A travers le traitement de la question de l'autre developpe dans «L'invitee» a partir de ... more A travers le traitement de la question de l'autre developpe dans «L'invitee» a partir de la scene du meurtre de Xaviere par Francoise, l'A. defend la these selon laquelle l'ethique de S. de Beauvoir differe des relations masochistes et sadiques decrites par Sartre dans «L'Etre et le neant». S'interessant aux premieres oeuvres de Beauvoir, et analysant le contenu de son journal d'etudiante datant d'avant sa rencontre avec Sartre, l'A. montre que S. de Beauvoir a construit sa propre philosophie a partir de l'opposition du moi et de l'autre, de l'egoisme et de l'amour, concluant, contrairement au solipsisme sartrien, a l'acces a une certaine autonomie synonyme de consolation
Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 feminist masterpiece, The Second Sex, has traditionally been re... more Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 feminist masterpiece, The Second Sex, has traditionally been read as an application of Sartrean existentialism to the problem of women. Critics have claimed a Sartrean origin for Beauvoir's central theses: that under patriarchy woman is the Other, and that 'one is not born a woman, but becomes one.' An analysis of Beauvoir's recently discovered 1927 diary, written while she was a philosophy student at the Sorbonne, two years before her first meeting with Sartre, challenges this interpretation. In this diary, Beauvoir affirms her commitment to doing philosophy, defines the philosophical problem of 'the opposition of self and other,' and explores the links between love and domination. In 1927, she thus lays the foundations of both Sartre's phenomenology of interpersonal relationships and of her own thesis, in The Second Sex, that woman is the Other. Her descriptions of the experience of freedom and choice point to the influence of Bergson, specifically his concepts of 'becoming' and élan vital. Tracing Beauvoir's shift from her apolitical position of 1927 to the feminist engagement of The Second Sex points to the influence of the African-American writer, Richard Wright, whose description of the lived experience of oppression of blacks in America, and whose challenge to Marxist reductionism, provide Beauvoir with a model, an analogy, for analyzing woman's oppression.
Simone de Beauvoir’s handwritten diary from 1927 reveals Beauvoir’s early philosophical influence... more Simone de Beauvoir’s handwritten diary from 1927 reveals Beauvoir’s early philosophical influences, including Bergson and Baruzi, and provides a moving account of her struggle against despair, her dedication to philosophy, and her description of the temptation in bad faith to abdicate oneself in love, an origin of the opposition of self and other.
... George J. Becker (New York: Schocken Books, 1965). 16. Jean-Paul Sartre, Saint Genet, trans. ... more ... George J. Becker (New York: Schocken Books, 1965). 16. Jean-Paul Sartre, Saint Genet, trans. Bernard Frechtman (New York: George Bra-ziller, 1963). 17. ... 24. Sartre, Baudelaire, trans. Martin Turnell (New York: New Directions, 1950). Page 13. MARGARET A. SIMONS 177 ...
Résumé L’ autrice analyse l’ influence de Richard Wright sur la philosophie féministe de Simone d... more Résumé L’ autrice analyse l’ influence de Richard Wright sur la philosophie féministe de Simone de Beauvoir. Après avoir observé le virage théorique et philosophique que représente Le Deuxième Sexe dans la pensée de Beauvoir, elle en interroge les influences possibles. C’ est chez Richard Wright que l’ autrice trouve les racines de la pensée beauvoirienne de l’ oppression des femmes, de l’ engagement de l’ écrivaine et du féminisme radical selon lequel les femmes doivent se constituer en groupe à part entière pour se libérer.
... She referred instead to her passionate adolescent friendship with Zaza,4 who is familiar to r... more ... She referred instead to her passionate adolescent friendship with Zaza,4 who is familiar to readers of the first volume of Beauvoir's autobiography, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (Beauvoir [1958] 1959). ... But Beau-voir's affection for Zaza is clear. ...
