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Concept
Nausea (novel)
Summary
Nausea (La Nausée) is a philosophical novel by the existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, published in 1938. It is Sartre's first novel.
The novel takes place in 'Bouville' (homophone of Boue-ville, literally, 'Mud town') a town similar to Le Havre. It comprises the thoughts and subjective experiences—in a personal diary format—of Antoine Roquentin, a melancholic and socially isolated intellectual who is residing in Bouville ostensibly for the purpose of completing a biography on a historical figure. Roquentin's growing alienation and disillusionment coincide with an increasingly intense experience of revulsion, which he calls "the nausea", in which the people and things around him seem to lose all their familiar and recognizable qualities. Sartre's original title for the novel before publication was Melancholia.
The novel has been translated into English by Lloyd Alexander as The Diary of Antoine Roquentin and by Robert Baldick as Nausea.
'Antoine Roquentin' – The protagonist of the novel, Antoine is a former adventurer who has been living alone in Bouville for three years. He has no friends and is out of touch with family, and often resigns himself to eavesdropping on other people's conversations and examining their actions from a distance. He settles in the seaport town of Bouville to finish his research on the life of an 18th-century political figure, the Marquis de Rollebon. During the winter of 1932 a "sweetish sickness," which he calls "the nausea", increasingly impinges on almost everything he does or enjoys. He attempts to find solace in the presence of others, but exhibits signs of boredom and lack of interest when interacting with them. Because of his aloofness to the world and the people around him, he eventually starts to doubt his own existence.
Anny – An English woman who was once Antoine's lover. After Antoine arranges to meet with her hoping it will ameliorate his condition, Anny makes it clear to him that she has changed a considerable amount and must get on with her life.
Ogier P.
Official source
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