沙特的《噁心》簡介

「存在主義經典選讀」
吳俊業
2021
1. 作品背景與故事梗概
◼ 《噁心》（La Nausée）是沙特 (Jean-Paul Sartre) 的一部哲學小說，發表
於1938年。
◼ 小說場景發生在虛構的「布維爾」 (Bouville，意味泥鎮)，一個類似於勒
阿弗爾 (Le Havre) 的小鎮，沙特在寫這篇小說時，他就在勒阿弗爾生活
和教書。
◼ 日記體的第一人稱記述 (哲學小說的傳統如伏爾泰的《憨德弟》(Candide)
等多以寓言方式書寫)，主角羅岡丹以之幫助自己理解近日纏繞著自己的
噁心感。小說探討一個年約三十多歲的作家羅岡丹（Antoine Roquentin）
的心理經歷與思想掙扎。他確信某種莫名的東西和情境入侵他的生命之
內，滲透在他的理智和精神自由之中，激起了某種想要嘔吐的噁心感。
◼ 沙特自認為是自己最好的作品之一，其伴侶西蒙娜-德-波娃（Simone de
Beauvoir）則認為， 《噁心》是存在主義的典範作品之一。
◼ 卡繆：小說每章「在苦澀與真相中臻至完美」，但整體來說，文學描述
與哲學之間並不平衡，它們「並不能相加成為一部藝術作品：從一個方
面到另一個方面的通道太迅速，太沒有動機，不能喚起讀者的深刻信任，
而這種確信正是小說的藝術。」
何謂「噁心」(Nausea)
◼ “There is something new, for example, about my hands…a sort of
nausea of the hands.”
◼ 他對於世界的知覺也慢慢改變，但他自己無法明確說明是什麼
一回事。
◼ 並非純心理狀態：“The nausea isn’t inside me: I can feel it over
there on the wall, on the braces, everywhere around me. It is one
with the café, it is I who am inside it.”
◼ “Nothing looked real; I felt surrounded by cardboard scenery
which could suddenly be removed”
◼ “Nothing has changed and yet everything is different” – 並非幻
覺，並非想像新的現實，而是以不同方式看待現實。
何謂「噁心」(Nausea)
◼ 事物漸漸喪失它們的功能、目的和重要性，而我們用
以理解與掌握事物的概念和標籤，似乎突然間從事物
身上剝落，事物重新顯露出某種純粹而陌生的、屬於
它們本身的存在。
◼ “But the word remains on my lips, it refuses to settle on
the thing”
◼ “Things have broken free from their names … it seems
ridiculous to call them seats or say anything at all about
them: I am in the midst of Things which cannot be given
names.”
◼ “Everything is full, existence everywhere, dense and
heavy and sweet.”
何謂「噁心」(Nausea)
◼ 事物似乎失去了它們的穩固性，變得沒有意義和重要性的一堆
東西，因而顯得徹底是「多餘的」(superfluous, de trop)。
◼ 先前覺得熟悉的東西，變得無法理解。
◼ 「絕無活下去的理由」，然而：
“I dreamed vaguely of killing myself, to destroy at least one of these
superfluous existences. But my death itself would have been
superfluous. Superfluous, my corpse, my blood on these pebbles,
between these plants, in the depths of this charming park. And the
decomposed flesh would have been superfluous in the earth which
would have received it, and my bones, finally, cleaned, stripped,
neat and clean as teeth, would also have been superfluous, I was
superfluous for all time.”
存在與本質
◼ 存在與本質分立：後者對應事物是些什麼，其「何所是」 (What it is)──
如是蘋果、是書桌、是手錶、是鈔票；前著對應事物的於此時此處的實
是，其「斯所是」(That it is)，即這個、那個，等等。
◼ 在《噁心》中，沙特認為：(1) 存在先於本質；(2) 本質人為構作 (人文造
作, human creation )、存在則為本然、偶然。
◼ “All the objects around me were made of the same material as I”
◼ “I was the root of the chestnut tree. Or rather I was all consciousness of its
existence. Still detached from it – since I was conscious of it – and yet lost in
it, nothing but it.”
◼ 存在是遍在的，無可迴避，不能擺脫；羅崗丹發現，無論他面向何處，
所碰到的都是存在。
◼ 最後羅崗丹知道應該如何表述「存在」： “And suddenly, all at once, the
veil is torn away, I have understood, I have seen.”
存在與本質
◼ “Existence is not something which allows itself
to be thought of from a distance; it has to invade
you suddenly, pounce upon you, weigh heavily on
your like a huge motionless animal – or else there
is nothing left at all.”
◼ Being-in-itself 與 Being-for-itself 的區分：
“Now when I say ‘I’, it seems hollow to me. I can
no longer manage to feel myself, I am so forgotten.
The only real thing left in me is some existence
which can feel itself existing”
. 解方

◼依靠藝術創作來瞭解自己的方
式，成為羅昆丁治療自己噁心症
的終極良藥。他在爵士樂唱片上
聽到的音樂，既沒有讓他屈服於
絕望，也說服他正視事物的赤裸
裸的存在，並寫出一部小說。