We find Sartre's novel Disgust difficult to read. It has a strong philosophical flavor, but it is different from the so-called philosophical novels. The kind of novel is one or more definite philosophical ideas to be expressed, and then several characters are made up as puppets, and this or these views are expressed through their mouths. Strictly speaking, this is not a real work of literature, and getting it well is a popular expression of philosophy, and getting it bad is something that is not a donkey or a horse.
Disgust does not explain any definite philosophical theories, but rather Sartre expresses them in novel form because his thoughts and feelings about nausea and existence are vague and unclear. He felt that writing a philosophical work on the subject of disgust did not satisfy his desire to express himself.
In this way, if we focus on extracting a few philosophical ideas from Disgust, I am afraid it will be a thankless task. Let's talk about feelings with vagueness.
"Disgust" focuses on the psychological state of a lonely Logandine: disgust, nausea, the desire for adventure, the sense of absurdity, the consciousness of contingency、...... 。 Seeing Logandine's strange thoughts and actions, we wonder if this person is a bit insane. In fact, after "Disgust" was written, many people thought the author was a madman (poor Sartre!). Or the author is writing the story of a madman.
Picking up a small stone and floating in the water, he suddenly lost the desire to throw it out; he was eager to pick up the broken paper from the ground, but his hand could not move; he held a wet hand and suddenly felt as if he were holding a fat white worm; when he looked close to the glass, he suddenly saw in the reflection of his enlarged blood-red ugly eyes,...... We've all had these experiences, but we don't dwell on them like Logantine did. Always immersed in these feelings, always taking these feelings seriously, we will go to the psychiatrist to see if our spirit is abnormal, we have obsessive-compulsive disorder or something. We habitually believe that our attention should be on something else, on things, behaviors, and relationships that are rational or can be said.
Logantine was different from us, and we felt a bit like a lunatic. But wait! "Disgust" happens to talk about a "madman" Mr. Achill. He was a lonely man like Logandine, and his presence in the hotel disturbed everyone, but dr. Loyer, who was experienced and good at giving to humans, pointed to this man and said, "He's an old lunatic, that's what happened." So everyone was relieved, and even better, the "old madman" himself was relieved that he could deal with himself—an old madman. He was categorized and explained by a general concept of "madman." So everyone was glad that nothing new had emerged. "There is nothing to do in the world, and the mediocre disturb themselves."
But Mr. Alki is not an old lunatic, he just feels afraid. When he understood something, he suddenly felt lonely, no one could ask for help, everything in the past in this world could not help him, and his strangeness and uneasiness were for this.
Maybe Logantine wasn't just a "lunatic"? Maybe you can see a more real world from the eyes of this "madman"? Maybe Logantine's abnormality reflects the abnormality of this society and the world?
Fromm said that in modern civilized society, those who are so-called sick are actually normal, because they cannot adapt to the sick things in civilized society and thus appear sick in themselves, which is a kind of rebellion against sick civilization - psychologically. On the contrary, the so-called normal people are actually really sick, and this "normal" is a disguised statement of numbness. They are accustomed to sick things, they are terminally ill.
[This article is excerpted from the book "The Wind Blows Between the Two Mountains" (Huang Zhongjing et al., Jiangxi People's Publishing House, 1989 edition)]
Why did Mr. Dong Dingshan use such unbearable language to scold Sartre? (Love and Seduction)