First published 2021
Antoine Roquentin, a French historian, finds himself increasingly plagued by a sense of nausea and meaninglessness as he reflects on his life. Trapped in a provincial town, he grapples with the absurdity of existence and the crushing weight of his own consciousness. As his despair deepens, Roquentin confronts the abyss at the heart of the human condition, leading to a profound crisis of identity. Sartre's seminal work of existentialist fiction, "Nausea" is a gripping exploration of the individual's struggle to find purpose amidst the chaos and indifference of the universe.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, academic
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: gritty, unreliable-narrator
Setting: France, Provincial Town
Period: 20th Century
231 pages · Kindle Edition · Penguin
Content warnings: depression, mental-illness