Rating: 
Summary: A guidebook on how to make yourself unhappy
Review: I guess this is a book that's best appreciated by existentialism/Sartre aficionados. As a mere dabbler in things existential, I found the book uneven - interesting in some passages, laborious in others.The plot centres on Mathieu Delarue's efforts to find the 4,000 francs he needs to get an abortion for his mistress, Marcelle. Sartre takes the reader on a wander through Montparnasse, meeting a selection of Mathieu's relatives, friends and acquaintances. Sartre illustrates his existentialist views chiefly through the dialogue between the characters, each of whom is struggling to find any sort of meaning to their lives, each of whom wants "freedom". The need to take decisions tortures each of the characters - what action to take? Is it better to avoid taking decisions, or can you find yourself by conforming to the prevailing social norms? As I thought about the book after finishing it, the iconoclastic part of me toyed with the impression that the book itself lacks action (!). The casual reader has to be prepared for the fact that this is a very introspective work - the important part of the novel is, I think, the inner turmoil of each of the characters. This is reflected or "brought out" only in their social interplay with their fellow humans. Given that premise, essential motor of the work is dialogue, or if you like individual realisation through social discourse. This does not make for what I would term an entertaining read, although no doubt this is an important work. I'll go on to the two other volumes. But I prefer Camus!
Rating: 
Summary: .
Review: It's always puzzled me that this book gets so little attention when Nausea is so acclaimed -- and even Nausea gets trashed by many of the more academic critics. I read a series of interviews with Sartre at one point, after all of his major books were a ways behind him, and he himself did not seem to consider the Roads to Freedom trilogy of particular significance or importance. I find this puzzling because the Age of Reason is one of the best novels I have ever read. It is more of a story than Nausea (and more of a story than its sequels, from what I've read of them), and, well -- it's just incredible. The psychological accuracy and moral neutrality with which Sartre places himself, and the reader, in each character's shoes, is remarkable; the existential "adventure" of the book is intoxicating, and there are some simply incredible moments. As with anything Sartre writes, it is a bit self-indulged, and the characters will not appeal to everyone, but personally, I found this an incredibly rewarding book; it left me feeling giddy.
Rating:
Summary: This book is very important to me.
Review: Its paradoxical, sardonic, satiric, and pedantic... its a glance into Sartre's life. I like it.
Rating:
Summary: In the immortal words of Jean-Paul Sartre, "Die gopher!"
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Sartre's philosophies turned into a narrative
Review: Like many of his more philosophical works, Jean-Paul Sartre dealt with almost taboo (at least in the 40s) social issues on the Age of Reason, usch as abortion, concubinary, the quest for personal freedom, and the government. The Age of Reason does drag somewhat, since it's a good 300 pages long, but it's worth reading, since some of the parts in this book are very well-written and keeps you in suspense throughout the length of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Washed Out
Review: My big problem with this book is that it is so ridiculously tendentious. That is, it so obviously serves as a mere vehicle for Sartre to get his "existentialist" (or whatever you may call them) ideas across. The characters are (purposefully, of course) insipid and full of a malaise that makes for plodding reading except for Sartre's most devoted recruits (and there are quite a few of them to judge from the reviews).
All that really happens, so to speak, is that the book's protagonist, Mathieu, wanders around with acquaintances of various sorts (one can hardly call them friends or lovers, in any substantial sense of those terms) wondering what to do about the pregnancy of his mistress and how to finance her abortion.
"The Age of Reason" ostensibly, as referred to in the book, indicates Mathieu's own age, 34, at which one is supposed to shift from a restless, Bohemian existence and settle down to responsibility. On the deeper, more ironic level, it is a prolonged sneer that the so called Age of Reason (whose French exemplars include Descartes and Voltaire among others) is now debunked and effete, and that we now know that (as shown by the characters in the novel) there is no real rhyme or reason behind men's actions. Man is not, "the rational animal" as Aristotle would have it, and the onset of WWII is there to prove it.
As Mathieu puts it, "Perhaps it's inevitable; perhaps one has to choose between being nothing at all and impersonating what one is. That would be terrible," he said to himself; "it would mean that we were naturally bogus."
The thing is that there's nothing particularly new or original even in the philosophy as spelled out above. Shakespeare said the same thing hundreds of years ago, "All the World's a stage, and we are merely players."
Simply put, I can't stand this sort of rot. Even the enthusiasts of Existentialism and the "condemned to be free" mantra have a hard time making sense of it and are still pathetically quibbling over what these terms mean.
Look, if you want to read great French literature, read Proust. If you want to see the barren meaninglessness of life displayed in remoreseless detail, read just about anything by Paul Bowles.
This book, as the main character says of himself, is a washout. If you think you're reading something profound here, you're fooling yourself...much as Sartre did.
Rating:
Summary: what is freedom?
