Nausea - Jean Paul Sartre

Valmont

I enjoyed getting to grips with Sartre's philosophy through an intriguing novel as opposed to a tedious treastise. I thought that the progression of Roquentin's Nausea was very well done as it was strange at the beginning and it slowly developed into the final revelatory moments toward the end.

I thought the autodidact and Anny were interseting characters and added some colour to Roquentins despair.

Well I suppose it depends on whether you like Sartre's ideas, but did anyone enjoy this as much as I did?

Esmereldina

Valmont wrote:

I enjoyed getting to grips with Sartre's philosophy through an intriguing novel as opposed to a tedious treastise. I thought that the progression of Roquentin's Nausea was very well done as it was strange at the beginning and it slowly developed into the final revelatory moments toward the end.

I thought the autodidact and Anny were interseting characters and added some colour to Roquentins despair.

Well I suppose it depends on whether you like Sartre's ideas, but did anyone enjoy this as much as I did?

Yep, I really liked this book too. In a fashionably depressing sort of way, of course. I read it years ago so I can't remember too many of the details of why I liked it, but it did prompt me to read most of the existentialist fiction that I could find in English by Sartre, Beavoir and Camus... until I moved on to my next literary phase;)

Valmont

Esmereldina wrote:

but it did prompt me to read most of the existentialist fiction that I could find in English by Sartre, Beavoir and Camus... until I moved on to my next literary phase;)

Spot on, I even bought the stranger yesterday:D lol

Esmereldina

Valmont wrote:

Spot on, I even bought the stranger yesterday:D lol

Ooh I liked that one too... (It's also called the Outsider [L'Etranger] isn't it... I mean I am thinking of the same one by Camus? ) I think Simone De Beauvoir is even more fashionably depressing though, there is a lower level of general ennui running through her books, teamed with lots of cocktail/pernod drinking and resistance fighting. I liked The Mandarins especially, though I think it's practically unavailable in English
Let us know what you think of The Stranger

Valmont

I think the outsider is the same as the stranger, it's probably a different translation. I'm reading Oranges are not the only Fruit but I'll post up afterwards when I've read the stranger!

ZorbaTehZ

L'étranger is the original in french.
Unfortunately there is no direct translation of L'étranger - instead the nearest translation is "the outsider" or "the foreigner", hence the title The Stranger as the most common title of the book.
I have read this book many times and it is with-out a doubt an epic. The revelation towards the end is particularly interesting.
Why not check out "Fear and Trembling" by Kierkegaard or "The Fall" by Camus, for other very interesting pieces of absurdist/existentialist fiction.

Unfortunately I hav'nt found anywhere in Galway that sells Nausea. Probably will just get it off Amazon or something.

Valmont

I was reading about Kierkegaard on Wikipedia, seems like an interesting character. Thanks for all the suggestions, if I read all these books I'll be having my own existential crisis in no time!

art

Think another reason to call Camus' book "the Stranger" is to avoid mix ups with another existentialist themed work called "the Outsider" by a different author altogether whose names escapes me at the moment...

Camus' The Plague I enjoyed most out of his fictional works. With Sartre, I just enjoyed reading his straight Philosophy stuff - the short Existentialism is a Humanism is a perfect precis of existentialism.

(Kierkegaard on the other hand is a dreary fecker! )

ZorbaTehZ

Feodor Dostoevsky - Notes From Underground

Surprised I forgot to add it. Its quite hilarious at the start but takes on an extremely dark and depressing tone towards the end. Nevertheless definitely worth reading imo if you like the fall etc.