A Woman to Know: Simone de Beauvoir
Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness. — Simone
(image via THE BEST TUMBLR EVER -- not even an exaggeration. Illustrated Women in History features beautiful illos like these plus bios on incredible ladies from history and more. You should follow for more on incredible women like Simone! Later this week I'll be ~~giving away~~ some of Julie's illustrated postcards, so stay tuned!)
Step No. 1 for any baby feminist. Simone is famously linked to Jean Paul Sartre, her colleague in the French philosophy renaissance of the midcentury. Simone's books are staples on any women's studies course catalogue, from "The Second Sex," her legendarily "pornographic" treatise on the modern female condition, to "The Woman Destroyed," three short stories of ladies at life's crossroads. She became a legend amongst younger feminists in the 60s and 70s: her personal life with Sartre was notoriously unconventional (they shared lovers, swapped partners and more), and her political activism spearheaded the French Women's Liberation in 1970.
All that, yes, of course -- but Simone is also a writer to read just for, well, her writing. Read her "let's call it off" letter (tsk tsk, Simone, like a 20th century breakup text) to fellow writer Nelson Algren. My favorite excerpt:
I am better at dry sadness than cold anger, for I remained dry-eyed until now, as dry as smoked fish, but my heart is a kind of dirty soft custard inside.
Add to your reading list:
The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir)
Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (Simone de Beauvoir)
The Woman Destroyed (Simone de Beauvoir)
Feminist Writings (Simone de Beauvoir)
At the Existentialist Cafe (Sarah Bakewell)
The Cambridge Companion to Simone de Beauvoir (Ed. by Claudia Card)
Simone de Beavoir: The Making of an Intellectual Woman (Toril Moi)
Read more:
The strange liaison of Sartre and Beauvoir (The New Yorker)
"Our relationship was the greatest achievement of my life" (The Guardian)
Girlfriend, Mother, Professor? (The New York Times)
Stuffing myself with immanence (Rookie)
Listen more:
"What is a Woman" by Simone de Beauvoir (thinkPHILOSOPHY Podcast)
*~Send your recommendations for women to know! Reply to this newsletter with your lady and she could be featured in an upcoming edition.~* You can browse the archive here.