Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)
Author of The Second Sex
About the Author
Simone de Beauvoir, 1908 - 1986 Simone de Beauvoir was born January 9, 1908 in Paris, France to a respected bourgeois family. Her father was a lawyer, her mother a housewife, and together they raised two daughters to be intelligent, inquisitive individuals. de Beauvoir attended the elementary show more school Cours Desir in 1913, then L'Institute Sainte Nary under the tutelage of Robert Garric, followed by the Institute Catholique in Paris, before finally attending the Sorbonne, where she graduated from in 1929. It was there that she met the man who would become her life long friend and companion, John Paul Sartre, who contributed to her philosophy of life. She is perhaps best know for her novel entitled "The Second Sex", which describes the ideal that women are an indescribable "other", something "made, not born", and a declaration of feminine independence. After graduating from the Sorbonne, de Beauvoir went on to teach Latin at Lycee Victor Duruy, philosophy at a school in Marseilles, and a few other teaching positions before coming to teach at the Sorbonne. During the course of her twelve years of teaching, from 1931 to 1943, de Beauvoir developed the basis for her philosophical thought. She used her formal philosophy background to also comment on feminism and existentialism. Her personal philosophy was that freedom of choice is man's utmost gift of value. Acts of goodness make one more free, acts of evil decrease that selfsame freedom. In 1945, de Beauvoir and Sartre founded and edited Le Temps Modernes, a monthly review of philosophical thought and trends. In 1943, with the money she had earned from teaching, de Beauvoir turned her full attention to writing, producing first "L'Envitee", then "Pyrrhus et Cineas" in 1944. In 1948, she wrote perhaps her most famous philosophical work, "The Ethics of Ambiguity". "The Second Sex", regarded by many as the seminal work in the field of feminism, is her most famous work. Other works include "The Coming of Age", which addresses society's condemnation of old age, the award winning novel "The Mandarins", "A Very Easy Death", about the death of her mother and a four part biography. In "The Woman Destroyed", a collection of two long stories and one short novel, de Beauvoir discusses middle age. One of her last novels was in the form of a diary recording; it told of the slow death of her life-long compatriot, Jean Paul Sartre. On April 14, 1986, Simone de Beauvoir, one of the mothers of feminism, passed away in her home in Paris. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Simone de Beauvoir, Paris, 1957
Series
Works by Simone de Beauvoir
Hard Times: Force of Circumstance, Volume II: 1952-1962 (The Autobiography of Simone de Beauvoir) (1963) 168 copies
After The second sex : conversations with Simone De Beauvoir (1983) — some editions; Author — 113 copies, 2 reviews
Djamila Boupacha: The story of the torture of a young Algerian girl which shocked liberal French opinion (1962) 33 copies
A History of Sex 7 copies
Memorias de una joven formal. Una muerte muy dulce (Edhasa Literaria) (Spanish Edition) (2008) 6 copies
Memorias de Simone de Beauvoir - Caixa Exclusiva com 3 Volumes (Em Portugues do Brasil) (2018) 6 copies
Nature of the second sex 4 copies
From The Second Sex 4 copies
Lettere al Castoro e ad altre amiche : 1926-1963 — Editor — 4 copies
Lijepe slike & Vrlo blaga smrt 4 copies
Det andet køn bind 3 3 copies
Obras completas 3 copies
Œuvres de Simone de Beauvoir tome 10 2 copies
Pour une morale de l'ambiguïté. 2 copies
El Marqués de Sade 2 copies
J.P. Sartre versus Merleau-Ponty 2 copies
Kadınlığımın Hikayesi 2 copies
Fiche de lecture Le Deuxième sexe (tome 1) de Simone de Beauvoir (Analyse littéraire de référence et résumé complet) (French Edition) (2020) 2 copies
The Marquis De Sade 1 copy
Les Mandarins - Tome I 1 copy
Les Mandarins - Tome II 1 copy
SEKSI I DYTË II 1 copy
L' Invitée 1 copy
Nierozłączne 1 copy
Прелестные картинки; Очень легкая смерть; Сломленная [Повести]; Нужно ли сжечь маркиза де Сада? :… 1 copy
De Beauvoir; or, Second love 1 copy
