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Introduktion till en tvetydighetens moral och andra texter
Introduktion till en tvetydighetens moral och andra texter är essäer skrivna mellan 1944 och 1959, som visar grunden av Simone de Beauvoirs tänkande. Här utforskas allt från Brigitte Bardot som ett provokativt löfte om kvinnlig frigörelse, till hur Marquis de Sade förvånande nog kan kallas moralist, samt grundläggande etiska frågor om människors handlande och ansvar.
Allting genom korsas av temat tvetydighet: hur den mänskliga existensen kännetecknas av en dubbelhet som inte går att avläsa i termer av motsatser. Till en fenomenologisk tradition som tidigare varit betydligt mera ren, teoretisk, språkorienterad, förde Simone de Beauvoir in etiska och politiska frågor. På olika sätt, genom olika perspektiv, visar dessa essäer, varför hon hör till de senaste hundra årens viktigaste tänkare.
Allting genom korsas av temat tvetydighet: hur den mänskliga existensen kännetecknas av en dubbelhet som inte går att avläsa i termer av motsatser. Till en fenomenologisk tradition som tidigare varit betydligt mera ren, teoretisk, språkorienterad, förde Simone de Beauvoir in etiska och politiska frågor. På olika sätt, genom olika perspektiv, visar dessa essäer, varför hon hör till de senaste hundra årens viktigaste tänkare.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
17 people are currently reading
1329 people want to read
About the author
Simone de Beauvoir
420 books11.4k 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 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 19, 2018
Split 50/50 with some memorable B&W photos of Bardot, this interesting, albeit brief text sees Simone de Beauvoir analyse the appeal of BB in connection with the ideology of the modern woman, which, at the time for men, tended to lean towards the Lolita child-woman sex symbol.
As a feminist paper, it was far too short to truly delve into the psyche, but it did bring to the table some important issues, which even today, in this shamefully male domineering world are vastly apparent.
BB was loved and lampooned in equal measure, she took a lot of unfair criticism in France, and was even blamed by some indignant mothers for the murder of an old man in Angers by youths who they believed had become perverted by her scantily clad images, thus, wanting her films banned.
Do I detect a hint of jealousy? why not blame the Queen of Sheba as well. A lot of the focus here was on the Director Roger Vadim, and his decision to cast Bardot in his 1956 film ...And God Created Woman. She explains how this film opened up a new sort of erotism, featuring Bardot as a
modern version of the Eternal Female. For some though, it was seen as a dangerous pathway to bring women and adolescence closer together sexually.
de Beauvoir also speaks faintly, about Bardot the person, and how many people, including Vadim himself, treated her with disrespect. Good job Harvey Weinstein wasn't around at the time. She didn't half take some shit, but behind that adorable sultry face, there was still Bardot the human being. One with intellect and a big heart, who took a lot of stick by those who didn't even know her. It's a shame this book was so short, and that it quickly dabbled on one thing before going on to something else, just when I was really getting into it. Ultimately, although very well written it was like a quick hug rather than a full embrace. The text gets a 3/5, the photos a 4/5.
As a feminist paper, it was far too short to truly delve into the psyche, but it did bring to the table some important issues, which even today, in this shamefully male domineering world are vastly apparent.
BB was loved and lampooned in equal measure, she took a lot of unfair criticism in France, and was even blamed by some indignant mothers for the murder of an old man in Angers by youths who they believed had become perverted by her scantily clad images, thus, wanting her films banned.
Do I detect a hint of jealousy? why not blame the Queen of Sheba as well. A lot of the focus here was on the Director Roger Vadim, and his decision to cast Bardot in his 1956 film ...And God Created Woman. She explains how this film opened up a new sort of erotism, featuring Bardot as a
modern version of the Eternal Female. For some though, it was seen as a dangerous pathway to bring women and adolescence closer together sexually.
de Beauvoir also speaks faintly, about Bardot the person, and how many people, including Vadim himself, treated her with disrespect. Good job Harvey Weinstein wasn't around at the time. She didn't half take some shit, but behind that adorable sultry face, there was still Bardot the human being. One with intellect and a big heart, who took a lot of stick by those who didn't even know her. It's a shame this book was so short, and that it quickly dabbled on one thing before going on to something else, just when I was really getting into it. Ultimately, although very well written it was like a quick hug rather than a full embrace. The text gets a 3/5, the photos a 4/5.
