Simone de Beauvoir, L'invitée [She Came to Stay]

Vassilis Manoussakis (University of the Peloponnese)

Ed. by David Houston Jones, University of Exeter
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1943

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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L’ Invitée

[She Came to Stay] (1943) is a passionate and deeply ironic first novel written by Simone de Beauvoir as an act of ‘revenge’ against the woman (her student Olga Kosakiewicz, apparently) who nearly came to stay forever between her and the philosopher and her life companion, Jean Paul Sartre. Opening with a quote by Hegel about the desire of self-consciousness to seek the death of the other, the book is a psychological study charting the complex influence of the Second World War on individual relationships. It is the allegoric story of Françoise and Pierre, who find it impossible even to think that they could stop loving one another. Nevertheless, as two intellectuals, noted anti-conformists and restless spirits, they feel the constant need to search for new experiences,…

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1401 words

Citation: Manoussakis, Vassilis. "L'invitée". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 December 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11124, accessed 21 November 2024.]

Simone de Beauvoir, L'invitée [She Came to Stay]

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