La Vieillesse 1 copy
Monoloog 1 copy
A mulher desiludida . Tradução de Helena Silveira e Maryan A. Bon Barbosa. Livro capa dura cor verde 1 copy
Prime Of Life 1 copy
¿Para que la acción? 1 copy
La cerimonia degli addii 1 copy
A Mulher Desiludida 1 copy
LA FORCE DE L´AGE 1 copy
LA CÉRÉMONIE DES ADIEUX 1 copy
L´AMÉRIQUE AU JOUR LE JOUR 1 copy
Femeia sfâșiată - nuvele 1 copy
MIKESHA 1 copy
Η Καλεσμένη 1 copy
Le deuxiéme sexe, I 1 copy
de Beauvoir, Simone Archive 1 copy
LA CEREMONIA DEL ADIOS seguido de CONVERSACIONES CON JEAN-PAUL SARTRE. Agosto-Septiembre de 1974 1 copy
Pridošlica 1 copy
L’ETA’ FORTE. 1 copy
The Vagabond 1 copy
SEKSI I DYTË I 1 copy
Lo spirituale un tempo 1 copy
L' età forte 1 copy
De la mémoire aux projets 1 copy
Kadın 1 copy
[The Works of Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex and The Ethics Of Ambiguity] [By: Beauvoir, Simone de] [April, 2011] (2011) 1 copy
Plenitud de la vida 1 copy
Ben Bir Feministim 1 copy
Günümüzde Sağcı Fikirler 1 copy
İkinci Cinsiyet - 1 1 copy
KONUK KIZ 1 copy
La ceremonia del adiós ; seguido de Conversaciones con Jean-paul Sartre : agosto-septiembre 1974 1 copy
Một cái chết rất dịu dàng 1 copy
O Sangue dos Outros 1 copy
Privilèges 1 copy
155.9 BEA 1 copy
The women destroyed 1 copy
Sevenler de Ölür 1 copy
Na Força da Idade II 1 copy
Na Força da Idade I 1 copy
Kadınlığımın Hikayesi 1 copy
De andres Blod : Roman 1 copy
Associated Works
The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings (1785) — Introduction, some editions — 1,292 copies, 19 reviews
Shoah: An Oral History of the Holocaust: The Complete Text of the Film (1985) — Preface — 668 copies, 7 reviews
The Assassin's Cloak: An Anthology of the World's Greatest Diarists (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 622 copies, 9 reviews
Cries of the Spirit: A Celebration of Women's Spirituality (2000) — Contributor — 404 copies, 2 reviews
Sisterhood Is Global: The International Women's Movement Anthology (1984) — Contributor — 214 copies
Jo's Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure, True Grit, and Real Life (1997) — Contributor — 48 copies
* De Provence Lege Artis: Verhalen uit het land van Van Gogh — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Beauvoir, Simone de
- Legal name
- Beauvoir, Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de
- Other names
- Castor, Le (pseudonym)
- Birthdate
- 1908-01-09
- Date of death
- 1986-04-14
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Institut Catholique (Mathematics)
Institut Sainte-Marie (Literature/Languages)
Sorbonne University (BA|1928|MA|1929) - Occupations
- philosopher
teacher
writer
journalist
playwright
political activist (show all 7)
feminist - Organizations
- Les Temps Modernes
- Awards and honors
- Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1978)
Jerusalem Prize (1975)
Prix Goncourt (1954) - Relationships
- Sartre, Jean-Paul (partner)
Algren, Nelson (lover) - Short biography
- Simone de Beauvoir was born in Paris to a devoutly Catholic bourgeois family. She was educated at a convent boarding school and originally wanted to become a nun; however, she lost her faith at age 14. After passing her baccalaureate exams, she studied mathematics at the Institut Catholique and literature and languages at the Institut Sainte-Marie, before entering the Sorbonne to study philosophy. She wrote her thesis on Leibniz. She sat in on courses at the École Normale Supérieure to prepare for the agrégation (postgrad exam) in philosophy, and it was there that she met Jean-Paul Sartre. De Beauvoir became a teacher, intellectual, and well-known writer, beginning with her first novel, She Came to Stay (1943). She also produced philosophical essays, plays, memoirs, travel diaries, and newspaper articles, and served as an editor of the influential literary review Les Temps modernes. She won the Prix Goncourt for her 1954 novel The Mandarins. De Beauvoir became a key figure in the struggle for women's rights in France and worldwide, sparked by her feminist work The Second Sex (1949). With her lifelong companion Sartre, she was a central player in the important philosophical debates of the 20th century.