In this interview, Margaret A. Simons describes her path to philosophy and existentialism, her st... more In this interview, Margaret A. Simons describes her path to philosophy and existentialism, her struggles in the male-dominated field in the 1960s and 1970s, and her political activism in the civil rights and women’s liberation movements. She also discusses her encounters with Simone de Beauvoir and Beauvoir’s refusal to own her philosophical originality, suggesting that Beauvoir may have adopted a more conventional narrative of a female intellectual to circumvent the public’s resistance to her radical ideas in the 1950s.
Nineteen seventy-nine, the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of The Second Sex, is a year ... more Nineteen seventy-nine, the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of The Second Sex, is a year in celebration of Simone de Beauvoir and her contribution to feminism. In New York, a Conference on Feminist Theory in September, sponsored by the New York Insti-tute for the ...
A travers le traitement de la question de l'autre developpe dans «L'invitee» a partir de ... more A travers le traitement de la question de l'autre developpe dans «L'invitee» a partir de la scene du meurtre de Xaviere par Francoise, l'A. defend la these selon laquelle l'ethique de S. de Beauvoir differe des relations masochistes et sadiques decrites par Sartre dans «L'Etre et le neant». S'interessant aux premieres oeuvres de Beauvoir, et analysant le contenu de son journal d'etudiante datant d'avant sa rencontre avec Sartre, l'A. montre que S. de Beauvoir a construit sa propre philosophie a partir de l'opposition du moi et de l'autre, de l'egoisme et de l'amour, concluant, contrairement au solipsisme sartrien, a l'acces a une certaine autonomie synonyme de consolation
Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 feminist masterpiece, The Second Sex, has traditionally been re... more Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 feminist masterpiece, The Second Sex, has traditionally been read as an application of Sartrean existentialism to the problem of women. Critics have claimed a Sartrean origin for Beauvoir's central theses: that under patriarchy woman is the Other, and that 'one is not born a woman, but becomes one.' An analysis of Beauvoir's recently discovered 1927 diary, written while she was a philosophy student at the Sorbonne, two years before her first meeting with Sartre, challenges this interpretation. In this diary, Beauvoir affirms her commitment to doing philosophy, defines the philosophical problem of 'the opposition of self and other,' and explores the links between love and domination. In 1927, she thus lays the foundations of both Sartre's phenomenology of interpersonal relationships and of her own thesis, in The Second Sex, that woman is the Other. Her descriptions of the experience of freedom and choice point to the influence of Bergson, specifically his concepts of 'becoming' and élan vital. Tracing Beauvoir's shift from her apolitical position of 1927 to the feminist engagement of The Second Sex points to the influence of the African-American writer, Richard Wright, whose description of the lived experience of oppression of blacks in America, and whose challenge to Marxist reductionism, provide Beauvoir with a model, an analogy, for analyzing woman's oppression.
Simone de Beauvoir’s handwritten diary from 1927 reveals Beauvoir’s early philosophical influence... more Simone de Beauvoir’s handwritten diary from 1927 reveals Beauvoir’s early philosophical influences, including Bergson and Baruzi, and provides a moving account of her struggle against despair, her dedication to philosophy, and her description of the temptation in bad faith to abdicate oneself in love, an origin of the opposition of self and other.
... George J. Becker (New York: Schocken Books, 1965). 16. Jean-Paul Sartre, Saint Genet, trans. ... more ... George J. Becker (New York: Schocken Books, 1965). 16. Jean-Paul Sartre, Saint Genet, trans. Bernard Frechtman (New York: George Bra-ziller, 1963). 17. ... 24. Sartre, Baudelaire, trans. Martin Turnell (New York: New Directions, 1950). Page 13. MARGARET A. SIMONS 177 ...
