The Diary of Antoine Roquentin[La Nausee, Nausea]
Jean-Paul Sartre
London, 1949
 
First edition, first impression in English. An American edition more aptly titled, Nausea, was released in the same year using these British sheets. Another translation also titled, Nausea, would appear in the U.K. in 1962.
 
Publisher’s cloth boards – bright covers and spine, spotting along textblock edges, first few leaves foxed otherwise internally clean. Very Good.
 
Unclipped dust jacket with light chips at some edges, spine a shade toned, light general wear. Overall a nice, Very Good example of the charismatic jacket.
 
The work follows the story of Antoine Roquentin, a loner young man who becomes increasingly nauseated by his own existence. ‘The basic element that underlies the novel and Sartre’s existentialism more generally is the matter of human freedom. At one part of the novel Roquentin says to himself, “I am free now. I do not have the slightest reason for living.” Roquentin suffers by being confronted with his total freedom. He suffers from life’s and the world’s contingency, its randomness and superfluity, aspects that are all linked to the crucial aspect and matter of freedom.’(Boppert)