- Cause of death
- pneumonia
- Nationality
- France
- Birthplace
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Places of residence
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Place of death
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Burial location
- Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris, Île-de-France, France
- Associated Place (for map)
- Paris, Île-de-France, France
Members
Discussions
The Second Sex — 2016 group read in Feminist Theory (November 2017)
Second Sex--thoughts? in Feminist Theory (March 2016)
de Beauvoir : The Second Sex in Author Theme Reads (October 2013)
de Beauvoir class and paper in Philosophy and Theory (March 2008)
Reviews
I read this back when I was a teenager in the 50's when life as a woman was becoming visible in a disturbing way. I am more observer than participator but also a victim. I was very aware of my female place in the order of things and often despaired and the unfairness, the inequity, the vulnerability and the sheer workhorse aspect of being a woman, wife, mother and later office worker who put in the same hours for half the pay and came home to a second and third job. This book lingered and show more perhaps opened my eyes too far and tainted my experience of life but it was true in every aspect. With Roe vs Wade being overturned within the month, guaranteed, I am reminded of those years of terror of pregnancy and back alley abortions. Then having to fight my doctor for a tubal litigation after two abortions, one child given up for adoption and now raising two...I was thirty and he refused. I did manage to work around him and got my wish but it was another example of my having no control over or decision making over my own body. So here I am rereading and despairing once more for womankind. We accomplished so much, we fought and came so far but the machine is working to take us back in time, take away all our gains and put the next generation in chains again. show less
Tremendo romance do pós guerra, narrativa bifurcada com dois pontos de vista que culmina num último capítulo verdadeiramente brilhante, personagens maravilho e densamente escritos, além de ser um tratado biográfico dos envolvidos pincelados através de Sartre, Camus, Algren e a própria autora. Provavelmente a melhor obra de ficção de Beauvoir.
Simone de Beauvoir's The Mandarins had been sitting on my shelf for several years and a trip to Paris made me finally pick it up. Though it's not an easy book to read, I enjoyed it and learned a lot about life in Paris during and after WWII.
The Mandarins is about a group of writers and intellectuals living in Paris during the 1940s and 50s. Beauvoir writes about her circle, only lightly veiling the characters. Robert Dubreuihl is Jean Paul Sartre (Beauvoir's partner), Anne Dubreuihl is show more Beauvoir herself, and Henri Perron is their friend Albert Camus. I had read some non fiction recently that helped this to mean something to me. However, at the remove of decades, the revealing of these real-life people's motivations and lives was probably less meaningful to me than it was to readers who read this in the 1950s.
What was very meaningful to me, though, was the deep dive into political and philosophical life in Paris during and after WWII. It was so interesting to see the shifts, and the flailing for understanding, as these intelligent people try to make sense of their world and what they can and can't do to influence it. During the War, I got the sense that things were somehow simpler. There is an active, clear enemy, and all acts of resistance, small and large, "count". But after the war, many in this circle flounder. Their relationships become tense as they take slightly different political stances. Their relationships suffer as they look back on how they all dealt with the war. Their relationships suffer as they try to create a new future. But at the same time, they've been through so much together that they have very strong ties.
There is also a generational divide explored. Anne and Robert's daughter, Nadine, is a key character. Only 17 during the heart of the war, and having lost her first true love to the war, she is struggling to find a path in a country that is changing. I really enjoyed her story.
