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Routledge Critical Thinkers
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking work has transformed the way we think about gender and identity. Without her 1949 text The Second Sex, gender theory as we know it today would be unthinkable. A leading figure in French existentialism, Beauvoir's concepts of 'becoming woman' and of woman as 'Other' are among the most influential ideas in feminist enquiry and debate.This book guides the reader through the main areas of Simone de Beauvoir's thought, and ethics*gender studies and feminism*literature and autobiography*sexuality, the body and ageingDrawing upon Beauvoir's literary and theoretical texts, this is the ideal introduction to her thought for students on a range of courses including literature, cultural studies, gender, philosophy and modern languages.
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 13, 2003
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142 people want to read
About the author
Ursula Tidd
9 booksUrsula Tidd is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Manchester.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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July 7, 2012Useful introduction to de Beauvoir's life, philosophy and works. Recommended to anyone who did not take a philosophy course in university or is not familiar with her life or philosophy.
January 4, 2015
I absolutely loved this study of one of the twentieth century's most brilliant and famous women writers and activists. It is the single most trenchant and insightful of the intellectual biographical studies of de Beauvoir.
Nothing of value in de Beauvoir's life is overlooked. Context and circumstances are fully considered and the widest range of resources and key relationships are thought through (the influence of her parents, sister, lovers, besides that of the works of intellectual writers and philosophers such as Levis-Strauss, Hegel, Heidegger, Aquinas, Marx, Husserl, Leibniz, Kant, and the existential phenomenologists, among others).
Tidd also sheds light on some of the influences on her growing sense of intersectional feminism and the lesser known yet critical influences for her magnum opus on women, The Second Sex, by reference, for example, to her strong interest in Gunnar Myrdal's classic 1944 study American Dilemma, on race in America.
She doesn't shy away from the complex and often troubling relationship Beauvoir had with Sartre: namely the ways in which it was supportive of each other, while often exploiting the affection of other lovers and writing about them and betraying their lovers' confidences to each other.
Importantly, she quotes well from all Beauvoir's work, so you get to appreciate her strengths as a memoirist, diarist, philosopher, essayist and polemicist, novelist, travel and letter writer, feminist and political activist.
I've read the full-length biographies by Deirdre Blair and Toril Moi, and this short study says everything of value while missing nothing of significance.
The highest praise I can think of for a biography of a writer is to say that it excites and compels you to want to go and read or reread the writer's work. This brilliant study merits that accolade.
Nothing of value in de Beauvoir's life is overlooked. Context and circumstances are fully considered and the widest range of resources and key relationships are thought through (the influence of her parents, sister, lovers, besides that of the works of intellectual writers and philosophers such as Levis-Strauss, Hegel, Heidegger, Aquinas, Marx, Husserl, Leibniz, Kant, and the existential phenomenologists, among others).
Tidd also sheds light on some of the influences on her growing sense of intersectional feminism and the lesser known yet critical influences for her magnum opus on women, The Second Sex, by reference, for example, to her strong interest in Gunnar Myrdal's classic 1944 study American Dilemma, on race in America.
She doesn't shy away from the complex and often troubling relationship Beauvoir had with Sartre: namely the ways in which it was supportive of each other, while often exploiting the affection of other lovers and writing about them and betraying their lovers' confidences to each other.
Importantly, she quotes well from all Beauvoir's work, so you get to appreciate her strengths as a memoirist, diarist, philosopher, essayist and polemicist, novelist, travel and letter writer, feminist and political activist.
I've read the full-length biographies by Deirdre Blair and Toril Moi, and this short study says everything of value while missing nothing of significance.
The highest praise I can think of for a biography of a writer is to say that it excites and compels you to want to go and read or reread the writer's work. This brilliant study merits that accolade.
October 13, 2025
Una molt bona introducció. No tinc temps per a escriure massa res, a part del fet que aquí es presenten els conceptes principals de l’obra de Beauvoir, es fa un parcours de la seva obra literària i se la introdueix i segueix en el debat feminista al llarg dels anys seixanta i setanta. Una figura molt interessant a qui m’agradaria llegir i a qui, de nou, no tinc temps a llegir. Existencialisme; feminisme; vellesa; ambigüitat.
September 3, 2009
Simone de Beauvoir's 'The Second Sex' (1949) may be one of the most talked about and least read 20th century texts. This 'Routledge Critical Reader' (a sort of post-grad York Notes) provides a great introduction to the theorist and clears up a few misconceptions. Often cited alongside Satre, fellow existentialist and lover (?), she appears much less of a fundamentalist. Concerned primarily with ethics, her notion of autonomy is always tempered by 'facticity'- a term she coins to encompass the situatedness of a person. Such situatedness may also refer to one's body, dispelling any notions that she dismissed gender absolutely. Whereas Sartre wrote that even those who submit under torture always do so willingly, Beauvoir's recognises limiting external factors.
In relation to 20th century western feminism, Beauvoir recognises willful submission of women to gender roles alongside male oppression; as opposed to a society where the former may not be so large a factor, rendering women less culpable of inaction. Ultimately it is moral responsibility - synomomous with the responisbility to 'choose' - that is emphasised. Even in severely limited circumstances, one has to choose; not to choose would be to annihilate oneself.
The reader provides a clear chronology and trajectory of Beauvoir's work including several insightful interviews as well as her later work on ageing. Highlighting her importance to 'femminism' in general it cites those who followed in a similar vein, particularly Butler, as well as those who reacted against her, including the second wave of french feminism circa 1968: Cixious et al, and the emergance of 'l'ecriture feminine' (women write in circles etc...)
