The Age of Reason (Penguin Modern Classics)

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He’s introduced in chapter 7 and it’s quickly established he’s a Machiavellian sort blessed with exceptional good looks. It also becomes apparent Ivich is somehow studying the wrong course (presumably due to parental interference) as Mathieu observes her inability to be a doctor of any sort – a dissection would “revolt” here. Only half a dozen characters are seen, representing very little of society, though a good range of neuroticism.

The absolute determination of all the characters to be as miserable as possible eventually becomes quite funny. The Age of Reason only concerns a handful of days, I should point out, during which time personal freedom is the main theme established. The novel is a fictional reprise of some of the main themes in his major philosophical study Being and Nothingness (1943).Whereas Delarue offers Ivich’s brother Boris fatherly advice and encouragement, Ivich and Mathieu are something of a misfit. With its existential themes and mission to examine and expose the nature of personal autonomy, Sartre’s epic Roads to Freedom trilogy was completed in a mighty flurry of activity, with the Age of Reason published in September 1945 shortly after the Nazi occupation of France and World War II ended.

Later there’s a description of Daniel going to a covered amusement arcade to watch young toughs hanging around waiting to be picked up by gay cruisers. 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. With early morning setting in, and Ivich happily admiring her bandaged hand, Mathieu reflects on a feeling of content as Lola takes to the stage and begins to sing.His solitude was so complete, beneath a lovely sky as mellow and serene as a good conscience, amid that busy throng, that he was amazed at his own existence: he must be somebody else’s nightmare, and whoever it was would certainly awaken soon. As always, my reviews comprise about 5,000 words and merely scratch at the surface of a full-scale novel like the Age of Reason.