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Becoming Beauvoir

A Life

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Becoming Beauvoir

By: Kate Kirkpatrick
Narrated by: Rachel Atkins
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Bloomsbury presents Becoming Beauvoir by Kate Kirkpatrick, read by Rachel Atkins.

“One is not born a woman, but becomes one”, Simone de Beauvoir

A symbol of liberated womanhood, Simone de Beauvoir’s unconventional relationships inspired and scandalised her generation. A philosopher, writer, and feminist icon, she won prestigious literary prizes and transformed the way we think about gender with The Second Sex. But despite her successes, she wondered if she had sold herself short.

Her liaison with Jean-Paul Sartre has been billed as one of the most legendary love affairs of the twentieth century. But for Beauvoir it came at a cost: for decades she was dismissed as an unoriginal thinker who ‘applied’ Sartre’s ideas. In recent years new material has come to light revealing the ingenuity of Beauvoir’s own philosophy and the importance of other lovers in her life.

This ground-breaking biography draws on never-before-published diaries and letters to tell the fascinating story of how Simone de Beauvoir became herself.©2019 Kate Kirkpatrick (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Art & Literature Authors Gender Studies Movements Philosophers Philosophy Professionals & Academics Social Sciences
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Critic reviews

A book to be read slowly and savoured. There’s too much detail to gulp it down. But it is worth the time it takes to read a fascinating portrait of a woman who inspired women around the world and who changed the way many people think.
[Kirkpatrick] gives more space to De Beauvoir’s contrary relationship with feminism, and the discussion here is helpfully rich ... The letters to Lanzmann do constitute a major new resource ... Where Kirkpatrick’s biography is strongest is in clarifying and showing the strength of De Beauvoir’s ethical commitments, and how these were transformed into political commitments after the war.
4 stars ... Illuminating.
Kirkpatrick's biography is an exercise in meticulous research. Using newly published diaries – only recently made available to researchers – it refuses simple characterisations and reveals de Beauvoir in all her brilliance and complexity ... Becoming Beauvoir is a beautiful tribute to a remarkable woman.
Fascinating and deeply researched.
Kirkpatrick offers a far more detailed and analytical account of de Beauvoir's philosophy than any previous biography ... Kirkpatrick's essential achievement here is to have related Simone de Beauvoir's logic to her life ... This is the best Beauvoir biography yet.
In her excellent new biography, Kate Kirkpatrick [..] shows us why we've much more to learn from Beauvoir.
In Kirkpatrick’s biography, Beauvoir is restored to her full body of work, her full complexity, her full bravery – so much more than one misquoted line.
An admirable biography probing beneath the surface of misogynistic predecessors and exposing the complexities and contradictions of this extraordinary woman.
While she advocates for de Beauvoir, contesting various criticisms, she allows complexity...Meticulously and engagingly, Kirkpatrick catches myriad "instants" of the flux behind the icon. (Felicity Plunkett)
Kirkpatrick has trawled fastidiously through her commentaries, diaries and, significantly, the interviews she gave towards the end of her life. The result is a rich rediscovery of this inspirational feminist, philosopher and existentialist. It will spark a whole new love affair since such politically-aware feminists remain thin on the ground – and more needed than ever. (Samela Harris)
[An] accessible and enjoyable resource for a wide audience … Becoming Beauvoir gives sensitive treatment to issues that have troubled feminists: Beauvoir’s polyamory; the damage caused by her early liaisons with younger women; and her ambivalent attitude toward the philosophical content of her own oeuvre. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.
A comprehensive and revealing approach to the life of the French philosopher and writer
All stars
Most relevant
This is a fascinating listen and deals with the intricacies of her life and work. It portrays all the major characters she lived and worked with. Excellent. Appalling on the other hand was the sexism & ignorance she had to fight from the beginning to the end of her life. From idiot journalists to Professorial bounders to contemptible translators into English, she had to rise above much ... and heroically did so. Le Monde in particular should be ashamed of itself. The tale of the different treatment of the obituaries of SdB & JPS is shocking.

Her Life AND her Philosophy

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A real uncovering. Kirkpatrick dissects the celebrity image of Beauvoir and describes the forces on her life and the way that Beauvoir tried to take control herself. Fascinating and well written.

Fantastic work

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