- Hardcover: 194 pages
- Publisher: Amereon House (Jan 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0848820258
- ISBN-13: 978-0848820251
- Product Dimensions: 2.2 x 1.4 x 0.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
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First Sentence
Something has happened to me, I can't doubt it any more. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Something has happened to me, I can't doubt it any more. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
67 of 69 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I initially picked this book up, I couldn't wait to put it down again. As a student of philosophy it was required reading and every time I would pick it up I could just about manage to read a page or two and would then have to reconcile it to the pile in the corner, to be attempted again when I could muster the strength to drag myself through the apparently relentless waffle. Came the day when I could procrastinate no longer and I found to my utter surprise that when I really submerged myself in the text it utterly came alive. I believe that many may have perhaps missed the beautiful, humorous irony secreted within the pages of this book. It is indeed the tale of the existential struggle of the 'despairing' consciousness; a consciousness desperately seeking certainty in a wholly contingent universe in which existence knows no beginning. There are moments of rare, sublime beauty as Roquentin seeks to define himself purely by self-reflecting - there is no significant 'other' that can give meaning to one's life; the answers - if there are any - are all to be found within. The pathos and tragedy of his relationship with Anny made my heart almost implode. There are moments of incredibly raw, real beauty within this book, along with some wonderfully observed reflections on the human condition. Absolutely not to be missed.
63 of 68 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I can see how it might be easy for someone to dislike this book: its central concern is the main character's inability to act, which for some might go against the very point of writing a story. But Sartre's genius comes in being able to highlight the many different sides to a seemingly simple problem.
This was (I think) Satrte's first published work of fiction, and really its an exposition not of his ability to handle multiple stories and different narrative styles, but of the philosophical ideals which he went on to write in Being and Nothingness. If you can't tolerate existentialism in its rawest form, its probably not worth trying to enjoy this book.
The story is essentially about a man who lives alone in a small French town, attempting to produce a book on the Marquis de Rollebon, an obscure french noble, having up until this point lived what he had previously believed to bed a fulfilled life. But in the writing of the book he soon comes to question what he is doing with his life now, and whether in fact he has ever lived. He soon finds himself falling apart, as he looks in the mirror, the deeper he looks the less he recognises in his own face.
The book is, due to its subject matter, a very isolating experience: Roquentin only really comes into contact with two people, both of whom he resents absolutely. Its the expression of an angry young man, angry as much at himself as at the world and other people. In this way it is hard to stomach, but this is what Sartre intended, hence the title. Every time Roquentin feels himself overwhelmed by his disgust at being alive he feels the nausea overcome him. This makes the book at times, for those who are able to empathise with Roquentin, very uncomfortable reading, but through this it s very rewarding, when we, with him, see some hope behind his anguish, some conclusion to it. Much like Camus's Le Etranger it is in the height of his suffering that he reaches real elation of self-knowledge.
In fact Camus's work is a good book to compare it to. That in itself is a fairly short and sparse work, and both describe a character who are confronted by the absurdity of their life. The difference however is the lack of a political edge to Sartre's work (though he does criticise humanism): Roquentin brings his suffering upon himself, while Camus's character is the victim of a legal system. For me, Sartre's approach is preferable, though others might prefer a character who is less passive than Sartre's.
Sartre's book is a book with we can question ourselves. Some might prefer his later more political orientated works, but for its intensity, Nausea is for me the more complete work. I gave it four only because it makes such difficult reading, describing both complex and disturbing issues about an individual's worth.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sartre's first novel can be a terrifying and brutal unmasking of the nature of existence. It is one of those books that grabs your attention and forces you to deal with your own response to the writing. I was so caught up in the protagonist's developing understanding of who he was and what his life actually meant that I hardly noticed the style of writing. The power of description of his awakening consciousness is very powerful and subtly builds throughout the book, leading to an ending with a strange feeling of euphoria and freedom.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cuts Like A Scythe
A budding young biographer matures and rendezvous with a consideration every thinker eventually considers: if life is insipid, what's the point of existing? Read more
Published 15 days ago by demola
Through a glass, darkly
I first read this book when I was a student, in the original French. Then, frankly, I thought the protagonist, Roquentin (and by extension the author, Sartre) was a social misfit... Read more
Published 25 days ago by Mr. Andrew Phillips
awful book, awful people, silly message
Sartre built a career as a misanthropic intellectual. His characters (and his analyses) brim with the most total alienation imaginable, with the strong dose of narcissism that... Read more
Published 9 months ago by rob crawford
Troubled French Writer
"Nausea" is essentially a philosophical novel expounding the writer's "existentialist" worldview. I must admit that after reading this book that I still don't really "get" this... Read more
Published 11 months ago by L. Davidson
A critique of Sartre's Nausea
A critique of Sartre's Nausea
I couldn't get on with this book, but when Iris Murdock calls it a `Tour de Force of a young man' one is pressured to take heed. Read more
I couldn't get on with this book, but when Iris Murdock calls it a `Tour de Force of a young man' one is pressured to take heed. Read more
Published 16 months ago by A.O'Connell
Nausea
The central character of the novel is Roquentin. Formerly an adventurer, he is now working as a historian researching an 18th Century politician called Rollebon. Read more
Published 16 months ago by GK
Ah, to be so typically French.
Good read, perhaps not the best existentialist novel as it seems somewhat to be lacking in some key story aspects and can therefore in turn be occasionally unengaging, nevertheless... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Benjamming
Undiluted existentialism
In this, his first novel, Sartre explores what will become the main theme of his philosophy: how can we give our lives meaning when we are aware that there is no point to our... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Phil O'Sofa
the thinginess of things and the pointlessness of life
A few weeks since I read this so I've forgotten a lot of the details but I really enjoyed this novel, in which a bloke hangs around in fictional version of Dieppe, trying to write... Read more
Published 20 months ago by biffothebovverboy
Wonderful, intelligent piece from the great Sartre
Nausea was initially to be called 'Melancholy' and I feel the latter is a better title. To me nausea suggests a sickness of the body, but melancholy is a feeling of spiritual... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Justice Peace
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