and feel it.
The classic Existentialist novel, with a newintroduction by renowned poet, translator, and critic Richard Howard.Winner of the 1964 Nobel Prize for Li...More at HotBookSale
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