1) Who is she ?
French woman of letters, Simone de Beauvoir is recognized throughout the world thanks to her feminist essay entitled The Second Sex. His love affair, which was particularly marginal for the time with the philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, gives him a special status as an independent and totally liberated woman.
2) Simone de Beauvoir: some key dates:
January 9, 1908: Birth of Simone de Beauvoir. His father is a lawyer. His mother is a fervent Catholic.
January 1, 1929: Meeting with Jean-Paul Sartre. The two philosophers meet at a very young age at the end of their higher education. They prepare together the aggregation of philosophy.
October 1, 1945: Foundation of "Modern Times" with Jean-Paul Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. Literary, cultural, political and philosophy, this review clearly shows the political commitments of Simone de Beauvoir. It will become the journal of socialist intellectuals.
May 1, 1949: Publication of the "Second Sex". This resounding book advocates the emancipation of women. It denounces a society that alienates the human race.
December 6, 1954: Prix Goncourt for Simone de Beauvoir. Reward for the book "The Mandarins".
October 1, 1958: Publication of "Memoirs of a young girl", her autobiography.
April 14, 1986: Death of Simone de Beauvoir.
3) Why is she a unique woman of the 20th century?
Atheism : Elder of a family of two children, she receives a severe and traditional maternal education. As a child, she studied at Institut Désir, a Catholic school. She rejects these teachings very early by declaring herself totally atheist. She discovers then a deep passion for reading and writing.
Anti-conformist relationship with J-P Sartre : Both have a very strong intellectual and emotional relationship but do not conform to the marital life. They refuse to live together. External liaisons are part of their relationship. Sometimes a third person appears in their love game. The report that Simone de Beauvoir has with J-P Sartre perfectly illustrates his thoughts on the position of women in the society of the twentieth century.
A committed writer : Integrates the socialist movement, creates the magazine of "Modern Times", is committed to the condition of women. She tries to show how much the woman is alienated by the man. She supports the emancipation of women with Claude Levi-Strauss.
Culture of the voyage : From 1947, Simone de Beauvoir launches to the discovery of the world. She first goes to the United States, where she will meet her lover Nelson Algren. She travels Africa and Europe. In 1955, she arrived in China. She discovered Cuba and Brazil in the early 1960s, then stayed in the USSR. His various travels abroad allow him to enrich his works.
4) The Second Sex :
Published in 1949, The Second Sex greatly contributed to the success of its author, Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986), who strives here to disassemble a myth forged for millennia by men through "cosmologies, religions, superstitions , ideologies, literatures ": according to her, femininity is in no way a condition, a nature, an essence, but a situation imposed by the desire to be a woman.
5) Quotes from Simone de Beauvoir :
"One is not born woman: one becomes it."
"The free woman is only born."
"To want oneself free is also to want others free."
If you still have questions about Simone de Beauvoir, here is the link of a show on France Culture: "Simone de Beauvoir, life absolutely".
Hi ! Good introduction about Simone de Beauvoir. I liked "The Second Sex" but I don't know a lot of books that discuss the subject of feminism. I recently read the book "Le rire de la Méduse" by Hélène Cixous which I recommend ! Although Cixous' approach is different from De Beauvoir's, it seemed nice to me to talk about another french author !