The Legacy of Simone de Beauvoir [Paperback]

Emily R. Grosholz (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0199265364 | ISBN-13: 978-0199265367 | Publication Date: April 13, 2006

This collection of new essays treats the historical, philosophical, and literary dimensions of Simone de Beauvoir's thought, and celebrates the 50th anniversary of her most influential book, The Second Sex. A team of distinguished philosophers and literary critics locate her work in the intellectual and political upheavals that marked Paris in the 1930s and 1940s; analyze her philosophical links to 17th century rationalism, and to Kant, Hegel, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre, Simone Weil, and Heidegger; and study the connections between her philosophical and literary writings. Above all, the collection tackles the relationship between theory and concrete situation with fresh insight and renewed urgency.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I am grateful to the authors of The Legacy of Simone de Beauvoirfor calling attention to Beauvoir's work. I agree strongly with their message: Read and re-read Beauvoir."--Off Our Backs

"This distinguished volume of essays provides an incisive review of Simone de Beauvoir's legacy, ranging expertly over the historical, philosophical and literary dimensions of a complex and controversial figure...the stature, originality, pragmatism and sheer intelligence of Beauvoir are outstandingly well brought into focus."--Richard Parish, Times Higher Education Supplement

About the Author

Emily R. Grosholz is Professor of Philosophy at Pennsylvania State University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199265364
• ISBN-13: 978-0199265367
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,551,730 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Academic, March 26, 2006

By 

Loves the View "Louise" (Hawaii) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Legacy of Simone de Beauvoir (Paperback)

This is a collection of essays written by academics for academics. As a lay person, I would like to see each of these re-written in a more accessible form.

I did come away with two understandings. One is the place and time of SDB, how the prewar, war and post-war environment of France shaped her and how she shaped her ideas from the time. The other is the problem of the English translation of the 2nd sex.

One essay is devoted to the problems of the translation, but these problems are cited in almost every essay. I was not aware of how egregious a problem this is. The examples given show that the translator not only took poetic license with word choice, but in some instances infused his own ideas. Scholars have complained, but translation is expensive and The Second Sex continues to sell as is.

With the French original and the English translation side by side, even with my limited French, I can see how the differences have mitigated SDB's ideas for the English reading audience. The original French shows her to be WAY WAY ahead of her time.

5 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars terribly uneven, often inexpert, April 24, 2004

By 

"bkarrbkarrbkarr" (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Legacy of Simone de Beauvoir (Hardcover)

This book, like many such collections (especially those that bring together papers from a conference), is tremendously uneven in quality. There are a few good essays here--and they are by persons who have written illuminating and substantial pieces in the past. And then there are a lot of weak essays here--pieces which do not get de Beauvoir right or which attempt without success to advance certain themes that are supposed present in her work. The volume's introduction is especially flawed in this respect--as a piece of intellectual history or contextualization it is not bad (though not original either), but as a piece of philosophy it is . . . well, not philosophical. Volumes by Arp, Berghoffen, and Bauer measure up very well to this collection.