December 16, 2015
I've always been fascinated with the golden age stars such as Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe. I find them the epitome of beauty and femininity. And they are so much more than their beautiful bodies.
What I don't like is how public opinion of the time looked down on BB in spite the fact that she had been their creation. It's silly (well, not that silly if you read something like The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature) how men desire a nymphet. As it is illegal to get one, they settle for a woman who looks like a girl and (most times) acts as such.
And now I'm going to watch a BB movie.
April 23, 2016
It is the early 1960s and Beauvoir is worried that eroticism has been removed from the movies. Along comes vixen Bardot and everyone in France, it seems, cannot help but notice her - but with a snicker. For a time the movies were exciting because they were designed to have men respond to feminine curves in an obvious, if crude way. But where is the mystery anymore? It is hard to imagine this but Beauvoir lived in a time when men and women were appearing on beaches practically nude for the first time. (To my mind the bikini is the 20th century's greatest innovation, even better than the automobile. If I had to choose one over the other for humanity's sake I would gladly take a horse to the beach.) It was not much more than fifteen years ago when Nazis were marching through Paris. And now we have sexed up waifs like Bardot to have to deal with? Was the Resistance really worth it?
The essay is a short one, but to me it represents Beauvoir at her best. Only someone equally adept at writing philosophy, social criticism, novels and memoir could have written this. She is actually arguing for poetry, turning the idol Bardot into the kind of mythic figure that once pulsated through the minds of poets from Dante to Baudelaire. Female worship in poetry looks a little ridiculous now, or so the theory goes, but how different is it from admiring the female imagery we see up on the screen? In a book or in a movie, we are not actually in contact with these women, so why the swoon? Or are we not in contact with them, morally: this is the question Beauvoir raises. Bardot was once of our time. Where is she now? In brilliant writing like this. On film.
I say this as a convert to Bardot's attraction. I did not get her prior to reading Beauvoir's essay. Jeanne Moreau, Monica Vitti, Anna Karina, Marilyn Monroe, my god, those ones I got, even though their sexual peak was not of my time. Like Audrey Hepburn, Bardot was in the process of inventing "the erotic hoyden, the boisterous, bold, carefree girl" for the first time since the atomic bomb. Shortly after the Nazis left France Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex. That Beauvoir does not interest me. This one does, able to cast her male gaze on Bardot's features, going into explicit detail about her dancer's body, her pout and kissable lips, her delightful bosom. Well shit Simone, if you say so!
But she does not stop there. She goes on to praise this "ambiguous nymph", comparing her to the effect she has on conventional morality with Ava Gardner's threat as seen in Barefoot Contessa. Beauvoir is all guns. Now she's onto philosophy. "To dwell in eternity," she raptures, "is another way of rejecting time." Badiou needs high-level mathematics to achieve that, Bardot mere impetuousness. "She offers herself directly to each spectator." Be like Truffaut or Godard, direct these girls and you too will become immortal. "The debunking of love and eroticism is an undertaking that has wider implications than one might think. As soon as a single myth is touched, all myths are in danger." No, never! And not on my watch either!
The essay is a short one, but to me it represents Beauvoir at her best. Only someone equally adept at writing philosophy, social criticism, novels and memoir could have written this. She is actually arguing for poetry, turning the idol Bardot into the kind of mythic figure that once pulsated through the minds of poets from Dante to Baudelaire. Female worship in poetry looks a little ridiculous now, or so the theory goes, but how different is it from admiring the female imagery we see up on the screen? In a book or in a movie, we are not actually in contact with these women, so why the swoon? Or are we not in contact with them, morally: this is the question Beauvoir raises. Bardot was once of our time. Where is she now? In brilliant writing like this. On film.
I say this as a convert to Bardot's attraction. I did not get her prior to reading Beauvoir's essay. Jeanne Moreau, Monica Vitti, Anna Karina, Marilyn Monroe, my god, those ones I got, even though their sexual peak was not of my time. Like Audrey Hepburn, Bardot was in the process of inventing "the erotic hoyden, the boisterous, bold, carefree girl" for the first time since the atomic bomb. Shortly after the Nazis left France Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex. That Beauvoir does not interest me. This one does, able to cast her male gaze on Bardot's features, going into explicit detail about her dancer's body, her pout and kissable lips, her delightful bosom. Well shit Simone, if you say so!
