Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
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Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
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Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#2Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she?
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#3Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Montparnasse cemetary is worth a visit. Dreyfus is there as well, if you hunt a bit further afield than Simone and Jean-Paul. And the Cartier-Bresson museum is nearby.
I assumed all the french writers hung together, but my favourite of these times after Camus is Raymond Queneau, who wrote "zazie dans le metro" and he was an almost exact contemporary of De Beauvoir, in time. They just seem to have led parallel, unrelated lives. Both communist, but no strong linkages.
here's a pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/381891243372004539/
thats about it. Amazing to plug two contemporary French modernist writers in the same time interval into search and come up with basically, only friend-of-a-friend.
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#4Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Montparnasse cemetary is worth a visit. Dreyfus is there as well, if you hunt a bit further afield than Simone and Jean-Paul. And the Cartier-Bresson museum is nearby. I assumed all the french writers hung together, but my favourite of these times after Camus is Raymond Queneau, who wrote "zazie dans le metro" and he was an almost exact contemporary of De Beauvoir, in time. They just seem to have led parallel, unrela…
I suppose there were intellectual / philosopher. And "having strong opinions losely held" was not a thing back then (certainly in France), so I guess it is easy to understand why they didn't hang out together.
Sartre and Camus were friends for some time, but that changed when Camus published "L'homme révolté" in 1951, and they became bitter enemies.
But in a sense all the existentialists did hang out, because this whole époque is linked to the "rive gauche" (left bank), an area of Paris.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jul/11/left-bank-agne...
And mind you, Simone and Jean-Paul were married, but I guess you knew that.
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#5Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
Honestly filologically Simone de Beauvoir presents very complex philosophical ideas. She was at the forefront of feminism and made the original philosophical case. That's pretty much the gist if what I can remember. Here are the elements: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/beauvoir/
Also worth noting, she was in love with Jean Paul Sartre whom used cafes as his office. They were regulars at a certain cafe and would sit there for days.
Pics or it didn't happen? https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/featu...
Okay that's all I had.
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#6Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
She was a sharp thinker, keenly introspective and bold. I would have imagined that she would appeal to the HN audience.
Beyond the Second Sex, which has significant status in the history of feminism, her autobiographical Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter and A Very Easy Death are beautiful reads that show her insight and self-awareness; I would recommend them.
For accessible general reading about the existentialists, including Beauvoir, I enjoyed At The Existentialist Café by Sarah Bakewell.
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#7Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
De Beauvoir is a controversial figure. She undoubtedly had a major influence on feminism but it is also firmly established that she abused her position as a teacher and a famous writer to groom some of her teenage students into sexual relationships with her before tossing them to her boyfriend.
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#8Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
De Beauvoir is a controversial figure. She undoubtedly had a major influence on feminism but it is also firmly established that she abused her position as a teacher and a famous writer to groom some of her teenage students into sexual relationships with her before tossing them to her boyfriend.
Geez, I knew that France has had a...different relationship with age of consent laws, but I didn't know so many of their "great thinkers" were against the idea completely [1].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_petition_against_age_of...
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#9Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
She was a sharp thinker, keenly introspective and bold. I would have imagined that she would appeal to the HN audience. Beyond the Second Sex, which has significant status in the history of feminism, her autobiographical Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter and A Very Easy Death are beautiful reads that show her insight and self-awareness; I would recommend them. For accessible general reading about the existentialists, inc…
Seconding your recommendation of At The Existentialist Café.
Re: Simone de Beauvoir’s relationship with her readers
#10Simone de Beauvoir is not exactly a comment magnet on HN, is she? https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...
De Beauvoir is a controversial figure. She undoubtedly had a major influence on feminism but it is also firmly established that she abused her position as a teacher and a famous writer to groom some of her teenage students into sexual relationships with her before tossing them to her boyfriend.
She's also controversial (to say the least) for her smear campaign against Albert Camus, who didn't publicly endorse hers and her boyfriend Sartre's pro-Soviet politics.