Review: the age of reason is the 1st book in a trilogy, roads to freedom. i have not yet read the next two books, but after this one, i plan to. this is an excellent novel.
it is a thinking man's book not an action thriller. it's concepts are existential in nature and deal specifically with the concept of freedom.
the story, which covers only a few days in the the life of character mathieu in 1938 france, deals with mathieu's obsession with his personal freedom. he has just been informed of the unwanted pregnancy of his girlfriend. i personally did not see the pending war as a significant element in the story. it is there, but does not drive the quest for freedom. this is most likely picked up in the later novels. as mathieu searches for funds to abort the child, we meet his friends. all of them have hidden personal problems of their own. the results of this quest and the resolution of his problem make up the storyline.
the interesting issue is the understanding of freedom. what does mathieu think about it in the beginning and how does that change as he reaches the age of reason.
the story is best summed up in mathieu's comment near the end:
"i don't know what i would give to do something irrevocable."
this is a book that raises amazing questions and has the potential of changing your life.
Rating: 
Summary: Desparate People
Review: The title of Jean-Paul Sartre's vividly realistic novel of Paris on the dawn of World War II refers to adults who have achieved sufficient maturity to accept responsibility for their actions. _The Age of Reason_ expertly weaves Sartre's philosophy of existentialism into a compelling story of people who desire freedom and responsibility but are extraordinarily incompetent. The American Heritage Dictionary defines existentialism as "a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe...and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts." Mathieu, the novel's lead character, is in his mid-thirties and proclaims that he would like nothing better than freedom but is curiously lacking in the necessary maturity. A penniless professor, he impregnates his girlfriend, Marcelle, then schemes to beg, borrow and steal to pay for her abortion. Mathieu even toys with the idea of marrying Marcelle. Mathieu is also in love with Ivich, a young woman whose self-inflicted wound Mathieu childishly emulates on a dare. Sartre's novel also contains a self-hating gay man, Daniel, who plans to save Marcelle, but only by further degrading himself and Mathieu in the process. Sartre's writing style is true to life, naturalistic, and is never less than totally engaging. With the author we visit various Paris nightclubs and bars which have just the right touch of darkness and sleaziness. Sartre's characters are hopeless but recognizably human. Lola, a sad, aging nightclub singer, deeply in love with the completely useless Boris (Ivich's younger brother) evokes strong sympathy nonetheless. Even Mathieu, as despicable as his conduct often is, believes by the end that he has finally "...attained the age of reason."
Rating:
Summary: Desparate People
Review: The title of Jean-Paul Sartre's vividly realistic novel of Paris on the dawn of World War II refers to adults who have achieved sufficient maturity to accept responsibility for their actions. _The Age of Reason_ expertly weaves Sartre's philosophy of existentialism into a compelling story of people who desire freedom and responsibility but are extraordinarily incompetent. The American Heritage Dictionary defines existentialism as "a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe...and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts." Mathieu, the novel's lead character, is in his mid-thirties and proclaims that he would like nothing better than freedom but is curiously lacking in the necessary maturity. A penniless professor, he impregnates his girlfriend, Marcelle, then schemes to beg, borrow and steal to pay for her abortion. Mathieu even toys with the idea of marrying Marcelle. Mathieu is also in love with Ivich, a young woman whose self-inflicted wound Mathieu childishly emulates on a dare. Sartre's novel also contains a self-hating gay man, Daniel, who plans to save Marcelle, but only by further degrading himself and Mathieu in the process. Sartre's writing style is true to life, naturalistic, and is never less than totally engaging. With the author we visit various Paris nightclubs and bars which have just the right touch of darkness and sleaziness. Sartre's characters are hopeless but recognizably human. Lola, a sad, aging nightclub singer, deeply in love with the completely useless Boris (Ivich's younger brother) evokes strong sympathy nonetheless. Even Mathieu, as despicable as his conduct often is, believes by the end that he has finally "...attained the age of reason."
Rating:
Summary: Intellectual culture = Ambiguity ?
Review: When does a broke philosophy teacher with a pregnant mistress attain the age of reason ? How can "philosophy" (read higher consciousness), "freedom" (read utopia), and "a life that doesn't cause misery to oneself and others" coexist ? Is that at all possible ?
Sartre ponders upon these questions as does Mathieu, the central character of this book. Mathieu is obsessed with the idea of freedom and does not want to lose it at any cost. On one hand he refuses to marry his mistress of 7 years and on the other, he refuses to join the Communist party when asked by his best friend. Sartre examines the ambiguity of freedom and philosophical formulas at a time when the need for collective effort and active involvement was acute.
The dialogues between Mathieu and other characters - his friends,his brother, his mistress are engaging. Still, at times the book seems a drag but I guess that is because Sartre is painstakingly descriptive about some of the "vacant" characters. Sartre does not come to any conclusion in this book (of course, its the first in the trilogy), yet does not leave the reader unsatisfied(you know what I mean). Personally I didn't find Sartre's ideas in this book to be either original or truly brilliant. What I love about the book is the writing. Miracle words, poetry in one page, brute force in the other.
Read it once.
|