But she does not stop there. She goes on to praise this "ambiguous nymph", comparing her to the effect she has on conventional morality with Ava Gardner's threat as seen in Barefoot Contessa. Beauvoir is all guns. Now she's onto philosophy. "To dwell in eternity," she raptures, "is another way of rejecting time." Badiou needs high-level mathematics to achieve that, Bardot mere impetuousness. "She offers herself directly to each spectator." Be like Truffaut or Godard, direct these girls and you too will become immortal. "The debunking of love and eroticism is an undertaking that has wider implications than one might think. As soon as a single myth is touched, all myths are in danger." No, never! And not on my watch either!
June 15, 2021
all books should take 10 minutes to read because they are 70% pictures of brigitte bardot
January 14, 2018
This tiny tome doesn't take long to read. And while the examples it casts—of Bardot and her films—are no longer contemporaneous to us, the key points, it seems, remain true: There's something in the Lolita that's both infuriating and compelling because she is a blooming woman that men don't (yet) have rightful access to.
Bardot, whose sexuality was artless and frank, retains the quality of a young girl untouched by experience; she isn't answerable to a male gaze even if she was springboarded into fame for it. Her body is hers, her decisions to make love or engage men are hers; for her, then, a man is as much an object as a woman typically is. Her body undressed is not a tool of submissive seduction; it is her body, she who remains the actor, she who decides whether to offer it or dance away.
This conflict is what Beauvoir claims contributed to so much moral reproach when BB's star was born: Latin countries couldn't deal with the notion of a woman without artifice (which, while implying intelligence, also implies a subjugated conniving which is weirdly easier for the patriarchy to swallow), while Americans accept her wholeheartedly because they accept the guileless woman in theory if not always in fact.
I haven't decided to what degree I agree with all this or find it applicable to now. But it does add nuance to the way things have gone since. The patriarchy has bigger problems than the sexy gamine; it's now being asked to deal with the fact of its artifice-peddling women angrily tearing away their many corsets. Bardot in her roles never struck one as motivated to either play by or flout the rules; she simply existed despite them with complete peace of mind (even if only to be tamed by a good strong man, per narrative demands).
Maybe there's something here that can be learned—barring that parenthesis.
Bardot, whose sexuality was artless and frank, retains the quality of a young girl untouched by experience; she isn't answerable to a male gaze even if she was springboarded into fame for it. Her body is hers, her decisions to make love or engage men are hers; for her, then, a man is as much an object as a woman typically is. Her body undressed is not a tool of submissive seduction; it is her body, she who remains the actor, she who decides whether to offer it or dance away.
This conflict is what Beauvoir claims contributed to so much moral reproach when BB's star was born: Latin countries couldn't deal with the notion of a woman without artifice (which, while implying intelligence, also implies a subjugated conniving which is weirdly easier for the patriarchy to swallow), while Americans accept her wholeheartedly because they accept the guileless woman in theory if not always in fact.
I haven't decided to what degree I agree with all this or find it applicable to now. But it does add nuance to the way things have gone since. The patriarchy has bigger problems than the sexy gamine; it's now being asked to deal with the fact of its artifice-peddling women angrily tearing away their many corsets. Bardot in her roles never struck one as motivated to either play by or flout the rules; she simply existed despite them with complete peace of mind (even if only to be tamed by a good strong man, per narrative demands).
Maybe there's something here that can be learned—barring that parenthesis.
December 27, 2024
Beauvoir nails the need for the bourgeoisie to consume vulgar entertainment like voyeurs and cast judgment on it at the same time. Timeless observations in my opinion.
April 10, 2016
Interesante ensayo, aunque hoy peca de una ingenuidad notable. Claro, escrito en 1962, Simone no podía preever que la industria cinematográfica y de la moda iban a destruir totalmente a Bardot (léase: darle papeles superfluos hasta que se vuelva vieja, y a partir de ahí ignorarla para siempre).
Lo que tiene de interesante es que fue escrito en un momento en que nadie se tomaba en serio a Bardot, sobre todo en Francia, donde su figura era consumida por jóvenes y por viejos demasiado esnobs como para admitir que les calienta la figura de nenita fatal, honesta, etc.
Simone banca a BB, primero, porque pone el cuerpo y es lo único que salva a las películas de Roger Vadim. Segundo, porque en tanto bomba sexual, ofende la dignidad burguesa. Tercero, porque en sus películas maneja a los hombres como objetos, y porque "hace lo que quiere y no se arrepiente".
