La Nauseé
Jean-Paul Sartre
Paris, 1938
 
First edition, trade issue. Original wrappers, rare as such. General modest wear to covers, wrapper spine strengthened at lower front joint, small stain on front free endpaper, pages browned per usual, overall a bright Very Good copy.
 
Sartre’s first novel, a cornerstone of modern existentialist literature. It follows the student, Roquentin, as he navigates a struggle to make meaning of his life.
 
"For Sartre, every individual has total freedom over life, the ability to choose different paths at different moments. The ultimate choice is to choose being – that is, existence – over nothingness. It is a choice that is common to all, and by determining on creating a redemptive piece of art at the close of Nausea, Roquentin asserts his choice for existence over nothingness. It appears almost a non-choice on first examination, but it is in fact the largest of choices and the one that binds all humans together in a shared complicity to exist, to repress the nausea.”(Selwyn)
 
Ref: Review: Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre, Matthew Selwy