Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea
(Com plete Notes)
Section 1
Sum m ar y
The novel opens with an "Editors' Note," claiming that the following pages were found
among the papers of Antoine Roquentin. The pages are presented in a diary format. The
Editors suggest that Roquentin began his diary in January 1932, following his return
from the Far East, Central Europe, and North Africa. He moved to the seaside town of
Bouville in order to write a book about the Marquis de Rollebon.
Roquentin's introductory notes establish his intent to keep a diary. He feels that
something has changed in the way he sees objects, but he cannot quite place his finger
on exactly what. He hopes that a diary will help him better understand what is going on,
specifically, to see, classify, and determine the extent and nature of the change. He
recalls an odd sensation while holding a stone a few days earlier, but is not sure whether
the odd feeling came from the stone or himself. Despite his feelings of disgust and being
afraid of the stone, he is wary of exaggerating the events he records in his diary. Indeed,
he soon writes that his odd feelings were nothing but a passing moment of madness and
that there is no longer any need to continue with his diary.
Nevertheless, the next entry, dated January 29, 1932, opens with Roquentin's realization
that something strange has happened to him. He first thought that it was nothing but a
"passing moment" gives way to a permanent feeling of uneasiness around objects and
people. He hopes that it is nothing but an "abstract change," but soon begins to worry
that he is the one who has changed little by little, overwhelmed by a sudden
transformation. He recalls his whimsical decision to leave Vietnam and return to
France, terrified that it was actually a precursor to his current state of mind.
The next day, however, he becomes resigned to his fate, realizing that his solitary
lifestyle has changed him. He notices that living alone has prevented him from both
having friends and simply communicating with other people. When he looks inside
himself for answers, he finds nothing. Even when he has sex with Francoise, a local
barmaid, very little is said between them: Roquentin feels that he is purging himself of a
"certain nostalgia" rather than feeling pleasure. Yet he does acknowledge that he would
be lying to himself if he began to think that nothing new has happened to him. When he
looks at a glass of beer or a soggy piece of paper lying in the street he is unable to touch
them despite his desire to do so. He does not feel free. Thinking back on the strange
feeling he had while holding the stone he recalls a "nausea of the hands."
, Roquentin attempts to divert his angst with historical research on the Marquis de
Rollebon, a mysterious aristocrat who lived around the time of the French Revolution.
Yet Roquentin's research begins to bore him. Ten years earlier he had been fascinated
with the story of the Marquis, but now feels that he is writing a work of pure conjecture
that has nothing to do with the real Marquis at all. His work inevitably returns
Roquentin to himself and his emerging disgust at the outside world. Specifically, the
changing appearance of objects in the light of the sun makes him feel uneasy. When he
tries to focus on the mystery of Rollebon he can't help but look at himself in the mirror,
alarmed that he doesn't recognize his own face.
An alysis
Existentialism is primarily a reaction against the traditional philosophical approach to
objective and abstract understandings of human behavior. Instead, existentialists
choose to study individual human beings who exist independently of cultures,
traditions, and laws. As Sartre stresses in the "Editors' Note," not only have Roquentin's
writings not been altered, but they are his personal papers. This establishes the novel's
focus on one singular individual through the lens of his most personal documents. As
such, they are an accurate reflection of one person and nothing else--the main focus of
existentialist thought.
Even though it will take some time for Roquentin to understand exactly what is
happening to both him and the objects and people he sees, he has already begun to
address the major themes of existentialism: anxiety, suffering, freedom, and self-
deception. In writing his diary, Roquentin first intends to objectively study the changes
he has observed, much like traditional philosophers, such as Hegel and Kant, would
have used the scientific method to solve problems. Roquentin wants his diary to "sees,"
"classify," and "determine," just like a scientist would study a phenomenon. But this
soon proves impossible as the very qualities, or "essences," of objects he seeks to
describe no longer make any sense to him. From the rotting piece of paper on the street
to the dirty stone he holds in his hands, Roquentin is unable to see, classify, or
determine exactly what he is looking at. This leads him to question his free will, since he
is unable to touch these objects; he is afraid of something but still not sure what it is.
Roquentin tries to pass off these odd sensations to his feelings of solitude. He worries
that living alone has allowed him to hide the truth of his loneliness from himself. He
fears that his diary will exaggerate events and later notes that he wrote that "nothing
new" had happened to him with a "bad conscience." He soon admits that something
causes him to lie to himself since, "I am not in the habit of telling myself what happens
to me." Sartre termed this phenomenon "self-deception," which resulted from an
individual's inability to cope with their absolute freedom. He believed that human
choice is subjective since each individual is different and unconstrained by laws,
(Com plete Notes)
Section 1
Sum m ar y
The novel opens with an "Editors' Note," claiming that the following pages were found
among the papers of Antoine Roquentin. The pages are presented in a diary format. The
Editors suggest that Roquentin began his diary in January 1932, following his return
from the Far East, Central Europe, and North Africa. He moved to the seaside town of
Bouville in order to write a book about the Marquis de Rollebon.
