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Illustrated portrait of Antoine Roquentin

A character in Nausea

Antoine Roquentin

The solitary diarist whose encounter with contingency destroys his historical project and turns him toward fiction.

What they want in The novel’s account

To understand the change in his perception and find a form of work or creation that does not depend on inventing false meaning.

The book

Cover of Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre
NauseaJean-Paul Sartre, 1938

Existence itself becomes physically disturbing to a solitary writer in a French town.

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At a glance

Home
Bouville
Project
Biography of the Marquis de Rollebon
Form
Diary narrator

Who they are in the book

Spoiler-free

Roquentin has traveled widely and now lives on private means while researching Rollebon in Bouville. He is observant enough to make ordinary things vivid and isolated enough to mistrust nearly every social explanation.

The Nausea is not presented as a simple diagnosis. It is his physical name for perceiving existence without the categories, habits, and stories that usually make it feel necessary.

How the book draws them

Appearance, manner, and tone — as the book sketches them, in our words.

  • Solitary manHis posture suggests distance from public life.
  • 1930s French coatHis clothing is practical and slightly worn.
  • Distinctive reddish hairThe portrait uses the book’s memorable physical impression.
  • Observant tired eyesHe watches objects and people closely.
  • Close engraved bustNo root, café, or diary appears.
  • Muted blue-gray accentThe cool color suits his estrangement.
What happens to Antoine RoquentinHow the book leaves them, what happened after, and what the record says. Open when you're ready.

Roquentin abandons the Rollebon biography and leaves Bouville. A jazz record leads him to consider writing a novel that could create form without pretending existence has a necessary purpose.

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