Name: Simone de Beauvoir
Birth Date: January 1908 – April 1986
Job Functions: French Essayist, Novelist, Memoir Writer, and Teacher
Known For: Pioneer of modern feminism. The Second Sex, despite being banned by the Catholic Church in 1949 sold 200,000 copies in the first week.
Famous Saying: “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.”
Simone de Beauvoir was a fiercely independent woman. While she was young, her parents encouraged her natural talents, which were books and writing. And from an early age she knew that she wanted to be a write and teach. She was a pioneer in modern feminism and she performed extensive analysis dealing with a woman’s role in a male-dominated environment.
Her most famous book, The Second Sex, which is a philosophical manifesto, sold 200,000 copies in the first week, even though it was placed on the Vatican’s list of prohibited books. Heavily influenced by her life partner Jean-Paul Sartre, the father of existentialism, the two central themes of The Second Sex sprung from his work: “Man who views himself as the essential being, has made woman into the inessential being, “the Other,” and that femininity as a trait is an artificial posture.” The two-volume book stunned postwar France when it came out in 1949.
Her views were considered shocking at the time. She had very strong opinions and wasn’t afraid to share them. She looked upon marriage with disfavour, and de Beauvoir felt that motherhood was a form of “servitude” and babies a “great nuisance.” Though she signed a conjugal pact with Jean-Paul Sartre, and is best known as his lover, they had never lived together. They were together yet apart.
Even though the way she lived, and some of the views de Beauvoir held, would still be frowned upon today, there is still much that we can learn from her.
5 Big Ideas
Keep a Journal: Some of the most successful people have kept journals to capture their ideas and to document their thoughts. Some bestselling books have been based on diary and journal entries. The Diary of Anne Frank is a great example. Keeping a journal became a lifetime habit for Simone de Beauvoir, and I’m sure her journals were instrumental when she wrote her autobiographies and the tribute to her long-time partner Jean-Paul Sartre.
Be Happy With the Life You Have: This doesn’t mean that you should conform and settle for a life of mediocrity. Enjoy your life today and make improvements until you get to where you want to be. According to Simone de Beauvoir, “The opportunities granted to me at the beginning helped me not only to lead a happy life but to be happy in the life I led. I have always been aware of my shortcomings and my limits, but I have made the best of them. When I was tormented by what was happening in the world, it was the world I wanted to change, not my place in it.”
Show Me Your Company and I’ll Tell you Who you Are: Even though de Beauvoir was very accomplished, known as the mother of modern feminism, left behind a considerable body of work, she is best known as Jean-Paul Sartre’s lover. They were together for 51 years in an open relationship, though they had never lived together. Back in 1929, the two signed a conjugal pact which could be renewed or cancelled after two years. In their two-year contract, they pledged complete honesty in their relations, accepted equality of their partnership, and allowed for love affairs with others. Sartre’s thoughts and ideas greatly influenced de Beauvoir, and his ideas on existentialism are seen in her work.
You Have to Experience Life Before you Can Talk About it Convincingly: Until de Beauvoir was middle-aged she was very self-interested and lacked interest in world affairs. “Her novels, like herself, ignored the outside world. Based solely on her own limited experiences and circle of friends, her novels lacked depth and engaging plots… Her characters and plots were often flat and unconvincing.” When Sartre left to teach in another city, she was alone for the first time and realized that she had to “make herself”. After surviving the German occupation of France, she discovered that to write convincingly, you had to first live. The German Occupation made her life richer and more varied.
Encourage Your Children’s Natural Talents: de Beauvoir’s parents recognized her love for books and writing when she was young and encouraged her. She always knew that she wanted to teach and write and was very focused on how to achieve her goals. She loved reading forbidden books and enjoyed voicing unorthodox opinions on literature and politics to aggravate her parents. At first she was a failed writer, but she later realized that life experiences add context and texture to your writing.
You may not agree with Simone de Beauvoir’s views, but she had the courage to voice her opinions. She stood up and shouted for what she believed it.
How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let's keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Sources Referenced/Cited
Dictionary of Women Worldwide
Women in World History
Encyclopedia of World Biography
Books That Changed the World, Andrew Taylor
Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers, Philip Stokes
The Great Philosophers: The Lives and Ideas of History’s Greatest Thinkers, Stephen Law
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