Roquentin's introductory notes establish his intent to keep a diary. He feels that
something has changed in the way he sees objects, but he cannot quite place his finger
on exactly what. He hopes that a diary will help him better understand what is going on,
specifically, to see, classify, and determine the extent and nature of the change. He
recalls an odd sensation while holding a stone a few days earlier, but is not sure whether
the odd feeling came from the stone or himself. Despite his feelings of disgust and being
afraid of the stone, he is wary of exaggerating the events he records in his diary. Indeed,
he soon writes that his odd feelings were nothing but a passing moment of madness and
that there is no longer any need to continue with his diary.
Nevertheless, the next entry, dated January 29, 1932, opens with Roquentin's realization
that something strange has happened to him. He first thought that it was nothing but a
"passing moment" gives way to a permanent feeling of uneasiness around objects and
people. He hopes that it is nothing but an "abstract change," but soon begins to worry
that he is the one who has changed little by little, overwhelmed by a sudden
transformation. He recalls his whimsical decision to leave Vietnam and return to
France, terrified that it was actually a precursor to his current state of mind.
The next day, however, he becomes resigned to his fate, realizing that his solitary
lifestyle has changed him. He notices that living alone has prevented him from both
having friends and simply communicating with other people. When he looks inside
himself for answers, he finds nothing. Even when he has sex with Francoise, a local
barmaid, very little is said between them: Roquentin feels that he is purging himself of a
"certain nostalgia" rather than feeling pleasure. Yet he does acknowledge that he would
be lying to himself if he began to think that nothing new has happened to him. When he
looks at a glass of beer or a soggy piece of paper lying in the street he is unable to touch
them despite his desire to do so. He does not feel free. Thinking back on the strange
feeling he had while holding the stone he recalls a "nausea of the hands."
, Roquentin attempts to divert his angst with historical research on the Marquis de
Rollebon, a mysterious aristocrat who lived around the time of the French Revolution.
Yet Roquentin's research begins to bore him. Ten years earlier he had been fascinated
with the story of the Marquis, but now feels that he is writing a work of pure conjecture
that has nothing to do with the real Marquis at all. His work inevitably returns
Roquentin to himself and his emerging disgust at the outside world. Specifically, the
changing appearance of objects in the light of the sun makes him feel uneasy. When he
tries to focus on the mystery of Rollebon he can't help but look at himself in the mirror,
alarmed that he doesn't recognize his own face.
An alysis
Existentialism is primarily a reaction against the traditional philosophical approach to
objective and abstract understandings of human behavior. Instead, existentialists
choose to study individual human beings who exist independently of cultures,
traditions, and laws. As Sartre stresses in the "Editors' Note," not only have Roquentin's
writings not been altered, but they are his personal papers. This establishes the novel's
focus on one singular individual through the lens of his most personal documents. As
such, they are an accurate reflection of one person and nothing else--the main focus of
existentialist thought.
Even though it will take some time for Roquentin to understand exactly what is
happening to both him and the objects and people he sees, he has already begun to
address the major themes of existentialism: anxiety, suffering, freedom, and self-
deception. In writing his diary, Roquentin first intends to objectively study the changes
he has observed, much like traditional philosophers, such as Hegel and Kant, would
have used the scientific method to solve problems. Roquentin wants his diary to "sees,"
"classify," and "determine," just like a scientist would study a phenomenon. But this
soon proves impossible as the very qualities, or "essences," of objects he seeks to
describe no longer make any sense to him. From the rotting piece of paper on the street
to the dirty stone he holds in his hands, Roquentin is unable to see, classify, or
determine exactly what he is looking at. This leads him to question his free will, since he
is unable to touch these objects; he is afraid of something but still not sure what it is.
Roquentin tries to pass off these odd sensations to his feelings of solitude. He worries
that living alone has allowed him to hide the truth of his loneliness from himself. He
fears that his diary will exaggerate events and later notes that he wrote that "nothing
new" had happened to him with a "bad conscience." He soon admits that something
causes him to lie to himself since, "I am not in the habit of telling myself what happens
to me." Sartre termed this phenomenon "self-deception," which resulted from an
individual's inability to cope with their absolute freedom. He believed that human
choice is subjective since each individual is different and unconstrained by laws,
