Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (Penguin Modern Classics)

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She seeks for meaning at one stage falling under the influence of a young man who from his experience of comradeship in the first world war was forming a catholic youth movement, this was quite paternalistic in style, for instance de Beauvoir is enrolled to lecture working class men and women on literature. Que l'image qu'elle se fait des autres se soit craquelée, surtout celle de sa famille, est cause d'une frustration triste, mais pas de regret. In fact, the way she saw her relationships with men was amazing: never could she conceive of being with a man who would not consider her an equal and a partner. Nauseati «dell’imbottimento dei crani» cui erano stati sottoposti durante la guerra, reclamavano il diritto di guardar le cose in faccia e di chiamarle col loro nome; solo, poiché non avevano alcuna intenzione di far crollare la società, si limitavano a studiare con minuzia i loro stati d’animo: predicavano la «sincerità verso se stessi».

I place this above 'Speak, Memory' on my list of favorite memoirs, and there isn't any higher praise I offer then that! entre moi et les âmes soeurs qui existaient quelque part, hors d'atteinte, ils créaient une sorte de communion; au lieu de vivre ma petite histoire particulière, je participais à une grande épopée spirituelle. The amount of details, the extremes of emotion, the incandescence are, at times, a bit overwhelming—not that I didn’t like her writing, and, in fact, I oftentimes identified with her.

Parce que Beauvoir, dans le récit qu'elle fait d'elle-même, reste une créature d'absolu : elle veut connaître les choses comme elles le sont, peu importe ce que ça veut dire. I loved is how she captures the innocence of childhood and the pains her parent took to maintain that innocence far beyond what seems right. From her young spirited days as a child, to an intricate student life where literature and philosophy would play a pivotal role in shaping the future, to the beginnings of a blossoming friendship with Jean-Paul Sarte, Simone would become a leading figure in the roots of both feminism and existentialism, a true independent voice the the 20th century. As well as her enthusiasm as a precocious little girl, her tantrums when she tore off at a captivating moment, her ungrateful adolescence, her questions about faith, and her young emotions in the first years of her life.

Outre le célèbre Deuxième sexe (1949) devenu l'ouvrage de référence du mouvement féministe mondial, l'œuvre théorique de Simone de Beauvoir comprend de nombreux essais philosophiques ou polémiques. She doesn't take herself too seriously, but neither does she dismiss her experiences or manifest a false modesty. They are very elegantly written, but show a candor and honesty few people are brave enough to have when looking back at their own lives. Jacques and his friends read real books and were abreast of all current problems; they lived out in the open; I was confined to the nursery. De Beauvoir's adolescence involves all the arrogance and angst one might expect from a recently-secularized teen who went on to become a preeminent existentialist (hint: a lot).Sartre arrive juste à la fin mais me donne déjà envie de me péter la tête dans les murs; vais-je me rendre au deuxième volume?