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The Beauvoir Series
Wartime Diary
Provocative insights into Beauvoir's philosophical and personal development during wartime
Written from September 1939 to January 1941, Simone de Beauvoir’s Wartime Diary gives English readers unabridged access to a scandalous text that threatened to overturn traditional views of Beauvoir’s life and work. Beauvoir's clandestine affair with Jacques Bost and sexual relationships with various young women challenge the conventional picture of Beauvoir as the devoted companion of Jean-Paul Sartre. At the same time, her account of completing her novel She Came to Stay at a time when Sartre had just begun Being and Nothingness questions the traditional view of Beauvoir’s novel as merely illustrating Sartre’s philosophy. Wartime Diary also traces Beauvoir's philosophical transformation as she broke from the prewar solipsism of She Came to Stay in favor of the postwar political engagement of The Second Sex. Beauvoir's emerging existentialist ethics reflect the dramatic collective experiences of refugees fleeing German invasion and life under Nazi occupation. The evolution of her thought also reveals the courageous reaffirmation of her individuality in constructing a humanist ethics of freedom and solidarity. This edition also features previously unpublished material, including her musings about consciousness and order, recommended reading lists, and notes on labor unions. In providing new insights into Beauvoir’s philosophical development, the Wartime Diary promises to rewrite a crucial chapter of Western philosophy and intellectual history.
Written from September 1939 to January 1941, Simone de Beauvoir’s Wartime Diary gives English readers unabridged access to a scandalous text that threatened to overturn traditional views of Beauvoir’s life and work. Beauvoir's clandestine affair with Jacques Bost and sexual relationships with various young women challenge the conventional picture of Beauvoir as the devoted companion of Jean-Paul Sartre. At the same time, her account of completing her novel She Came to Stay at a time when Sartre had just begun Being and Nothingness questions the traditional view of Beauvoir’s novel as merely illustrating Sartre’s philosophy. Wartime Diary also traces Beauvoir's philosophical transformation as she broke from the prewar solipsism of She Came to Stay in favor of the postwar political engagement of The Second Sex. Beauvoir's emerging existentialist ethics reflect the dramatic collective experiences of refugees fleeing German invasion and life under Nazi occupation. The evolution of her thought also reveals the courageous reaffirmation of her individuality in constructing a humanist ethics of freedom and solidarity. This edition also features previously unpublished material, including her musings about consciousness and order, recommended reading lists, and notes on labor unions. In providing new insights into Beauvoir’s philosophical development, the Wartime Diary promises to rewrite a crucial chapter of Western philosophy and intellectual history.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1990
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283 people want to read
About the author
Simone de Beauvoir
421 books11.5k followersWorks 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
December 14, 2024
Years ago, I started another reading plan that included diaries, journals, and letters. The problem with reading journals is that it requires tremendous patience: there is no plot to follow, and you have to piece together meandering thoughts if you're reading to get a sense of the time, place, and literary world of a certain era. It's sort of an odd reading habit. Then again, I am content with being an oddball. The Wartime Diary requires patience and may also require a read along with Simone de Beauvoir's Letters to Sartre, which I regretfully did not do. This book details her days (some of them mundane), her writing life, her romantic and social escapades, and her philosophies:
Beauvoir began her notebooks in September 1939 and continued until January 1941. This book encapsulates much about her writing life as it does her love life during such a contentious time. She wrote daily, at various spaces in Paris, until the Germany occupation of the city when she left and returned. She read widely. She lived near her parents and friends in Paris, waiting as France mobilizes for war, waiting for what they thought would be a victory for France, but soon they would learn otherwise:
This book is divided into seven notebooks. With the exception of NOTEBOOK 6 and 7, most of this is written before The Battle of France and the German invasion. Beauvoir waits in Paris as Sartre and her other lover, Bost, are deployed. Most of her days are spent worrying about them, planning to meet them during the short visits they are allowed, reading their letters and writing to them (however, these letters are not shown in this book, which is why I made the earlier point about pairing the collections). About the notebooks, I found this fascinating. Not only was notebook-and-letter writing the literary thing to do, it also involved friends or family reading through your notebooks and making comments. Writers took their notebooks seriously and these literary tools provided emotional truths and a deeper context to changing periods that will not exist in the same way today:
Beauvoir experiences a philosophical war transformation. You see it start to take shape in NOTEBOOK 6. Later, in her autobiography, she would write about giving "herself over to indignation" after her friend is killed by Nazis. She would start to become political engaged with the perils of the world, which she does not do in these notebooks. Her writing starts to dwindle in the last two notebooks when she does not hear from Sartre, and you sense the importance of that relationship in her life. She is surrounded by her female friends and lovers, but she feels lost without Sartre. NOTEBOOK 7, contains imagined conversations with Sartre while he is in a German prison camp, her feelings laid bare since she has no way of communicating with him:
"A kind of peace" and "my only absolute," what poetic words.
