Why is The Notebook of Malte Laurids Brigge considered an early existentialist work?

The Notebook of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910) is considered a brilliant early example of Existentialist writing because it shifts the focus from the stylistic perfection of "pure poetry" to the subjective, personal struggles of an isolated individual.1

The work is viewed as an existentialist text for several key reasons:

• Focus on Subjectivity and Alienation: The narrative centers on the internal experience of Malte, a young Danish expatriate living in poverty in Paris. It documents the disintegration of his soul amidst the horrors of the city, including encounters with beggars, the disfigured, and the pervasive presence of death.12
• Rejection of Traditional Narrative: By refusing to follow a traditional chronological structure, the work mirrors the existentialist emphasis on the "simultaneous" and fragmented nature of human experience, set against a background of "spatial time".1
• The Problem of Existence: The novel explores major existential themes such as the fears of childhood, the nature of death, and the search for meaning—treating concepts like "God" as a personal "tendency of the heart" rather than an objective certainty.1
• Dialectic of Despair and Bliss: The work captures the existential tension between misery and potential transcendence, exemplified by Malte’s reflection that his deepest suffering could, in a single step, turn into bliss.1