Paris between the wars is its usual fascinating self, and the characterisation is fun: all sorts of odd-bods for Sartre to manipulate into interesting conversations. It’s quite interesting: Will he get the money? Who among his friends will he ask for it? What’s his relationship with those he asks? Do they refuse, and why? What then? Will she do something about it? Or does she really want to keep the baby? You could read this book at that level alone and enjoy it because it’s an engaging issue and the novel is well-written and constructed and the translation is good. It’s the story of Mathieu Delarue, a philosophy teacher, and his not-very-energetic efforts to find 4000 francs for his girlfriend Marcelle’s abortion. It’s a chronological narrative with fairly orderly narrators giving the point-of-view of the main characters, and the plot is easy to follow. Translated by Eric Sutton and with a helpful introduction by David Caute, this ‘Popular Penguin’ edition seems at one level to be like many another novel. Sartre has a rather intimidating reputation but I found The Age of Reason easy reading.
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