Mind and Matter

Nausea by Jean-Paul Satre is an absolute gem. It is the diary of Antoine Roquentin of Bouville, a writer and traveler. What is fascinating about this book is that it questions experience explained through a set of judgments and comparisons trying to search beyond for a more accountable transcription of experience itself. The book contemplates different issues that revolve around the main pivitol of what it is to exist. Antonie is at odds with existence which on the one hand he wants to fully exist but at the same time very fearful of doing just that. His 'Nausea' is the emblematic of this problem. Other issues intertwined are love, loneliness, adventure, memory and meaning which are written all about in a dislodged but extremely articulate way. I have a couple of quotes form the book to share.

'The past is is a property owners luxury. Where should I keep mine? you can't put your past in your pocket, you have to have a house in which to store it. I posses nothing but my body; a man on his own, with nothing but his body, can't stop memories; they pass through him. I shouldn't complain: all I ever wanted was to be free' pg 97 1965 version

' I had always realized that: I hadn't any right to exist. I had appeared by chance, I existed like stone, a plant, a microbe. My life grew in a haphazard way and in all directions. sometimes it sent me vague signals, at other times I could feel nothing but inconsequential buzzing' pg 124 1965 version

check this out for more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausea_%28novel%29