Being and existing: the case of La Nausée

Abstract

In La Nausée, Jean-Paul Sartre contrasts ‘to exist’ (exister) with ‘to be’ (être). Existing is contingency, facticity, the matter that gradually suffocates Antoine Roquentin. Existence inspires him with anguish, repulsion and nausea. Being, a pale glimmer of hope, opposes it as the domain of immateriality, of pure transcendence. Sartre uses the same terms in L'Etre et le Néant, but reverses their value. There he defines ‘être’ in the terms reserved in La Nausée for ‘exister’ and ‘exister’ in the terms reserved in La Nausée for ‘être’. La Nausée is mainly devoted to the description of contingency. L’Être et le Néant is mainly devoted to the definition of transcendence. The two works parallel each other, but as two possible existential journeys. The journey in La Nausée is a downward one, comparable to Mort à Venice. The path of L’Être et le Néant is an ascending one, comparable to La Montagne magique. Compared to L'Etre et le Néant, which describes the triumphant ecstasy of the spirit, La Nausée appears as the previous stage: the descent into hell.