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The Sartre Bookshelf

Existence precedes essence.

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Nausea (New Directions Paperbook)

Sartre’s 1938 debut novel follows Antoine Roquentin’s diary as he confronts the raw contingency of things. It is a narrative gateway into existentialism.

Editorial fit for its place in this reading order

After the lecture, the ideas become lived experience. The standard US Lloyd Alexander translation in this printing includes an introduction by James Wood and is far more approachable than the treatises.

Original text-based jacket for Nausea
Author
Jean-Paul Sartre · translated by Lloyd Alexander · introduction by James Wood
Edition
New Directions, 2013 printing · approximately 192 pages
ASIN
0811220303
Level
Intermediate · novel
Kindle
B00COG0EWC

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What this book does

The novel lets the unsettling fact that things simply exist arrive through a character’s daily experience. It connects the vocabulary of existentialism to a mood and a story before the more technical books.

Why it belongs at step 3

After the lecture, the ideas become lived experience. The standard US Lloyd Alexander translation in this printing includes an introduction by James Wood and is far more approachable than the treatises.

EDITORIAL NOTEThis review is grounded in the supplied bibliographic and content notes. It makes no claim of first-hand reading or timed completion.
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Edition and buying notes

New Directions, 2013 printing · approximately 192 pages. Kindle availability is listed above; confirm that the edition matches the format and translation you want.

NEXT BOOK

The Imaginary — This is the specialist deep cut, best for readers with some philosophy background. Choose the affordable 2010 Routledge Classics paperback rather than the pricey 2015 reissue.

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