I am not unhappy because I am not reflecting on my life. The objects 'happiness' and 'unhappiness' no longer exist, nor does this object 'life.' At the same time, and that goes along with it, no 'clinging' to will, regret or hope; I don't desire or expect anything, and am well beyond regrets. A kind of peace.
Beauvoir began her notebooks in September 1939 and continued until January 1941. This book encapsulates much about her writing life as it does her love life during such a contentious time. She wrote daily, at various spaces in Paris, until the Germany occupation of the city when she left and returned. She read widely. She lived near her parents and friends in Paris, waiting as France mobilizes for war, waiting for what they thought would be a victory for France, but soon they would learn otherwise:
And underlying everything, and before me, an incomprehensible horror. It is impossible to foresee anything, imagine anything, or touch anything. In any case, it's better not to try. I felt frozen and strained inside, strained in order to preserve a void—and an impression of fragility. Just one false move and it could turn suddenly into intolerable suffering.
This book is divided into seven notebooks. With the exception of NOTEBOOK 6 and 7, most of this is written before The Battle of France and the German invasion. Beauvoir waits in Paris as Sartre and her other lover, Bost, are deployed. Most of her days are spent worrying about them, planning to meet them during the short visits they are allowed, reading their letters and writing to them (however, these letters are not shown in this book, which is why I made the earlier point about pairing the collections). About the notebooks, I found this fascinating. Not only was notebook-and-letter writing the literary thing to do, it also involved friends or family reading through your notebooks and making comments. Writers took their notebooks seriously and these literary tools provided emotional truths and a deeper context to changing periods that will not exist in the same way today:
Something terrible was beginning, but the idea had something adventurous and passionately interesting about it. I was interested in my own self, wondering how I would react, how I would bear hardship...from time to time I had the pleasant impression that I was living in some Wells novel, being transported into an era and a place totally detached from me, but with the miraculous possibility of watching what was happening in the world—and then I remembered that there was no other world waiting for me, that there would be no awakening, and that was my own destiny.
Beauvoir experiences a philosophical war transformation. You see it start to take shape in NOTEBOOK 6. Later, in her autobiography, she would write about giving "herself over to indignation" after her friend is killed by Nazis. She would start to become political engaged with the perils of the world, which she does not do in these notebooks. Her writing starts to dwindle in the last two notebooks when she does not hear from Sartre, and you sense the importance of that relationship in her life. She is surrounded by her female friends and lovers, but she feels lost without Sartre. NOTEBOOK 7, contains imagined conversations with Sartre while he is in a German prison camp, her feelings laid bare since she has no way of communicating with him:
I think you haven't forgotten how much I love you - I think you know that I am absolutely nothing more than waiting for you. It gives me strength. Since you know that I'm with you, you're still with me—you, my only absolute.
"A kind of peace" and "my only absolute," what poetic words.
June 14, 2009
Normally diaries fascinate me at first and then, no matter the writer, slowly bore me to death. This was decidedly different. Beauvoir's (de Beauvoir's?) account of the early years of World War II in Paris is incredibly exciting and full of incredible insights. The way she writes through the various crises and depressing circumstances that surround her provide great lessons on how to make it through tough times. Plus, she keeps quite a few lovers and gossips about all of them.
February 15, 2022
J’aime beaucoup relire ce journal: Beauvoir est inspirante dans son quotidien, surtout lorsqu’elle travaille d’arrache-pied sur son roman, et elle brille par son intelligence même dans l’intimité de ces pages.
March 23, 2009
Considering that it was just a went-here-did-this kind of journal with a bit of commentary, this was an amazingly good read. A good writer can make magic even out of the mundane.
November 15, 2022
2.5 stars.
September 18, 2016
The time period is fascinating, and the insight into Beauvoir's thought process even more so. Still, her habit of calling everything 'insipid' got a little...insipid.
January 13, 2024
Like any book, or anyone’s diary, there are many ways to read something.
