A companion to Simone de Beauvoir

The work of Simone de Beauvoir has endured and flowered in the last two decades, thanks primarily to the lasting influence of The Second Sex on the rise of academic discussions of gender, sexuality, and old age. Now, in this new Companion dedicated to her life and writings, an international assembly of prominent scholars, essayists, and leading interpreters reflect upon the range of Beauvoir's contribution to philosophy as one of the great authors, thinkers, and public intellectuals of the twentieth century. The Companion examines Beauvoir's rich intellectual life from a variety of angles-including literary, historical, and anthropological perspectives-and situates her in relation to her forbears and contemporaries in the philosophical canon. Essays in each of four thematic sections reveal the breadth and acuity of her insight, from the significance of The Second Sex and her work on the metaphysics of gender to her plentiful contributions in ethics and political philosophy. Later chapters trace the relationship between Beauvoir's philosophical and literary work and open up her scholarship to global issues, questions of race, and the legacy of colonialism and sexism. The volume concludes by considering her impact on contemporary feminist thought writ large, and features pioneering work from a new generation of Beauvoir scholars. Ambitious and unprecedented in scope, A Companion to Simone de Beauvoir is an accessible and interdisciplinary resource for students, teachers, and researchers across the humanities and social sciences

Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Note -- References -- Part I Re-reading The Second Sex -- A. Reception and Scholarship -- Chapter 1 Beauvoir's Transdisciplinarity: From Philosophy to Gender Theory -- 1. Beauvoir's Philosophy -- 2. The Shock of the New -- 3. From Philosophy … -- 4. … To Gender Theory -- Notes -- References -- Further Reading -- Chapter 2 The Intellectual and Social Context of The Second Sex -- 1. Political and Socioeconomic Citizenship Rights -- 2. Writing for Social Change -- References -- Chapter 3 "The Limits of the Abject." The Reception of Le Deuxième Sexe in 19491 -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 4 Simone de Beauvoir and the Race/Gender Analogy in The Second Sex Revisited -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The Race/Gender Analogy Revisited -- 3. Critiques of the Race Gender Analogy -- 4. Black Feminist Readings of Beauvoir -- 5. Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 5 Two English Translations of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex -- 1. Debates over H. M. Parshley's English Translation of The Second Sex -- 2. Replacing Parshley's Translation -- 3. Debates over Borde and Malovany‐Chevallier's English Translation of The Second Sex -- 4. Support for the New Translation -- 5. Proposal of a Digital Edition of The Second Sex -- Acknowledgement -- References -- B. Central Themes -- Chapter 6 Beauvoir and the Biological Body -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Beauvoir's Biology -- 3. Fausto-Sterling and the Biology of Sex -- 4. Conclusion: Why Theories of Sexuality Matter -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 7 Becoming Bodies -- 1. Immanence as Transcendence -- 2. Gatens' "Second Look" -- 3. Denaturalized Bodies -- 4. Irreducibly Different Bodies -- Note -- References -- Chapter 8 The Drama of Independence: Narcissism, Childhood, and the Family Complexes