Simone de Beauvoir

Born in 1908, Simone de Beauvoir was a brilliant scholar and novelist, leading member of the existentialist movement and a committed socialist and feminist. Raised in a stiflingly respectable envitonment, as a young woman she totally rejected her parents' values and embarked on her literary career. With Jean-Paul Sartre she formed a unique relationship, which she described as 'The one undoubted success in my life'. Later in life she was committed to achieving radical social and political change, but it was writing that gave meaning to her life; above everything, she valued her own intellectual audience.

“"'What a lot Lisa Appignanesi has packed into such a slim volume. This is the ideal introduction to Simone de Beauvoir, capturing the woman, the philosopher, the lover, the public intellectual, and the fluidity between these roles. Appignanesi is brilliantly nuanced on the emotional costs of de Beauvoir's complicated 'pact' with Sartre and on the way the philosophy emerged, hard-won, out of the life. It's a book that's attentive to de Beauvoir's times and alive to her urgent relevance to ours."”

What a lot Lisa Appignanesi has packed into such a slim volume. This is the ideal introduction to Simone de Beauvoir, capturing the woman, the philosopher, the lover, the public intellectual, and the fluidity between these roles. Appignanesi is brilliantly nuanced on the emotional costs of de Beauvoir's complicated `pact' with Sartre and on the way the philosophy emerged, hard-won, out of the life. It's a book that's attentive to de Beauvoir's times and alive to her urgent relevance to ours. Dr Lara Feigel, Author of Free Woman, King's College, London.

Lisa Appignanesi is a novelist, writer and broadcaster. The author of Trials of Passion: Crimes in the Name of Love, Madness, Mad, Bad And Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present and, most recently, Everyday Madness: On Grief, Anger, Loss and Love, Lisa Appignanesi is a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books.

Born in 1908, Simone de Beauvoir was a brilliant scholar and novelist, leading member of the existentialist movement and a committed socialist and feminist. Raised in a stiflingly respectable environment, as a young woman she totally rejected her parents? values and embarked on her literary career. With Jean-Paul Sartre she formed a unique relationship, which she described as ?the one undoubted success in my life'. Later in life she was committed to achieving radical social and political change, but it was writing that gave meaning to her life; above everything, she valued her own intellectual audience.

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.