biography of the French feminist writer

BIOGRAPHY SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR – French woman of letters, Simone de Beauvoir marked her time with her commitment and her independence. An essential figure of feminism, she is the author of “The Second Sex”.

Short biography of Simone de Beauvoir – French woman of letters, Simone de Beauvoir is recognized around the world thanks to her feminist essay entitled The second sex. His romantic relationship and particularly marginal for the time with the philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre gives him a special status of independent and totally liberated woman. Passionate, she draws from her life, her adventures and her romantic relationships, the inspiration necessary for the writing of her work. A successful author, she won the prestigious Prix Goncourt for The Mandarins. Committed, she made her life and her writings an example of female emancipation.

Simone Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir was born on January 9, 1908, within a relatively wealthy Catholic family. The eldest of a family of two children, she received a nursery education severe and traditional. As a child, she studied at the Institut Désir, a Catholic school. She rejected these teachings very early on by declaring herself to be a totally atheist. She then discovered a deep passion for reading and writing. In 1926, she enrolled in philosophy courses at the Sorbonne. In 1929, she met Jean-Paul Sartre, and was placed second in the competitive examination of philosophy, just behind him. She then taught her discipline in Marseille, then in Rouen and Paris. However, not fulfilled by this profession, she abandoned it in 1943 to follow a literary career. His first novel, The Guest, features romantic relationships set ablaze by the feeling of jealousy, within a tripartite relationship. This novel is largely inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s own love experience, then in a threesome with Jean-Paul Sartre and Olga Kosakiewicz.

In 1929, his meeting with the existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre marked a decisive turning point in his existence and in his conception of life. Both tie a intellectual and emotional relationship very strong, but do not conform to married life. They refuse to share the same roof. Until the death of the philosopher, they will thus live in the most total anti-conformism. The external links are an integral part of their relationship, which sometimes goes so far as to include a third person in their love game. The relationship that Simone de Beauvoir has with her lovers (including the American writer Nelson algren, or the French journalist Claude Lanzmann) perfectly illustrates his thoughts on the position of women in society and on the relationship to the other in general.

The ideas which flourished in the mind of Simone de Beauvoir were marked very early on by a strong political commitment. From 1926, she joined a socialist movement. In 1945, Jean-Paul Sartre created “Modern times“, a left-wing magazine in which she writes numerous articles. In the aftermath of the Second World War, her political commitments redoubled in intensity. She also demonstrated a very pronounced commitment towards the female condition. In 1949, she published an essay entitled The second sex. In considerations always close to existentialism, she advocates the liberation and emancipation of women in society. Through a historical, scientific, sociological and literary study, she tries to demonstrate to what extent woman is alienated from man. The only way to avoid it would then be to acquire total independence. This work scandalizes high society, but is supported by Claude Lévi-Strauss and becomes the basis of first feminist movements.

In 1947, Simone de Beauvoir embarked on discover the world. She goes first to the United States, where she will meet her lover Nelson algren, then travels through Africa and Europe. In 1955, she landed in China. She discovered Cuba and Brazil in the early 1960s, then stayed in the USSR. Her various trips abroad allow her to enrich her works, which she never neglects. In 1954, his novel The Mandarins win the Goncourt prize. However, she abandoned the romantic genre to devote herself to essays and autobiographical works. In 1958 appears Memoirs of a Tidy Maiden, retracing his life from his childhood until his success in the agrégation in philosophy, followed by The Force of Age (1960) and The Force of Things (1963). Through this autobiographical fresco, she offers an example female emancipation and continues his study on the behavior and responsibility of men in society. It was in 1964 that she met Sylvie Le Bon, a philosophy student, with whom she has a strong relationship. Simone de Beauvoir makes Sylvie her adopted daughter and heir to his literary work and his property. Sylvie Le Bon, now Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir, is the author of the album of the Pleiade 2018, dedicated to Simone de Beauvoir.

In 1980, Jean-Paul Sartre died. Simone de Beauvoir is particularly affected by this loss, which she regards with fatalism. Surrounded by her adopted daughter Sylvie and her former lover Claude Lanzmann, Simone de Beauvoir died on April 14, 1986, at the age of 78. She rests in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris, alongside Jean-Paul Sartre. She is buried with the ring of Nelson Algren, her longtime lover, on her finger. Writer and essayist, disciple of the existentialist movement, Simone de Beauvoir is considered the precursor of the French feminist movement. His work was greatly influenced, and illustrated, by his anti-conformist relationship with the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Simone de Beauvoir: key dates

January 9, 1908: Birth of Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was born to a lawyer father and a devout Catholic mother. Despite her bourgeois and religious education, she broke away from her mother and the rest of her family at a very young age to follow a totally unconventional existence.

1929: Simone de Beauvoir meets Jean-Paul Sartre

The two philosophers meet very young, at the end of their higher education. They prepare together for the agrégation in philosophy, in which Sartre obtains first place, Simone de Beauvoir second. The spark is immediate. They will share their thoughts, worldviews and feelings, but will always refuse to live under the same roof. Sartre considers her as his “necessary love”, in opposition to the “contingent loves” they will encounter throughout their lives.

October 1945: The “Modern Times” Foundation

With the help of Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre publishes the first issue of the review Modern times. Literary, cultural, political and philosophical, this monthly clearly shows its political commitments and will become the privileged journal of left-wing intellectuals.

1947: Meeting with Nelson Algren

Simone de Beauvoir meets the American writer Nelson Algren (Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for her novel The man with the golden arms). Becoming her lover, Algren maintains a long correspondence with Simone de Beauvoir (more than 300 letters), which was published in 1997. Simone de Beauvoir, buried with Sartre, wears on her finger the ring that Nelson Algren had given her.

May 1949: Publication of the “Second sex”

Simone de Beauvoir publishes a resounding essay on the status of women. Entitled The second sex, his work advocates the emancipation of women, possible only through the acquisition of their independence. She thus denounces a society which alienates the fairer sex and from which it is necessary to escape in order to achieve freedom. According to her, “one is not born a woman, one becomes one”.

December 6, 1954: The Goncourt Prize is awarded to Simone de Beauvoir

The novel The Mandarins wins the Goncourt prize. The novel, largely inspired by the life of the author and her relatives, features a group of Parisian intellectuals who confront their thoughts on a society affected by the Second World War and the Cold War.

October 1958: Publication of “Memoirs of a rowdy young girl”

Abandoning the romantic genre, Simone de Beauvoir publishes her first autobiography. Memoirs of a Tidy Maiden is the first volume of a trilogy. It will be followed by The Force of Age (1960) and The Force of Things (1963). In this first book, she explains how she escaped the path that had already been marked out for her. She tells the story of her emancipation and her struggle to acquire total freedom, on a sentimental, social and intellectual level. Later, the trilogy will be completed by A very sweet death (1964), Altogether (1972) and The farewell ceremony (nineteen eighty one).

1964: Meeting with Sylvie Le Bon, now Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir meets Sylvie Le Bon, a student of philosophy at the time, a great fan of her work. The two women become friends, and have a strong relationship. A few years later, Simone de Beauvoir made Sylvie her adopted daughter and heir to her literary work, as well as to her property. Sylvie Le Bon, now Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir, remains with her adoptive mother until her death. She is the author of the 2018 Pléiade album, dedicated to Simone de Beauvoir.

April 14, 1986: Death of Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir died at the age of 78, leaving in her wake the founding elements of the feminist movement. She is buried alongside Jean-Paul Sartre in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris.