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The Self-Taught Man
Anny is Roquentin’s ex-lover, whom he hasn’t seen for four years. Anny and Roquentin travelled the world together and apart, reuniting in hotel rooms when they could. Anny briefly worked as an actress in stage plays in London. Now, she travels in luxury as a mistress to rich men. She and Roquentin reunite after she sends him a letter, begging him to come visit her in Paris. At their meeting, she eagerly informs him that she has changed: no more the demanding, idealistic girl who sought to make everything a “perfect moment,” Anny is now a tired and disillusioned woman. Just as Roquentin has lost his sense of adventure, Anny is no longer able to sense perfect moments. In her pursuit of perfect moments, Anny was often irritable, cruel, and morose with Roquentin, who never knew how to satisfy her desires. Now that Anny can no longer pursue perfect moments at all, she lives in the past, using the force of her imagination to relieve the perfect moments that have passed her by. Like Roquentin, she feels that she has no reason to live—and unlike Roquentin, she doesn’t think that reigniting their romantic relationship could give her a reason to go on. Instead, Roquentin watches her leave for Egypt with her new lover, knowing that neither of them is happy, but that they can’t solve each other’s problems, either.
Anny Quotes in Nausea
The Nausea quotes below are all either spoken by Anny or refer to Anny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11: Friday, 3.00 p.m.
Quotes
I have never had adventures. Things have happened to me, events, incidents, anything you like. But no adventures. It isn’t a question of words; I am beginning to understand. There is something to which I clung more than all the rest — without completely realizing it. […] It was ... I had imagined that at certain times my life could take on a rare and precious quality. There was no need for extraordinary circumstances: all I asked for was a little precision. There is nothing brilliant about my life now: but from time to time, for example, when they play music in the cafes, I look back and tell myself : in old days, in London, Meknes, Tokyo, I have known great moments, I have had adventures. Now I am deprived of this. I have suddenly learned, without any apparent reason, that I have been lying to myself for ten years. And naturally, everything they tell about in books can happen in real life, but not in the same way. It is to this way of happening that I clung so tightly.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31: Tuesday, in Bouville
Quotes
What if something were to happen? What if something suddenly started throbbing? Then they would notice it was there and they’d think their hearts were going to burst. Then what good would their dykes, bulwarks, power houses, furnaces and pile drivers be to them? It can happen any time, perhaps right now: the omens are present. For example, the father of a family might go out for a walk, and, across the street, he’ll see something like a red rag, blown towards him by the wind. And when the rag has gotten close to him he’ll see that it is a side of rotten meat, grimy with dust, dragging itself along by crawling, skipping, a piece of writhing flesh rolling in the gutter, spasmodically shooting out spurts of blood. […] Then you will see other people, suddenly plunged into solitude.
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Anny Quotes in Nausea
The Nausea quotes below are all either spoken by Anny or refer to Anny. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11: Friday, 3.00 p.m.
Quotes
I have never had adventures. Things have happened to me, events, incidents, anything you like. But no adventures. It isn’t a question of words; I am beginning to understand. There is something to which I clung more than all the rest — without completely realizing it. […] It was ... I had imagined that at certain times my life could take on a rare and precious quality. There was no need for extraordinary circumstances: all I asked for was a little precision. There is nothing brilliant about my life now: but from time to time, for example, when they play music in the cafes, I look back and tell myself : in old days, in London, Meknes, Tokyo, I have known great moments, I have had adventures. Now I am deprived of this. I have suddenly learned, without any apparent reason, that I have been lying to myself for ten years. And naturally, everything they tell about in books can happen in real life, but not in the same way. It is to this way of happening that I clung so tightly.
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 31: Tuesday, in Bouville
Quotes
What if something were to happen? What if something suddenly started throbbing? Then they would notice it was there and they’d think their hearts were going to burst. Then what good would their dykes, bulwarks, power houses, furnaces and pile drivers be to them? It can happen any time, perhaps right now: the omens are present. For example, the father of a family might go out for a walk, and, across the street, he’ll see something like a red rag, blown towards him by the wind. And when the rag has gotten close to him he’ll see that it is a side of rotten meat, grimy with dust, dragging itself along by crawling, skipping, a piece of writhing flesh rolling in the gutter, spasmodically shooting out spurts of blood. […] Then you will see other people, suddenly plunged into solitude.
