Author of the Month: Simone de Beauvoir
Selected by the Bookshop
Our Author of the Month for April is the French writer Simone de Beauvoir.
Her works encompass fiction, cultural and feminist theory, memoir and philosophy. Although she never considered herself to be a philosopher as such, her influence on existentialism, particularly through her relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre, was immense, as has been her influence on feminist theory. Her most famous work is The Second Sex, available both in full text and in an abbreviated form. Also notable are two recent publications, newly available in English for the first time, The Inseparables and Misunderstanding in Moscow.
From the publisher:
TRANSLATED BY CONSTANCE BORDE AND SHEILA MALOVANY-CHEVALLIERANNOTATED AND INTRODUCED BY MARTINE REID'Everyone who cares about freedom and justice for women should read The Second Sex' GuardianSimone de Beauvoir famously wrote, 'One is not…
From the publisher:
Translated by Terry KeefeA captivating novella about long-term relationships, getting older and how to live a good life, by the great Simone de Beauvoir.Nicole and André, a retired French couple, take a summer holiday to Russia.…
From the publisher:
Translated by Lauren Elkin'Life without her would be death'The lost novel from the author of The Second Sex published in English for the first time.The compulsive story of two friends growing up and falling apart.INTRODUCED BY DEBORAH…
From the publisher:
Translated by James KirkupA superb autobiography by one of the great literary figures of the twentieth century, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter offers an intimate picture of growing up in a bourgeois French family, rebelling as an adolescent…
From the publisher:
Translated by Yvonne Moyse & Roger SenhouseWritten as an act of revenge against the 17 year-old who came between her and Jean-Paul Sartre, She Came to Stay is Simone de Beauvoir’s first novel – a lacerating study of a young,…
From the publisher:
Translated by Patrick O'BrianFirst published in 1967, this book consists of three short novellas on the theme of women's vulnerability – in the first, to the process of ageing, in the second to loneliness, and, in the third, to the…
From the publisher:
Translated by Leonard M. FriedmanA Harper Perennial Modern Classics reissue of this unflinching examination of post-war French intellectual life, and an amazing chronicle of love, philosophy and politics from one of the most important…
From the publisher:
Translated by Quintin HoareIn 1983 de Beauvoir published Sartre's letters, maintaining that her own to him had been lost. They were found by de Beauvoir's adopted daughter, and published to a storm of controversy in France. Tracing the…
From the publisher:
Translated by Marybeth Timmermann'It is possible for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity'How should we think and act in the world? These writings on the human condition by one of the twentieth century's great philosophers…
From the publisher:
Translated by Constance Borde & Sheila Malovany-Chevallier'One is not born, but rather becomes, woman'First published in Paris in 1949, The Second Sex by Simone de Beavoir was a groundbreaking, risque book that became a runaway…
From the publisher:
Translated by Constance Borde & Sheila Malovany-ChevallierVintage Feminism: classic feminist texts in short formWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NATALIE HAYNESWhen this book was first published in 1949 it was to outrage and scandal. Never…
From the publisher:
'Skye Cleary blends Simone de Beauvoir's wisdom with her own in this lively guide to becoming a poet of your life' Nigel Warburton'It isn't easy to be authentic. Skye Cleary's How to Be You is the guide you need if you are serious about…
From the publisher:
"One is not born a woman, but becomes one", Simone de Beauvoir…