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Jon Nakapalau's Reviews > Nausea
Nausea
by
by
Ogier P. ('the self-taught man') is the symbol of everything that has gone wrong with the socialization process. Nausea places us in a situation where we have to ask ourselves: is knowledge for the sake of knowledge a wise way to spend your life; or can you have knowledge of trivial facts (e.g. game shows) and know nothing about who you are - a life not examined because knowledge was more important?
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Nausea.
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Quotes Jon Liked
“All these creatures spend their time explaining, realizing happily that they agree with each other.”
― Nausea
― Nausea
“To exist is simply to he there; those who exist let themselves be encountered, but you can never deduce anything from them.”
― Nausea
― Nausea
“Now I knew: things are entirely what they appear to be—and behind them . . . there is nothing. This”
― Nausea
― Nausea
“Through the lack of attaching myself to words, my thoughts remain nebulous most of the time. They sketch vague, pleasant shapes and then are swallowed up; I forget them almost immediately.”
― Nausea
― Nausea
“Once they have slept together they will have to find something else to veil the enormous absurdity of their existence.”
― Nausea
― Nausea
Reading Progress
December 21, 1989
–
Started Reading
July 15, 1990
–
Finished Reading
August 18, 2016
– Shelved
August 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
philosophy
June 29, 2017
– Shelved as:
classics
Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)
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First 'pure' existential novel I ever read; Ogier P. seems to me to be a template for many people I have met - knowledge in place of self reflection.
Thank you for this thoughtful review! This makes me want to read this book more. I hope I get the determination and focus =) :) I am sure Sartre would be brilliant here as well :) =)
I think the point of the book is a 'refocusing' of the concepts we view as self referential - so often we define who we are based on a subjective ideal we may chase our whole life. In that chasing we often loose who we are - hence a man who reads everything yet does not know himself.
I agree with your overall sentiment but the notion of extreme subjectivity makes me uncomfortable. I prefer to think more in terms of dialectics and I think it could help a lot of people :)
I see you point albin, thank you for sharing it.
Thanks for being receptive. I hope to process your ideas as well :) Take care!
Isn’t knowing who you are impossible? If you are your thoughts, they are forever changing and there is no reason to try and label them as something. Why value knowledge and wisdom at all? I’d say they both reflect the consequences of society. Antoine, although he is aware of the lack of inherent meaning, is unable to create one of his own. Ogier seems to be rather fulfilled in his life. He has a purpose and even if it was created because of society’s values he still finds it meaningful. Antoine = victim of the absurd, Ogier = living authentically but may have gotten his values from someone else. It’s still his values but it was given to him by someone else. It’s a tricky book ¯\_(�)_/¯
For myself, the less trivia and detritus I have rolling around in my head, the better. Read this classic years ago. I should revisit.