Habría que ver si Beauvoir hubiera escrito algo así 10 o 20 años después, cuando la figura de mujer liberada que sale en bolas fue totalmente absorbida por la industria de la moda, la publicidad y la pornografía. Esto se lee como un ensayo de un momento en que la revolución sexual todavía no venía y cuando un cuerpo desnudo de mujer (sexualidad autoasumida) sí era revolucionario. Hoy sabemos que no es tan así, y que la mayoría de las veces la desnudez femenina en una película o una fotografía no es equivalente a libertad.
Lo que tiene de interesante es que fue escrito en un momento en que nadie se tomaba en serio a Bardot, sobre todo en Francia, donde su figura era consumida por jóvenes y por viejos demasiado esnobs como para admitir que les calienta la figura de nenita fatal, honesta, etc.
Simone banca a BB, primero, porque pone el cuerpo y es lo único que salva a las películas de Roger Vadim. Segundo, porque en tanto bomba sexual, ofende la dignidad burguesa. Tercero, porque en sus películas maneja a los hombres como objetos, y porque "hace lo que quiere y no se arrepiente".
Habría que ver si Beauvoir hubiera escrito algo así 10 o 20 años después, cuando la figura de mujer liberada que sale en bolas fue totalmente absorbida por la industria de la moda, la publicidad y la pornografía. Esto se lee como un ensayo de un momento en que la revolución sexual todavía no venía y cuando un cuerpo desnudo de mujer (sexualidad autoasumida) sí era revolucionario. Hoy sabemos que no es tan así, y que la mayoría de las veces la desnudez femenina en una película o una fotografía no es equivalente a libertad.
May 8, 2024
En utmärkt essä!! Läs läs läs läs NUUUU!!!
Den var värd mina 29kr på apple books.
- ”Kärleken kan klara sig utan mysterium men inte eroticismen.”
- ”Åldersskillnaden återupprättar mellan dem det avstånd som är nödvändigt för att begäret ska födas.”
- ”Hon är utan minne, utan förflutet, och tack vare denna okunnighet bevarar hon den perfekta oskuld som är inneboende i myten om barndomen.”
- ”Hon uppträder som en naturkraft, farlig så länge hon förblir otämjd, men det tillkommer mannen att domptera henne.”
- ”Majoriteten av fransmännen hävdar att en kvinna förlorar sin sex appeal om hon ger upp konstgreppen.
Enligt dem kyler en kvinna i byxor ner begäret.”
- ”Mannen känner sig illa till mods om han i stället för en docka av kött i sina armar håller ett medvetet varande som dömer honom.”
- ”De blir tvingade att gå med på plumpheten i sitt begär vars föremål är mycket tydligt: denna kropp, dessa lår, dessa skinkor, dessa bröst. De flesta människor har inte modet att begränsa sexualiteten till vad den är och att erkänna dess makt. De som utmanar sitt hyckleri blir anklagade för cynism.”
- ”Jag hoppas att hon ska mogna, men att hon inte förändras.”
Den var värd mina 29kr på apple books.
- ”Kärleken kan klara sig utan mysterium men inte eroticismen.”
- ”Åldersskillnaden återupprättar mellan dem det avstånd som är nödvändigt för att begäret ska födas.”
- ”Hon är utan minne, utan förflutet, och tack vare denna okunnighet bevarar hon den perfekta oskuld som är inneboende i myten om barndomen.”
- ”Hon uppträder som en naturkraft, farlig så länge hon förblir otämjd, men det tillkommer mannen att domptera henne.”
- ”Majoriteten av fransmännen hävdar att en kvinna förlorar sin sex appeal om hon ger upp konstgreppen.
Enligt dem kyler en kvinna i byxor ner begäret.”
- ”Mannen känner sig illa till mods om han i stället för en docka av kött i sina armar håller ett medvetet varande som dömer honom.”
- ”De blir tvingade att gå med på plumpheten i sitt begär vars föremål är mycket tydligt: denna kropp, dessa lår, dessa skinkor, dessa bröst. De flesta människor har inte modet att begränsa sexualiteten till vad den är och att erkänna dess makt. De som utmanar sitt hyckleri blir anklagade för cynism.”
- ”Jag hoppas att hon ska mogna, men att hon inte förändras.”
February 20, 2022
moeilijk om te beoordelen omdat ik niet slim genoeg ben voor de beauvoir en dit waarschijnlijk drie keer moet lezen om echt het punt te snappen. maar leuk om even tussendoor te lezen over hoe de beauvoir bb en waar ze voor staat ziet, met prachtige foto's.
