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Content snapshot
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Violence
Barely any
Minimal violence
Language
Some
Adult language in Sartre's literary translation from French
Sexual Content
A lot
Frank adult content including abortion, sexuality, and the sexual lives of Parisian bohemians
Substance Use
Some
Drinking in the 1930s Paris setting
Emotional Intensity
A lot
The existentialist weight of a man who believes in freedom but is incapable of exercising it — Sartre's concept of bad faith made novelistic — creates intense and sustained philosophical anxiety
What this book is about
The first Roads to Freedom novel follows Mathieu Delarue, a Parisian philosophy professor in 1938, who spends two desperate days trying to raise money for his mistress Marcelle's abortion. Sartre explores freedom, responsibility, and bad faith through Mathieu's paralysis — a man who believes in absolute freedom but cannot bring himself to act. The novel is frank about sexuality and abortion with the matter-of-fact honesty of Sartre's existentialist vision. Essential Sartre; for adult readers of literary existentialist fiction.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
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