Diary of a Philosophy Student: Volume 1, 1926-27

The Beauvoir Series

by Simone de Beauvoir

Dating from her years as a philosophy student at the Sorbonne, this is the 1926-27 diary of the teenager who would become the famous French philosopher, author, and feminist, Simone de Beauvoir. Written years before her first meeting with Jean-Paul Sartre, these diaries reveal previously unknown details about her life and offer critical insights into her early philosophy and literary works. Presented here for the first time in translation and fully annotated, the diary is completed by essays from Barbara Klaw and Margaret A. Simons that address its philosophical, historical, and literary significance. The volume represents an invaluable resource for tracing the development of Beauvoir’s independent thinking and influence on the world.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Diary

392 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 10, 2006

About the author

Simone de Beauvoir was a French existentialist philosopher, novelist, essayist, memoirist, and feminist whose writings profoundly shaped twentieth-century philosophy, literature, and modern feminist thought. Born in Paris into a bourgeois Catholic family, she displayed exceptional intellectual ability from an early age. After studying philosophy at the Sorbonne, she passed the prestigious agrégation examination in 1929, becoming one of its youngest successful candidates. During her studies she met Jean-Paul Sartre, with whom she formed a lifelong intellectual and personal partnership that became central to the development of French existentialism. Although Beauvoir often rejected the title of philosopher during her lifetime, her work established her as one of the discipline's most influential modern thinkers. She explored themes of freedom, responsibility, ethics, oppression, and human existence through both philosophical and literary writing. Her groundbreaking book The Second Sex (1949) transformed feminist theory by arguing that femininity is shaped primarily by social and historical conditions rather than biology, introducing the celebrated idea that "one is not born, but rather becomes, woman." The work challenged traditional assumptions about gender and became one of the foundational texts of contemporary feminism. Beauvoir also authored influential philosophical studies, including The Ethics of Ambiguity, alongside acclaimed novels such as She Came to Stay, The Blood of Others, The Mandarins, which received the Prix Goncourt in 1954, and The Woman Destroyed. Her four-volume autobiography, beginning with Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, remains an important account of twentieth-century intellectual and cultural life. Throughout her career she served as co-founder and editor of the influential journal Les Temps Modernes, contributing essays on politics, literature, philosophy, and contemporary social issues. Beyond her writing, Beauvoir was deeply engaged in public life. She campaigned for women's rights, reproductive freedom, and social equality, signing the Manifesto of the 343 that called for the legalization of abortion in France. She also opposed colonialism, criticized social injustice, and supported progressive political causes throughout her life. Her travels inspired widely read travel books and essays examining cultures in the United States and China. Beauvoir's legacy extends far beyond feminism, influencing existential philosophy, literary criticism, political theory, ethics, sociology, and gender studies. Despite continuing debate over aspects of her personal life and controversial relationships, her intellectual contributions remain central to modern scholarship. Her books have been translated into numerous languages and continue to be studied worldwide for their philosophical depth and literary achievement. Honored with distinctions including the Prix Goncourt, the Jerusalem Prize, and the Austrian State Prize for European Literature, Simone de Beauvoir is widely regarded as one of the defining intellectual figures of the twentieth century, whose writings permanently transformed discussions of gender, freedom, morality, and the human condition while continuing to inspire scholars, writers, and activists across generations.

Reviews

[Emily Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly felt like reading my own journals from when I was 18, 19, but infinitely more discerning and eloquent!

So incredibly nineteen, the way she spends pages writing about her joy (“I love myself passionately…I am happy to be what I am”) and then the next day’s entry begins “I am face to face with my awfully destitute self!” Also the way it’s full of promises to her self, resolutions to study more, read more widely, be kinder to her sister, get over Jacques, love Jacques again, get over him again….

Loved how she quoted her favourite authors in her entries and returned to the same lines, over and over again—Rivière’s “everything that happens to me is so important!” and Goethe’s “I love you. Does that concern you?” and Mauriac’s “Am I loved? Do I love?” So often the lines have started to live in me too. Loved also the 3 pages of Rilke quotes she wrote down after finishing Notebooks —“I would like to copy every page of this book by Rilke!” Same.

Very interesting to see the beginnings of her philosophy taking shape (before she even met Sartre!)—emphasis on inner life and feeling, the role of woman, purpose of marriage, contrast between self and Other.

And also this: an entry in May 1927 where she writes “I myself keep my emptiness inside of me, and this certainty that I am alone, that nothing can satisfy me, that my happiness will have to be willed so strongly, so severely that it will be more of a fatigue than a peace.” And then in the margins next to it she later adds “May 1929. Thank you, my nineteen-year-old sister, for having willed it so strongly that today, without anyone's help, it seems to me to be an unexpected gift."

—

“Above all, apply myself to feeling. (Easy!)”

“I am astounded that everyone is not like me. And I suffer from it.”

“O my self, I will be sincere, sincere to you, completely sincere.”

“Become attached to inner life, take it seriously and sacrifice everything for it.”

“I am not looking for anything. I have my strength within me. I love and keep myself. Oh! My strength that does not impede a great tenderness!”

[prashant · Rating 4 out of 5]

oh to have her brain

[aly flowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

she was also just a girl

[Klley · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I presently think that it suffices to live well " is a kinda thing she says. i like talking like that. simone is really smart navigating through her various crisis too.

[Ari · Rating 3 out of 5]

"I am fully aware and in full possession of myself. I have no desire to be understood, admired, pitied, or even known."

[Lydia McMillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Oh! My strength that does not impede a great tenderness!” ❤️

[Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I myself know that my happiness does not deny the moments of despair that prepared it”

There are dozens of quotations that I’ve saved from her entries and I think worth sharing here, but sadly I can’t - so one small impactful one!

Heartbreak in the fall gives way to new spring, at the same time resplendent with green newness and the hollowness of loss - ardent joy of flânerie - satisfying intellectual exchange - the charming interior world of a friend - how beautiful !

I gasped, I teared up, I felt so charmed by her joy and reflections .. in a sense I felt so connected to her musings that it made me introspective in ways that were uncomfortable .. what a simple way to feel known, finding pieces of yourself in the writings of others ..

“Chatted with P., who comes back delighted with the Caveau de la Bolée, her hands full of drawings and songs. At least our life is not banal, or imprisoned, or asleep—at least we feel, we enjoy pleasure, we suffer, and we love. We are still young and we will let nothing be lost, we will not leave the table without having tasted everything.”

[Leigh Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite in the collection.