The first volume of Jean-Paul Sartre's trilogy Roads to Freedom, The Age of Reason, is a philosophical novel exploring existential concepts of freedom, translated by Eric Sutton with an introduction by David Couzens Hoy in the Penguin Modern Classics series.

Set in the troubled summer of 1938 in Paris, The Age of Reason follows two days in the life of Mathieu Delarue, a philosophy professor, and his circle in the cafes and bars of Montparnasse. So far, Mathieu has managed to keep sex and personal freedom in conveniently separate compartments. However, now he finds himself in a difficult position, trying to gather 4,000 francs to secure a safe abortion for his mistress, Marcelle.

Amidst all this, casting an unsettling light on his situation, looms the distant threat of the advent of World War II.

Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) was a subversive French philosopher, novelist, and playwright, widely recognized as the central figure in post-war European culture and thought. Sartre famously refused the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964, arguing that "a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution." His most well-known works, all published by Penguin, include The Age of Reason, Nausea, and The Reprieve.

If you enjoyed The Age of Reason, you might also be interested in Sartre's Nausea, also available in the Penguin Modern Classics series.

Pages: 320, Dimensions: 13x13cm