Overall, there are times when this book is a bit tedious. There are many philosophical musings, there are somewhat ridiculous (as in overwrought) love stories, and the action shifts somewhat abruptly between Henri Perron's story and Anne's first person narrative chapters. Despite all of that, I found so much to love in this book. I learned so much about the war years and the aftermath of the war, and I came to deeply know and care about all the characters. I expect I will be thinking about them all for a long time to come. show less
The Mandarins is about a group of writers and intellectuals living in Paris during the 1940s and 50s. Beauvoir writes about her circle, only lightly veiling the characters. Robert Dubreuihl is Jean Paul Sartre (Beauvoir's partner), Anne Dubreuihl is show more Beauvoir herself, and Henri Perron is their friend Albert Camus. I had read some non fiction recently that helped this to mean something to me. However, at the remove of decades, the revealing of these real-life people's motivations and lives was probably less meaningful to me than it was to readers who read this in the 1950s.
What was very meaningful to me, though, was the deep dive into political and philosophical life in Paris during and after WWII. It was so interesting to see the shifts, and the flailing for understanding, as these intelligent people try to make sense of their world and what they can and can't do to influence it. During the War, I got the sense that things were somehow simpler. There is an active, clear enemy, and all acts of resistance, small and large, "count". But after the war, many in this circle flounder. Their relationships become tense as they take slightly different political stances. Their relationships suffer as they look back on how they all dealt with the war. Their relationships suffer as they try to create a new future. But at the same time, they've been through so much together that they have very strong ties.
There is also a generational divide explored. Anne and Robert's daughter, Nadine, is a key character. Only 17 during the heart of the war, and having lost her first true love to the war, she is struggling to find a path in a country that is changing. I really enjoyed her story.
Overall, there are times when this book is a bit tedious. There are many philosophical musings, there are somewhat ridiculous (as in overwrought) love stories, and the action shifts somewhat abruptly between Henri Perron's story and Anne's first person narrative chapters. Despite all of that, I found so much to love in this book. I learned so much about the war years and the aftermath of the war, and I came to deeply know and care about all the characters. I expect I will be thinking about them all for a long time to come. show less
She had said to Professor B 'But what shall we say to Maman when the disease starts again, in another place?' 'Don't worry about that. We shall find something to say. We always do. And the patient always believes it.'
Simone de Beauvoir's memoir about her mother's final few weeks is both a look back at how medicine was practiced in the sixties in France, and an honest look at how a daughter dealt with that experience. Things were very different, it was routine to lie to dying patients, at show more least the women, and so a delicate dance begins, where no one talks directly about what is happening, both the patient and all who come into contact with her playact that she is recuperating nicely, despite all evidence to the contrary. But setting that aside, de Beauvoir is honest about her contentious relationship with her mother and how deeply she feels that she must be there for her at the end. While medical practices have changed dramatically is some ways -- we no longer keep someone immobilized for months to allow a broken bone to heal without medical intervention -- and remained the same in others -- the underpayment of nursing home staff -- there's a universality of this story and anyone who has cared for an elderly person, or been with them in their final days, will recognize much in this slim book. show less
Simone de Beauvoir's memoir about her mother's final few weeks is both a look back at how medicine was practiced in the sixties in France, and an honest look at how a daughter dealt with that experience. Things were very different, it was routine to lie to dying patients, at show more least the women, and so a delicate dance begins, where no one talks directly about what is happening, both the patient and all who come into contact with her playact that she is recuperating nicely, despite all evidence to the contrary. But setting that aside, de Beauvoir is honest about her contentious relationship with her mother and how deeply she feels that she must be there for her at the end. While medical practices have changed dramatically is some ways -- we no longer keep someone immobilized for months to allow a broken bone to heal without medical intervention -- and remained the same in others -- the underpayment of nursing home staff -- there's a universality of this story and anyone who has cared for an elderly person, or been with them in their final days, will recognize much in this slim book. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 241
- Also by
- 34
- Members
- 28,928
- Popularity
- #692
- Rating
- 3.9
- Reviews
- 295
- ISBNs
- 1,083
- Languages
- 29
- Favorited
- 112
