Beauvoir and The Second Sex

Feminism, Race, and the Origins of Existentialism

By (author) Margaret A. Simons

Not available to order

Publication date:

07 February 2001

Length of book:

288 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9780742571273

In a compelling chronicle of her search to understand Beauvoir's philosophy in The Second Sex, Margaret A. Simons offers a unique perspective on BeauvoirOs wide-ranging contribution to twentieth-century thought. She details the discovery of the origins of Beauvoir's existential philosophy in her handwritten diary from 1927; uncovers evidence of the sexist exclusion of Beauvoir from the philosophical canon; reveals evidence that the African-American writer Richard Wright provided Beauvoir with the theoretical model of oppression that she used in The Second Sex; shows the influence of The Second Sex in transforming Sartre's philosophy and in laying the theoretical foundations of radical feminism; and addresses feminist issues of racism, motherhood, and lesbian identity. Simons also draws on her experience as a WomenOs Liberation organizer as she witnessed how women used The Second Sex in defining the foundations of radical feminism. Bringing together her work as both activist and scholar, Simons offers a highly original contribution to the renaissance of Beauvoir scholarship.
Beauvoir scholarship in the U.S. owes more to Peg Simons than to any other individual scholar. Her work remains at the leading edge of the recent 'recovery' of Beauvoir by providing new texts and contexts for understanding the emergence of her philosophy.This collection of essays reveals Simons' brilliance in providing nuanced readings of Beauvoir that richly situate her work within both the philosophical and the feminist traditions....