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Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, feminist and political activist who has had a major impact on feminist literature and theory, as well as the personal lives of those who have read her work.
She was born this day in 1908 and lived a long life in Paris, France, producing a number of works that explore the topics of ethics, feminism, sex, fiction and marxist politics. These themes showed up in her novels, essays, biographies, autobiographies and monographs capturing a wide variety of readers.
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Today is the birthday of Simone de Beauvoir, born 1908, pioneer feminist & great philosopher of our modern age. pic.twitter.com/eRiJN1SIbR
— Tian Chua (@tianchua)
January 9, 2016
Her claim to fame is the feminist text The Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe), written in 1949, which was a historical analysis of why women's role in society was characterized as inferior to men.
She wrote the book later in life and spent about two years researching it, starting when she was 38 years old. It then went on to be highly criticized by some as being pornography and was even banned by the Vatican.
Other notable works include her first novel She Came to Stay (L'Invitée ) (1943), a fictional work based on a personal experience when de Beauvoir and her long term partner, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, invited a third person into their relationship. The book deals with the complexities of relationships, freedom and how one relates to “the other.”
Simone de Beauvoir never married Sartre because he was of dubious consciousness. Happy Birthday Simone de Beauvoir pic.twitter.com/erYWQFN5ad
— John Lurie (@lurie_john)
January 9, 2016
De Beauvoir was an ambitious and determined woman. She was only the ninth woman to receive a degree from the prestigious Paris Sorbonne University, where she studied philosophy and wrote her thesis on “The Concept in Leibniz,” an 18th Century German polymath and philosopher.
During her time in Paris, she worked alongside other notable French thinkers at the time including Sartre, Albert Camus and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. She died in 1986, but her words have lived on in the minds of millions.
Today in 1908 was born Simone de Beauvoir. "I accept the #adventure of being me"
— TheRodTrip (@TheRodTrip)
January 9, 2016
Here are a few notable quotations by the renown wordsmith to help expand your mind, and world.
“I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth — and truth rewarded me.”
"Change your life today. Don't gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”
“One is not born a woman, one becomes one.”
“The main curse of humanity is not ignorance but the refusal to know.”
“One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship and compassion.”
“Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.”
“I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.”
“That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”
#OnThisDay 1908: Simone de Beauvoir is born "I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity" pic.twitter.com/VktFFkTNf5
— BBC Archive (@BBCArchive)
January 9, 2016
Read some of de Beauvoir's texts online for free!
“The Prime of Life: the Autobiography of Simone de Beauvoir 1929-1944” (1962)
Happy Birthday, Simone de Beauvoir https://t.co/C32eFqKCGd
— Ingo Stützle (@istuetzle)
January 9, 2016
