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Fiction

Al’s Existential Breakfast

Stuart Hanscomb on fry-ups and Nausea.

In the discussion after his presentation of Existentialism and Humanism, Jean-Paul Sartre said that the idea of existential anxiety does not extend to the choice between a millefeuille and a chocolate éclair, but he might have thought differently if he’d ever eaten a full English breakfast.

I’ll explain.

Last Friday I returned to my East End home after an away bender on the other side of town. I was dreaming I’d been turned into a gigantic bed-bug, but the reality was worse. A hangover of terminal proportions, still fullyclothed, under some filthy fag-burnt blanket … My friend and his mates aren’t down and outs – they’re not even students – but they’ve not got the message.

…