Résumé L’ autrice analyse l’ influence de Richard Wright sur la philosophie féministe de Simone d... more Résumé L’ autrice analyse l’ influence de Richard Wright sur la philosophie féministe de Simone de Beauvoir. Après avoir observé le virage théorique et philosophique que représente Le Deuxième Sexe dans la pensée de Beauvoir, elle en interroge les influences possibles. C’ est chez Richard Wright que l’ autrice trouve les racines de la pensée beauvoirienne de l’ oppression des femmes, de l’ engagement de l’ écrivaine et du féminisme radical selon lequel les femmes doivent se constituer en groupe à part entière pour se libérer.
... She referred instead to her passionate adolescent friendship with Zaza,4 who is familiar to r... more ... She referred instead to her passionate adolescent friendship with Zaza,4 who is familiar to readers of the first volume of Beauvoir's autobiography, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (Beauvoir [1958] 1959). ... But Beau-voir's affection for Zaza is clear. ...
In this interview, Margaret A. Simons describes her path to philosophy and existentialism, her st... more In this interview, Margaret A. Simons describes her path to philosophy and existentialism, her struggles in the male-dominated field in the 1960s and 1970s, and her political activism in the civil rights and women’s liberation movements. She also discusses her encounters with Simone de Beauvoir and Beauvoir’s refusal to own her philosophical originality, suggesting that Beauvoir may have adopted a more conventional narrative of a female intellectual to circumvent the public’s resistance to her radical ideas in the 1950s.
Nineteen seventy-nine, the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of The Second Sex, is a year ... more Nineteen seventy-nine, the thirtieth anniversary of the publication of The Second Sex, is a year in celebration of Simone de Beauvoir and her contribution to feminism. In New York, a Conference on Feminist Theory in September, sponsored by the New York Insti-tute for the ...
This purpose of this dissertation (May 1977) is to place Le Deuxième Sexe in an historical contex... more This purpose of this dissertation (May 1977) is to place Le Deuxième Sexe in an historical context and to give a critical analysis of its central concepts. The first chapter provides an historical discussion of the social and political aspects of French society that influenced Beauvoir's experience as a woman. The ambivalent French tradition towards women, containing beliefs in both egalitarian ideals and woman's domestic role, is used to elucidate Beauvoir's ambiguous attitude towards other women, and in her sense of herself as a woman. The second and third chapters focus on Beauvoir's ontology. The second chapter is concerned with her description of woman's experience in the context of existential phenomenology. Her analysis of the ontological significance of human sexual dimorphism which is marred by a dualistic ontology is seen as a defensive reaction against the predominant biological theories of woman's 'nature.' The third chapter is a discussion of the central theme of freedom and oppression. Her analysis is presented as a development of her earlier position in Ethics of Ambiguity, where her discussion of the child's coming of age morally is seen to be of central importance. Her study of the child's socialization and of the myths concerning women enable Beauvoir to overcome much of the idealist orientation that characterizes her perspective in the earlier book. She recognizes in DS the reality of woman's oppression as "the Other," but maintains her concern from Ethics of Ambiguity that woman's historical complicity differentiates her situation from that of slavery. My conclusion is that while the perspective in DS overcomes many of the problems in Ethics of Ambiguity idealism still represents a problem in Beauvoir's analysis.
The story of how a frustrating interview with Simone de Beauvoir in 1972 changed forever the auth... more The story of how a frustrating interview with Simone de Beauvoir in 1972 changed forever the author's reading of The Second Sex. This paper was presented at the November 2015 Conference on Gender, Translation and Transnational Reception, at the University of Oslo.
This paper tells the story of my discovery, after almost fifty years, of the solution to the puzz... more This paper tells the story of my discovery, after almost fifty years, of the solution to the puzzle of why Simone de Beauvoir lied to me in a 1972 interview, denying her original work in philosophy. The revised version of this paper was published in Existentialism, 70 Years After, edited by Lauren Du Graf, Julia Elsky, and Clémentine Fauré, Yale French studies, no. 135-136 (New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press, 2019).
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