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Jean-Paul Sartre: Nausea (1964, New Directions)

238 pages

English language

Published Jan. 5, 1964 by New Directions.

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4 stars (10 reviews)

A fascinating existentialist novel, written in the form of a journal, about a historian who moves to a small port in northern France to research a biography he is intending to write. Whilst there his senses become dulled and he becomes increasingly disgusted by his own existence, finding no solace with friends or a woman he begins an affair with.

11 editions

Review of 'La Nausea' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Life through the eyes of a fictitious, invented man who is overwhelmed with existence. Random and somewhat idiosyncratic writing but yet immensely engaging, Sartre's work perfectly captures the loneliness and impermanence of life and existence.

I think one of my favourite things about this read was the "irrelevant/insignificant" statement Roquentin would add on, overflowing the reader with information about what's going on—it's this very overflow of detail that really brings out the Nausea. Most of the time we go about life not thinking about everything that's going on around us continuously; however, Roquentin gives a fine example of those times existence just falls on you—times when all those little "insignificances" are processed together with the "significances" and you feel it, you feel sick to the core, unnerved, and somewhat distraught.

5/5 Sartre nailed it, one of the best books I've read so far this year.

Review of 'La Nausea' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I may not have enjoyed it but I certainly appreciated a lot about this novel. Perhaps, if I had read it when I was younger, and more terrified of solitude, the descriptions of nausea would have connected with me on a more emotional level, but I found myself smiling at Sartre's writerly craft, his descriptions of a philosophical conceit, his lively scenes of dialogue, without being very touched. Not a bad way to spend 178 pages but not a book I'm going to brood over as I have with works by Camus. I think I'm fine with that.

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