The Age of Reason (Penguin Modern Classics)

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I’m tempted to describe it as a melodrama, but this does it a disservice as all of the events which occur feel so real. Mathieu is a 34-year-old, tall, gangly philosophy teacher who spends a lot of time mooching round the streets of Paris feeling sorry for himself. However, the review goes on to remark how Sartre seems to be preoccupied with describing the physical act of vomiting.

If the book does not rise to the stature of a great, or even a very good, novel, it at least does not try to show a great panorama of society, and fail.

The two of them are struggling with whether they love or hate each other, when Lola storms in clutching a bag which probably contains a gun. Delarue’s predicament actively amuses him and, although Daniel is wealthy and Mathieu knows it, he pretends to be in debt.

It’s at this point he makes a bizarre, seemingly deadly mistake during a taxi ride to the latest museum exhibition. When Mathieu comes to him to ask for a loan of 4,000 Francs, Daniel wickedly conceives a plan to persuade Marcelle to admit to herself that she wants to keep the baby – and to make her say this to Mathieu – and thus to force Mathieu into having to marry her. It was not only to defy Ivich that he had stuck the knife into his hand, it was as a challenge to Jacques, and Brunet, and Daniel, and to his whole life.This makes Delarue laugh, but it’s apparent it’s the only way to get the money from the conniving fiend. Yesterday morning… when you had the impertinence to touch me… I said to myself—that’s the way a married man behaves. Reading The Age of Reason felt like navigating the dark recesses of my subconscious and coming face-to-face with my innermost anxieties. Daniel Sereno is the extremely good looking gay friend of Mathieu, although they don’t appear to get on particularly well. But the universal revulsion at the physical, at being human, is an incessant chorus of dismay and revulsion which envelops the whole book, gushing forth on every single one of the 300 pages.

The vivacity and vividness with which Sartre paints each one of his characters amidst their existential exigencies leaves behind their ever-lasting impressions on the fertile mental space. This is the idea of existentialism (and remember that Sartre is considered the father of secular existentialism) in that it is the definition of who we are. He’s very unfair”, Boris informs Ivich whilst Delarue dashes into the cafe to ring Sarah and delay her renowned medical professional. Meanwhile, left at the table together, Ivich and Mathieu spend some time loathing each other – why on earth did he kiss such a plain pasty prickly young woman, thinks Mathieu.On and on it goes, as Mathieu reëvaluates his life, his situation, and his relationship with Marcelle.