After the War: Force of Circumstance, Volume I: 1944-1952

by Simone de Beauvoir

Covering the years 1944 to 1952, this volume of the autobiography of legendary feminist and writer Simone de Beauvoir gives us not only an intimate account of her relationship with Sartre, but also a wonderful portrait of Parisian intellectual life. During this troubled period, French intellectuals grappled with the horrors of the Holocaust, the onset of the Cold War, and the beginning of colonial wars in Vietnam and Algeria. Beauvoir weaves memorable descriptions and anecdotes about leading members of the French postwar scene, including Genet, Camus, Richard Wright, Artaud, and Cocteau, with an account of her travels in Europe, Africa, and the United States. She also gives us an unforgettable chronicle of her romance with novelist Nelson Algren and of her struggle to live as an independent woman and writer.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

Unknown Binding

About the author

Works of Simone de Beauvoir, French writer, existentialist, and feminist, include The Second Sex in 1949 and The Coming of Age , a study in 1970 of views of different cultures on the old.


Simone de Beauvoir, an author and philosopher, wrote novels, monographs, political and social issues, essays, biographies, and an autobiography. People now best know She Came to Stay and The Mandarins , her metaphysical novels. Her treatise, a foundational contemporary tract, of 1949 detailed analysis of oppression of women.

Reviews

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Memories of a Dutiful Daughter is the most beautiful example of the autobiographical form I have read, I had zero illusions that the author could possibly maintain such a feat through five volumes. And volume three appears to be the drop off. It is still worthwhile for her description of the hardships of Paris after the liberation and the slow transformation of post WW II hopes into cold war fears. The carefree traveler in volume 2, who slept on park benches and takes off for weeklong mountain hikes with no destination in mind, with age, has become a somewhat less adventurous, more ordinary traveler, although her trips to Africa in particular are still exciting. And how much do I love her far too brief accounts of her time on Lake Michigan. Yet there is the unavoidable: the enthusiasm of youth replaced by the contemplation of passed time and aging.

Still, if volume three is a bit of a letdown, perhaps that has more to do with what type of lack of honesty I’m willing to excuse? My friend and I always argue over autobiographies, she hates them. She has this crazy idea that authors should tell the truth. I never expect the truth, just tell me your side of the story, which in its own way is just as true as mere ‘facts’. And I completely accept that most of the time your side of the story may include cavalier dismissals of preternatural behavior with underage girls, fine, but where I break down is her description of her relationship with Algren, which can almost read like nothing else but a direct reaction to Sartre’s relationship with M. Now after two plus volumes I am squarely on her side but that all the more makes me what to shake the crap out of her “girlfriend you don’t need that shit.” Such is the danger of trying to rationalize the irrational. And this is her failing not only in love but in life. It is a fantasy that you will ever reconcile your own personal philosophy with your actual existence. You can have rational, well thought out ideals, but if you think you can really live them, by sheer force of will, you are mistaken. And that is my problem with the author, she does not factor into the equation that human beings are emotional irrational animals and to say otherwise is to lie to yourself. Lie to me the reader, sure, I expect that, but it seems like there is a fair bit of lying to herself going on, and at times it can be almost painful.

[Jack Corrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

“france was becoming a misty object on the horizon, and i myself, powerless to affect these places where my body moved, had ceased to exist. there was merely a thick fog of weariness that belonged to no one, dragging itself through the crowd.”

[Magdalene · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first time reading Simone De Beauvoir. I loved her descriptive language but her description of what she was trying to do with The Mandarins at the end of the book confused me with how abstract she was. I suppose reading the book would help me understand some context. I can’t wait to read more of her books.

[Jena · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually a huge memoir fan, but Beauvoir's memoirs are a notable exception. The narrative is part slice-of-history, part doomed love story, part existential philosophy. She reflects upon her life in France after the war, her travels, and her affair with the American writer Nelson Algren, all the while also reflecting upon what it means to be self-reflective. Her musings on gender and identity are perhaps the best aspect of this memoir; since "The Second Sex" was written and published during the time period captured in the book, she never explicitly thematizes gender as a philosophical question, and yet in a sense that is exactly what the book is about. She wonders about what it means to love and be independent at the same time; questions her commitment to everything from communism to long-time partner Jean-Paul Sartre; worries that aging brings with it the death of eros. In the process, Beauvoir gives us a polished yet personal glimpse into the difficulties and joys of living an unconventional kind of life.

[Lance Grabmiller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sections were the typical "who I saw," "where I was," "what I did" of any biographical piece (especially autobiography), which can contaminate and belittle a good work (as in Charlie Chaplin's autobiography) but the sections of this book that did not follow such a formula wholely redeem it. Simone is brilliant. More in love with her than ever. Hard to escape such a mind. Near the end, too much was made of the writing of the Mandarins, as if all of her experiences in this book (from the Liberation to the early fifites) were just grist for that mill, but the "break" engendering the end of this volume and the lead to the next wiped that discomfort away. Disgusing how fast the world moved from the elation of ending the horror of the war into the stupidities of ther cold war. Frightening to read it first hand. We scare me.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Happiness exists, and it's important; why refuse it? You don't make other people's unhappiness any worse by accepting it; it even helps you fight for them. Yes, I find it sad the way everyone seems to be ashamed of feeling happy nowadays." -- Camus (173)


"I don't regret that it existed. It brought us more than it tore from us." -- de Beauvoir on Algren. (171)

Reviews of the second sex. P. 196-203

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, this journal by Simone De Beauvoir is great. It covers a period of time that was very important to France and its arts. I bought the book to research Boris Vian, who was a friend of DeBearvoir - and in fact he went out shopping with her to buy a turntable as well as some recordings. It is these little life details that makes this book essential.

[Animal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I typically don’t read biographies. This one was enjoyable tho. I skimmed a few parts, but overall I enjoyed reading about Europe after the war, and the literary and philosophy scene of France.

de Beauvoir lived a wild and cool life. She’s well spoken and deep. Her descriptions of her feelings and the times is certainly interesting, maybe I’ll read the companion to this text one day.