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Chapter 9: Tuesday, 11.30
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Nausea, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Existence vs. Essence
Time
Love and Sexuality
Art and Legacy
Summary
Analysis
Roquentin half-heartedly returns to his research. Noticing the Self-Taught Man admiringly watching him write, Roquentin looks at the books the Self-Taught Man is reading and realizes that he’s working his way through the entire library in alphabetical order. Roquentin is impressed with the Self-Taught Man’s resolve. He imagines the day the Self-Taught Man began his undertaking, as well as the day when it will end, picturing the Self-Taught Man finishing his last book and asking himself, “Now what?”
As Roquentin’s own reason for living is losing its appeal, he starts to notice the Self-Taught Man’s own search for meaning. The Self-Taught Man is a foil to Roquentin in this regard. After all, Roquentin spent six years of his life pursuing meaning by travelling the world and walking through foreign streets, while the Self-Taught Man’s experience is entirely contained within the dusty Bouville reading room. A well-read man himself, Roquentin still seems skeptical of how effective the Self-Taught Man’s approach can be. The Self-Taught Man will eventually run out of books and outside opinions to consult, and his life will ultimately be meaningless again.
Themes