You could read this diary as a long list of daily happenings that are not relevant or interesting unless you like the author. So, I'm guessing that if are reading it, you like the author, or are at least interested in what Simone has to say.
Another way to read something is to view it in terms of your contemporary life, or from the mirror of history. Of course, a female, or male perspective is a third way to read and understand anything. However you read this Wartime Diary, I imagine that the way it ends, or should I say does not end, will leave you feeling lost or perhaps unrewarded by the lack of a conclusion, or at least, a final statement.
Certainly, Simone wrote, yes, even her diaries for other people to read, but considering she was in the middle of WWII when writing this, we can forgive her for not concluding it.
That said, it's a devastating read, especially when the war finally comes to Paris, and she is uprooted and has to hit the road. What is amazing for the reader, is to take in all the atrocities, the pain, and suffering as she not only writes from a first-hand experience, but she writes about it pragmatically, which is normal for Simone. It’s one reason why I keep reading all her writings.
Sometimes, it’s bloody awful, but it’s the truth. And as Simone says, “If you tell the truth about yourself, you help others to plumb the depths of their truth”.
There is one scene in the diary that should come with a warning, the one about an abortion, and at seven months' pregnancy and what happens afterwards. If you read this, it will stay with you forever. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever read.
The daily life of Simone and her many friends, lovers, and acquaintances, is full on. Sometimes it’s like being smothered in people. All these names that she throws at the reader with little to no context can be frustrating. And, she writes in a code, but it's not hard to figure that out. She uses one word to descibe an event or happening. Such as Lycee. To state that she went to teach at her school.
This diray is an incredibly rich tapestry that keeps you reading fast to find out what happens next. I read the 350 pages in one week.
What I loved most was to trace all the cafes, the movies, restaurants, books, people, food and drinks she constantly mentions. Many of the cafes are still there and functioning today in Paris and France. She saw Edith Piaf live.
I imagine, few diary are as full as this one.
You could read this diary as a long list of daily happenings that are not relevant or interesting unless you like the author. So, I'm guessing that if are reading it, you like the author, or are at least interested in what Simone has to say.
Another way to read something is to view it in terms of your contemporary life, or from the mirror of history. Of course, a female, or male perspective is a third way to read and understand anything. However you read this Wartime Diary, I imagine that the way it ends, or should I say does not end, will leave you feeling lost or perhaps unrewarded by the lack of a conclusion, or at least, a final statement.
Certainly, Simone wrote, yes, even her diaries for other people to read, but considering she was in the middle of WWII when writing this, we can forgive her for not concluding it.
That said, it's a devastating read, especially when the war finally comes to Paris, and she is uprooted and has to hit the road. What is amazing for the reader, is to take in all the atrocities, the pain, and suffering as she not only writes from a first-hand experience, but she writes about it pragmatically, which is normal for Simone. It’s one reason why I keep reading all her writings.
Sometimes, it’s bloody awful, but it’s the truth. And as Simone says, “If you tell the truth about yourself, you help others to plumb the depths of their truth”.
There is one scene in the diary that should come with a warning, the one about an abortion, and at seven months' pregnancy and what happens afterwards. If you read this, it will stay with you forever. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever read.
The daily life of Simone and her many friends, lovers, and acquaintances, is full on. Sometimes it’s like being smothered in people. All these names that she throws at the reader with little to no context can be frustrating. And, she writes in a code, but it's not hard to figure that out. She uses one word to descibe an event or happening. Such as Lycee. To state that she went to teach at her school.
This diray is an incredibly rich tapestry that keeps you reading fast to find out what happens next. I read the 350 pages in one week.
What I loved most was to trace all the cafes, the movies, restaurants, books, people, food and drinks she constantly mentions. Many of the cafes are still there and functioning today in Paris and France. She saw Edith Piaf live.
I imagine, few diary are as full as this one.
March 10, 2023
Se trata de siete cuadernos que componen este Diario de guerra que Simone de Beauvoir llevó desde su infancia hasta su juventud con algunas intermitencias.
Pertenece al periodo negro de los años 1939 y 1940.
Editados de manera póstuma, en ellos hay una sinceridad total , íntima, profunda, descarnada, dolorosa, cada página está humedecida con lágrimas .
El Diario viene a llenar los vacíos de la correspondencia, cuando Simone y Sartre se veían de forma clandestina. También habla de cuando Sartre estuvo preso y se cortó la comunicación entre ambos. El Diario permite reconstruir la historia en su continuidad.
