The Age of Reason

Jean-Paul Sartre · 1905–1980 · France

Originally L'Âge de raison (French)

Why it matters

A philosophy professor in 1938 Paris seeks money for his mistress's abortion while circling, and failing to act on, his own freedom. The opening volume of Sartre's Roads to Freedom trilogy stages existentialism as lived, hesitant crisis.

At a glance

Extended philosophical dialogue on freedom slows a single day's compressed plot.