Product Description

The first novel of Sartre's monumental Roads to Freedom series, The Age of Reason is set in 1938 and tells of Mathieu, a French professor of philosophy who is obsessed with the idea of freedom. As the shadows of the Second World War draw closer -- even as his personal life is complicated by his mistress's pregnancy -- his search for a way to remain free becomes more and more intense.

"Entertaining...the characters are well observed and conscientiously and intelligently studied."

-- Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #245275 in Books
• Published on: 1992-07-07
• Released on: 1992-07-07
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780679738954
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
"Entertaining...the characters are well observed and conscientiously and intelligently studied."-- Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker -- Review

Review
"Entertaining...the characters are well observed and conscientiously and intelligently studied."-- Edmund Wilson, The New Yorker

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

Customer Reviews

Freedom Starts With Sartre
The Age of Reason is one of those rare classics in literture that combine an interesting and readable account with a deep quest for understanding.Sartre has taken the disruptive world of Paris, on the brink of invasion by Germany in 1939, and used this backdrop to debate the meaning of freedom. Obviously the idea of freedom is subjective and Sartre certainly does not presume to have found the answer in absolute terms. He uses the protagonist, Mathieu, as well as the peripheral characters, to examine different view points; albeit, with mixed results. The Age of Reason can certainly be read as an independent novel, but if one is to truly understand Sartre's vision, it will be necessary to read the other works in the trilogy, The Reprieve and The Troubled Sleep. Both are excellent and follow up on the secondary characters that are first introduced in the Age of Reason. The three novels, known collectively as The Roads to Freedom, represent, to me, the most significant analysis of what freedom means to a given individual. It will force the reader to reexamine long cherished views and address their own concept of freedom. If you haven't been introduced to the writings of Sartre, The Age of Reason is an excellent starting point.

In the immortal words of Jean-Paul Sartre, "Die gopher!"
Jean-Paul seems like such a likeable character. Especially towards his later years, when he became quite politically active in anti-colonial issues. But a lot of his early work is inconsistent. This novel, the first of a trilogy, was written leading up to and during the second world war, and is a compelling portrait of a parisian bourgeois as the shadows of fascism grew longer. This bourgeois professor, mathieu, fancies himself a prime actor in his own life, a man free to act as he chooses because he doesn't have any illusions. But that is his worst illusion. He is 35 years old and acts like a modern spoiled american university student. He can't commit to anything, whether it be to head to spain to fight against franco, marry his pregnant mistress or demand that she have an abortion, or act decisively enough to win the heart of his OTHER girlfriend, a spoiled early 20's russian emigre.

SO the whole novel passes with us watching these spoiled bourgeois lunk-heads wander around and do nothing with all their vaunted freedom.

But That's the point. As you get into the trilogy more, you see that mathieu's problem is that his life is unbearably light, to steal from Kundera here. And it is Kundera's "unbearable lightness of being" that provides a great insight into what Sartre is getting at here. Our freedom as human beings comes into play when we make choices, not avoid them.

So, I recommend this book, but stick it out because this first volume is tough at times. The characters herein are all fools. But they are all learning to act, and as Hitler draws closer, you can see they now know that they will HAVE to make a choice in the near future.

And after you read these three volumes, read Kundera's book, which is about a lot of the same issues but is a lot more humane and sexy too. Say what you want about Sartre but he wasn't really a sexy writer. In fact he kind of reminds me of wallace shawn in "manhattan." But that's another story.

How can a writer of this level not have a good translation?
As a translator, I am always angry to see a good novel destroyed because a publisher refused to pay for a decent translation. This book has no flow as in the original language, and certain translations are absolutely embarrassing (he was of good humor? come on, even after a year of studying languages one should know better). It makes the narrative confusing and the reader has to translate from french english to real english. Read the original or don't bother with this one.

Can someone get Gregory Rabassa to translate this thing for the sake of humanity?!