Lectora voraz: Jane Austen, Víctor Hugo, Lo que el viento se llevó, novelas policíacas, etc ...acompañada de la música de Beethoven.
Esta época le supuso estar sin casa, ( se quedaba en hoteles), sin amigos, sin proyectos, etc ..
Habla de los paseos por las calles de París ( una ciudad que la tenía enamorada), a pesar del momento que vivía, sus paseos por la noche por el Sena, los cafés que frecuentaba, y ante tanta soledad la lectura y escritura fueron un refugio.
Habla de sus escapadas a Alsacia, Lyon y La Provenza .
Una mujer con una gran inquietud intelectual, que escribía de forma adictiva ,el Diario está escrito al borde de las lágrimas, incluido su emocionado recuerdo a su amiga ,ya fallecida, Zaza Lacoin.
Todo esto le llevó a escribir con bastante ahínco, en parte, como forma de desahogo. A estas situaciones vividas se le sumaba las experiencias en sus relaciones intimas con alumnas, profesoras, amigas... que tuvieron una gran influencia en su vida y sus escritos.
Es una lectura que invade su privacidad, que transmite su emoción, sus sentimientos, su dolor y desolación compartiendo de forma generosa esa batalla interior que estaba librando, en uno de los momentos más delicados de su vida.
Pertenece al periodo negro de los años 1939 y 1940.
Editados de manera póstuma, en ellos hay una sinceridad total , íntima, profunda, descarnada, dolorosa, cada página está humedecida con lágrimas .
El Diario viene a llenar los vacíos de la correspondencia, cuando Simone y Sartre se veían de forma clandestina. También habla de cuando Sartre estuvo preso y se cortó la comunicación entre ambos. El Diario permite reconstruir la historia en su continuidad.
Lectora voraz: Jane Austen, Víctor Hugo, Lo que el viento se llevó, novelas policíacas, etc ...acompañada de la música de Beethoven.
Esta época le supuso estar sin casa, ( se quedaba en hoteles), sin amigos, sin proyectos, etc ..
Habla de los paseos por las calles de París ( una ciudad que la tenía enamorada), a pesar del momento que vivía, sus paseos por la noche por el Sena, los cafés que frecuentaba, y ante tanta soledad la lectura y escritura fueron un refugio.
Habla de sus escapadas a Alsacia, Lyon y La Provenza .
Una mujer con una gran inquietud intelectual, que escribía de forma adictiva ,el Diario está escrito al borde de las lágrimas, incluido su emocionado recuerdo a su amiga ,ya fallecida, Zaza Lacoin.
Todo esto le llevó a escribir con bastante ahínco, en parte, como forma de desahogo. A estas situaciones vividas se le sumaba las experiencias en sus relaciones intimas con alumnas, profesoras, amigas... que tuvieron una gran influencia en su vida y sus escritos.
Es una lectura que invade su privacidad, que transmite su emoción, sus sentimientos, su dolor y desolación compartiendo de forma generosa esa batalla interior que estaba librando, en uno de los momentos más delicados de su vida.
January 19, 2025
I purchased the book, since I expected a very rich kind of living for such a writer, but I found it waste of time, and also I did underestand that although she is a very rich writer, but had not a rich living type, and lots of times she lived aimless and boring. What is interesting in this book is her persistence on writing, and I enjoyed and decided to follow it . I do not recommend to read this book and wasting your time .
July 27, 2021
The book had some really fascinating bits here and there - e.g. discussions of "She Came to Stay" and descriptions of the war and occupation -- but, overall, it was a struggle to get through.
October 18, 2022
A stimulating presentation of the author’s experience during the years recorded. Interesting descriptions of life and the gradual changes in thought.
March 19, 2010
A My first Simone de Beauvoir (besides The Second Sex in college). Excellent; her diary from the start of the war, philosophical letters with Sartre, excursions with her lovers, wartime fears and stress…She's a wonderful writer (reminded me of Anais Nin's diaries) and I will def be reading more of her!
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January 17, 2018I really wanted to like this book, but I kept comparing it to other diary-like books of the era and it kept falling flat. Being it is a diary, it is stream of consciousness. I know, it is what it is and puts us directly in the moment, but I really struggled with this.
February 25, 2009
The power of a strong intellect can change the world.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews