Book review: The Age of Reason. Writer: Jean Paul Sartre.
Human beings in their very nature take credit for the good, and blame their fellow human beings for the bad. How rarely does man blame himself for his own downfall? 'The Age of Reason', the First Novel of the 'Roads To Freedom' trilogy, inter alia focuses on man's responsibilities for his own actions and sends across a message that man should take the blame for his own actions without blaming anyone.
Matthieu Delarue, a professor in Paris makes enough money to get by. He pays for his lodgings, raiment, liquor and clothes. He is an atheist and a misogamist. His mistress Marcelle, who is fully aware of this declares to Matthieu that he is going to be a father. Delarue takes a decision and it leads to a gossamer of events.
'The Age of Reason' is so sombre that it even surpasses lugubriousness. It is a page turning story, but is still unbearably slow. Delarue is an overthinker and a pessimist, or in his view, a realist with some hints of cynicism and skepticism. Sartre is the founding father of the existentialist school of thought and the book embodies both elements: existence and existentialism. It symbolizes existence in the sense that human beings exist, their trials and tribulations exist and their struggle exists. It assimilates existentialism in the sense that when human beings take certain actions that would influence their lives, they have to acknowledge their own active consciousness in the process and not accord blame to anyone. Matthieu is always cognizant of his conscience when he takes his decisions.
Matthieu comes off as an irresponsibly responsible, yet resolute person. His mistress' pregnancy does not move him in the slightest and the prospect of becoming a father seems far from exciting to him. Matthieu is irresponsible because even if he does not blame other people for his actions, he does not anticipate the consequences of his own.
'The Age of Reason' is a tale laden with many dimensions. Gloom, anger, disgust, sadness, human nature and the quick transition of want into need is very well assimilated in the book. Delarue's decisions lead him to many different dens of the city and he comes into contact with a cornucopia of individuals. This sheds some light on his indifference towards Marcelle, his mistress ever since she gets pregnant, but he does nothing to change that.
Sartre writes about many underlying issues that are in line with the story. The advent of communism, and why it was not necessary to be a communist to love your country. In that, he rivalled with Albert Camus, but intellectually partnered with Simone de Beauvoir. His personal recalcitrance towards the Government then, and sycophancy towards the rule of rationality was such that he even returned the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. He also depicted the society's perception regarding abortion, the life risk it carried for the pregnant woman back then, the way the society viewed single men and women and the prevalent, yet repressed homosexuality. It is noteworthy that even though Sartre regarded reason to be supreme and was mostly apolitical, he never spoke of the greatest apolitical axiom: the axiom of love. Contrary to popular books that capture the spirit and sanguinity of Paris, 'The Age of Reason' represents her gloom.
Everything in the book is so well-depicted that a modern day reader would immediately understand why the book went on to become a classic. The revolutionary content, along with the dual representation of chaos: chaos of Matthieu's from without as he comes across other people and the chaos of Matthieu's from within as he realizes certain things in the process. These realizations are tenebrous enough to take the readers into the deepest and darkest corners of their minds.
'The Age of Reason' needs to be read because of its relevance. Even though man changed and technology came to the forefront, and narrow-minded men reproduced cosmopolite worldlings, the perceptions of the society towards certain things has remained the same.
Overall, 'The Age of Reason' is a wonderful, page-turning, influencing and a vocabulary enhancing read which also would prove to be an asset adorning the readers' bookshelves.
MY TAKE: 8.5/10
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Nicely written!! This storyline seems far away from the mainstream ones and hence intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI think this has the apt level of "granularity" for the review.
8.5 out of 10 in your lookout so that means I need to get this book on my reading list. I loved your review on it and your choice of words are just spectacular.
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