Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre

Nausea follows Antoine Roquentin, a historian living in the fictional French town of Bouville, as he grapples with a sudden, overwhelming sense of existential dread. His meticulously ordered life unravels when he begins experiencing “nausea” — a visceral reaction to the absurdity of existence. Sartre uses Roquentin’s journal entries to explore themes of alienation, freedom, and the meaninglessness of human constructs. The novel’s stream-of-consciousness style mirrors the protagonist’s spiraling thoughts, making readers question their own perceptions of reality. Roquentin’s encounters with mundane objects, like a pebble or a bartender’s purple suspenders, become profound confrontations with the “stuffness” of the world. The story climaxes as he contemplates writing a novel to reclaim agency, only to realize that creation itself is an act of defiance against existential void.