March 31, 2024
’To say that ‘BB embodies the immorality of an age’ means that the character she has created challenges certain taboos accepted by the preceding age, particularly those which denied women sexual autonomy.’
December 23, 2024
A solid think-piece essay by Beauvoir that is as relevant as ever.
I recently read a piece on Substack relating Sabrina Carpenter to Lolita Syndrome. It’s interesting to see the idea of the modern woman (or should I say “girl”) has gone back to the eroticism of the “untamed child” as Brigette Bardot once played.
I recently read a piece on Substack relating Sabrina Carpenter to Lolita Syndrome. It’s interesting to see the idea of the modern woman (or should I say “girl”) has gone back to the eroticism of the “untamed child” as Brigette Bardot once played.
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October 4, 2023Uppáhalds setningin mín í þessari bók er: "In France, love for cows is regarded as a token of high morality".
Annars er þetta mjög skrítið verk og er enn að reyna að átta mig á því hvort Beauvoir sé að gagnrýna eða upphefja barnagirnd.
Annars er þetta mjög skrítið verk og er enn að reyna að átta mig á því hvort Beauvoir sé að gagnrýna eða upphefja barnagirnd.
October 10, 2023
I should learn that really old non-fiction is going to be rough even if the book I short. The parts I read I liked but it was so dense and it felt like she was going around in circles.
June 22, 2024
Simone de Beauvoir is the author of The Second Sex which was the beginning of the feminist revolution. She also espoused the Existential Philosophy of her lover, Jean-Paul Sartre. Brigitte Bardot was a very controversial figure both when this book was published, in 1959, and today. She was young then, hence the Lolita connection, but spoke her own mind. She did what she wanted. She was a liberated woman in a time when that was frowned upon. This book explores who and why she was controversial and lays open the misogyny of that day. The book is filled with photographs of the nymphet that was Bardot in the 50s. I wonder if the author put them there, or if the publisher did to increase sales.
April 24, 2025
“Bridgitte Bardot is a lost, pathetic child who needs a guide and protector” and evidently when she exhibits signs of not needing such a presence in her life, she is casted away and burnt at the stake for her immorality !
her current ideology i absolutely despise and that i would describe as immoral; however, it does not negate the psychoanalysis that has been previously mention, that of the mass who ruthlessly desired yet tormented her during this period
her current ideology i absolutely despise and that i would describe as immoral; however, it does not negate the psychoanalysis that has been previously mention, that of the mass who ruthlessly desired yet tormented her during this period
March 29, 2020
An interesting piece of opinion illustrated by beautiful pictures. Although people tend to drastically oppose the likes of De Beauvoir and Bardot, it is fascinating how much the former estimated and reflected on the latter.
January 9, 2019
Interesting to say the least
August 28, 2021
3,75 stars
a very quick read, with an interesting take on the hate on bb, although it was lacking some nuance it was very enjoyable because of the beautiful pictures
a very quick read, with an interesting take on the hate on bb, although it was lacking some nuance it was very enjoyable because of the beautiful pictures
January 27, 2022
brief but incredible - everyone should read this
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January 21, 2023Kind of a waste of time lol
March 30, 2023
Definitely don't have enough contemporary context for this, but the little I needed I dug out. Need to let it brew a bit, and reread it. Writing down to remember.
March 10, 2015
This was an interesting short read. A full analysis of the reasons for the contempt against Brigitte Bardot, especially in her country, and its meaning to the idea or visualization of what the woman in or should be. Written by one of the pioneers of feminism herself, the anger the author feels against what the people say about Brigitte is palpable and makes a good point of view, due to recent events in the fight for equal rights.
May 9, 2016
Var tvungen att ge upp på denna bok efter ca 80 sidor. Alldeles för många litterära referenser och liknande för att jag skulle orka fortsätta läsa. Visst hade vart lite härligt att ha läst en "bok" av de Beauvoir, men jag sparar just denna inför framtiden faktiskt.
November 27, 2023
Got distracted writing an essay on french cinema and read this some time last year. More of an extended essay (60 pages and half photos), a good taster of Beauvoir’s work through an accessible interpretation of a renowned figure of femininity.
August 1, 2017
An interesting read.
August 10, 2016
An extremely interesting take on Brigitte Bardot as articulated by the incredible Simone de Beauvoir. Of course it's going to get a 5.
September 6, 2016
Enjoyed her writing style and jokes between the lines.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews