Simone de Beauvoir, Le Deuxième Sexe [The Second Sex]

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)

Domains

Cultural Studies
Political Philosophy

Dates

First circulation or publication 1949

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Commentary / Criticism (literary)
Non-fictional prose

Resources

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Le Deuxième Sexe

[The Second Sex] is undoubtedly the most famous, and, according to most critics, the best book Simone de Beauvoir has authored. It consists of two volumes and sheds fresh light on the position of women throughout history, concluding with an analysis of contemporary womanhood. It is often regarded as the first full-length socio-philosophical study on the status of women in society. It certainly was revolutionary in its own time and has formed the basis for the development of feminist literary theory toward the end of the twentieth century. As an existentialist philosopher and Jean Paul Sartre’s life-companion, Beauvoir incorporates in her book the existentialist concepts of personal freedom of choice, of accepting responsibility for the choices one makes, of bad faith…

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1349 words

Citation: Manoussakis, Vassilis. "Le Deuxième Sexe". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11130, accessed 21 November 2024.]