Simone de Beauvoir
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." --The Second Sex (1949) by Simone de Beauvoir ‘But the situation is concrete,’ replies Françoise, ‘the whole meaning of my life is at stake.’ ‘I’m not saying it isn’t,’ says Pierre. ‘Just the same, this ability of yours to put body and soul into living an idea is exceptional.’ --She Came to Stay (1943) by Simone de Beauvoir |
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Simone de Beauvoir (9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.
De Beauvoir wrote novels, essays, biographies, autobiography and monographs on philosophy, politics, and social issues. She was known for her 1949 treatise The Second Sex, a detailed analysis of women's oppression and a foundational tract of contemporary feminism; and for her novels, including She Came to Stay and The Mandarins. She was also known for her lifelong relationship with French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
Bibliography
- She Came to Stay, (1943)
- Pyrrhus et Cinéas, (1944)
- The Blood of Others, (1945)
- Who Shall Die?, (1945)
- All Men are Mortal, (1946)
- The Ethics of Ambiguity, (1947)
- The Second Sex, (1949)
- America Day by Day, (1954)
- The Mandarins, (1954)
- Must We Burn Sade?, (1955)
- The Long March, (1957)
- Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, (1958)
- The Prime of Life, (1960)
- Force of Circumstance, (1963)
- A Very Easy Death, (1964)
- Les Belles Images, (1966)
- The Woman Destroyed, (1967)
- The Coming of Age, (1970)
- All Said and Done, (1972)
- When Things of the Spirit Come First, (1979)
- Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre, (1981)
- Letters to Sartre, (1990)
- A Transatlantic Love Affair: Letters to Nelson Algren, (1998)
Translations
- Patrick O'Brian was Beauvoir's principal English translator, until he attained commercial success as a novelist.
- Philosophical Writings (Urbana : University of Illinois Press, 2004, edited by Margaret A. Simons et al.) contains a selection of essays by Beauvoir translated for the first time into English. Among those are: Pyrrhus and Cineas, discussing the futility or utility of action, two previously unpublished chapters from her novel She Came to Stay and an introduction to Ethics of Ambiguity.