In relation to 20th century western feminism, Beauvoir recognises willful submission of women to gender roles alongside male oppression; as opposed to a society where the former may not be so large a factor, rendering women less culpable of inaction. Ultimately it is moral responsibility - synomomous with the responisbility to 'choose' - that is emphasised. Even in severely limited circumstances, one has to choose; not to choose would be to annihilate oneself.
The reader provides a clear chronology and trajectory of Beauvoir's work including several insightful interviews as well as her later work on ageing. Highlighting her importance to 'femminism' in general it cites those who followed in a similar vein, particularly Butler, as well as those who reacted against her, including the second wave of french feminism circa 1968: Cixious et al, and the emergance of 'l'ecriture feminine' (women write in circles etc...)
November 28, 2021
I just finished reading this biography throughout my trip to Paris.
.
.
brief synopsis: Simone de Beauvoir was an esteemed French ‘intellectual’ in her own right, with an elite philosophical education, series of important publications and passionate, lifelong non-exclusive relationship with Sartre. they famously wrote next to each other in cafes until their publications made them too famous to remain uninterrupted in public. arguably her most influential text was THE SECOND SEX, which shaped second-wave feminism, though de Beauvoir primarily identified as a novelist.
.
.
Critical Lives from Reaktion Books is an invaluable series, as it fuses the lives and works of important thinkers to create an unforgettable story. light & pink and highly engaging, this book was an ideal biography to consume throughout my Paris trip.
.
.
notable quotation: “ethical philosopher; feminist theorist and activist; campaigner for civil rights of the oppressed and the ages”
.
.
thought: can someone please produce a comparative study of two of my favorite female philosophers: de Beauvoir and Arendt?
.
.
brief synopsis: Simone de Beauvoir was an esteemed French ‘intellectual’ in her own right, with an elite philosophical education, series of important publications and passionate, lifelong non-exclusive relationship with Sartre. they famously wrote next to each other in cafes until their publications made them too famous to remain uninterrupted in public. arguably her most influential text was THE SECOND SEX, which shaped second-wave feminism, though de Beauvoir primarily identified as a novelist.
.
.
Critical Lives from Reaktion Books is an invaluable series, as it fuses the lives and works of important thinkers to create an unforgettable story. light & pink and highly engaging, this book was an ideal biography to consume throughout my Paris trip.
.
.
notable quotation: “ethical philosopher; feminist theorist and activist; campaigner for civil rights of the oppressed and the ages”
.
.
thought: can someone please produce a comparative study of two of my favorite female philosophers: de Beauvoir and Arendt?
January 1, 2015
Absolutely loved this intellectual biography of one of the twentieth century's most brilliant and famous women writers and activists.
It is the single most trenchant and insightful of the brief biographical studies of de Beauvoir.
Nothing of value in de Beauvoir's life is overlooked. Context and circumstances are fully considered and the widest range of resources and key relationships are thought through (the influence of her parents, sister, lovers, and providing insight on her reading of writers and philosophers such as Levis-Strauss, Hegel, Heidegger, Aquinas, Marx, Husserl, Leibniz, Kant, and the existential phenomenologists, among others).
Tidd also sheds light on some of her intersectional feminism and the lesser known yet critical influences for her magnum opus on women, The Second Sex, by referencing her strong interest in Gunnar Myrdal's classic 1975 study American Dilemma, on race in America.
Tidd also doesn't shy away from the complex and often troubling relationship Beauvoir had with Sartre: namely the ways in which it was supportive of each other, while often exploiting the affection of other lovers and writing about them and betraying their lovers' confidences to each other.
Importantly, Tidd quotes well from all Beauvoir's work, so you get to appreciate her strengths as a memoirist, diarist, philosopher, essayist and polemicist, novelist, travel and letter writer, feminist and political activist.
I've read Deidre Blair's and Toril Moi's biographies, and this short study says everything of value while missing nothing of significance.
The highest praise I can think of for a biography of a writer is to say that it excites and compels you to want to go and read or reread the writer's work. This brilliant study merits that accolade.
It is the single most trenchant and insightful of the brief biographical studies of de Beauvoir.
Nothing of value in de Beauvoir's life is overlooked. Context and circumstances are fully considered and the widest range of resources and key relationships are thought through (the influence of her parents, sister, lovers, and providing insight on her reading of writers and philosophers such as Levis-Strauss, Hegel, Heidegger, Aquinas, Marx, Husserl, Leibniz, Kant, and the existential phenomenologists, among others).
Tidd also sheds light on some of her intersectional feminism and the lesser known yet critical influences for her magnum opus on women, The Second Sex, by referencing her strong interest in Gunnar Myrdal's classic 1975 study American Dilemma, on race in America.
Tidd also doesn't shy away from the complex and often troubling relationship Beauvoir had with Sartre: namely the ways in which it was supportive of each other, while often exploiting the affection of other lovers and writing about them and betraying their lovers' confidences to each other.
Importantly, Tidd quotes well from all Beauvoir's work, so you get to appreciate her strengths as a memoirist, diarist, philosopher, essayist and polemicist, novelist, travel and letter writer, feminist and political activist.
I've read Deidre Blair's and Toril Moi's biographies, and this short study says everything of value while missing nothing of significance.
The highest praise I can think of for a biography of a writer is to say that it excites and compels you to want to go and read or reread the writer's work. This brilliant study merits that accolade.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews