French critic and novelist Simone de Beauvoir reinvented the feminist debate with her shocking text, "The Second Sex" (1953), which has become a theoretical bible for those interested in Existentialist and Marxist analysis of women's societal subservience. Since the arrival of...
[more]French critic and novelist Simone de Beauvoir reinvented the feminist debate with her shocking text, "The Second Sex" (1953), which has become a theoretical bible for those interested in Existentialist and Marxist analysis of women's societal subservience. Since the arrival of Postmodernism at the center of the philosophical and literary stage, feminists have gravitated towards a more linguistic approach to the debate; however, "The Second Sex" remains influential as a theoretical treatise and historical account. De Beauvoir was the first to argue that patriarchal societies construct woman as the "other," and to focus attention on the nature-vs.-nurture conundrum as it regards women. She refused to accept second-class status as natural, summing up her stance with the statement "Woman is not born, but made."
"The Second Sex" enraged many conservatives with its no-holds-barred investigation of relationships between the sexes. Plain-speech was de Beauvoir's style, whatever the cause, and she was a passionate critic not only of fascism in all its forms, but also of France's postwar policies towards Algeria. Her engagement with politics marks her literary output. In 1945, she founded "Les Temps Modernes," a monthly review of culture and contemporary issues, with her lifelong partner, Jean-Paul Sartre. A few years later, her novel "Les Mandarins" (1954) won the Prix Goncourt; it chronicles the experience of a circle of intellectuals who abandon their elitism for political activism in the aftermath of World War II. De Beauvoir made an enormous contribution to the debate over the degradation of the elderly with "The Coming of Age" (1972), an analytical account of the aging process, interspersed with personal observations on the losses that aging entails.
Since her death, de Beauvoir has come under attack for not practicing what she preached. Her unconventional, open relationship with Sartre certainly turned heads, but the true controversy surrounds her love affair with American novelist Nelson Algren. In 1997, a collection of de Beauvoir's love letters to Algren were published and subsequently ridiculed in the French press. Submissive and eager to please, de Beauvoir pampered her American lover; however, she was constantly aware of her own inconsistencies. Her followers see Simone de Beauvoir as more than just a theoretical powerhouse; to them, she was a passionate, limited human being.
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