Content Warning: These Chapter Summaries and Analyses refer to pedophilia, suicidal ideation, self-harm, fatphobia, ableism, racist stereotypes, and sexual assault, which feature in Nausea.

Nausea is presented to the reader as a real diary found and published by unnamed editors. The first few pages are undated, while the remainder are dated to the beginning of the year 1932. The editors’ brief note sets the stage: The diary belongs to Antoine Roquentin, who settled in the French city of Bouville to research the fictitious Marquis de Rollebon after traveling the world in the years prior.

In the undated section, Antoine mulls over the consequences of keeping a diary. He worries that keeping a diary will lead him to exaggerate the truth since a diary will naturally make him look for consistency in his own thoughts and experiences. Antoine has felt disconnected from the world recently and hopes that a diary will help him better understand his own feelings. On a Saturday, Antoine is on a regular walk and decides to throw a stone into the ocean. Upon picking up the stone, he is overwhelmed by its existence and sensation against his hand.