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Now in paperback, the "amazing" (Los Angeles Times) and "engrossing" (Publishers Weekly) love letters of Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren. Called "intimate, intelligent, and sincere" by The New Yorker, the more than three hundred love letters written by Simone de Beauvoir to Nelson Algren after their love-at-first-sight meeting in 1947 are collected for the first time in A Transatlantic Love Affair. A unique cross between a personal memoir and an insider's intellectual history of Left Bank life in post-war Paris, this "tender and intimate" (Booklist) collection chronicles their passionate affair, spanning twenty years and four continents. Penned as she was writing The Mandarins, America Day by Day, and The Second Sex, the letters provide a new backdrop for those now classic works. Frank, tender, and often humorous, they are praised by The Nation as "fascinating" and by the Los Angeles Times Book Review as "reveal[ing] a lighter, funnier, and more physically sensuous de Beauvoir than we are used to."Amazon.com Review
Simone de Beauvoir met Nelson Algren in Chicago in February1947, when a mutual friend arranged for him to serve as her tour guidefor two days. The attraction was immediate, and within two months theywere in love. Because Algren was so alien to de Beauvoir's world, shespent time describing events and people to him she might otherwisehave taken for granted. The result is that de Beauvoir's 300 survivingletters to Algren are unusually rich in detail--love letters with aconscious undercurrent of French social history. Translated andannotated by Kate Leblanc, they offer amusing insights into postwarParisian life and characters, delivered with the charm of thenonnative writer.

In one letter, de Beauvoir sums up Albert Camus as "aninteresting but difficult guy. When he was not pleased with the bookhe was writing, he was very arrogant; now, he has got a rather greatsuccess and he has become very modest and sincere." She coollydescribes a dinner party where she witnessed the separation of theapexes of mind and body: "Sartre was alone in a corner, eatingsadly some corned-beef, and I sat in front of Rita Hayworth, trying tospeak to her, and looking at her beautiful shoulders and breasts whichcould have made so many men crazy but which were so useless forme." This is essential reading for devotees of the Paris literaryscene and other literary romantics. --Regina Marler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Fantastic book with insights into de Beauvoir's character
To correct the reader from Brookline, this book is exactly the same as "Beloved Chicago Man"- it's the same book with different titles in the US and the UK.As the reviewers below state, this is a great window into the relationship between Algren & de Beauvoir, and shows the truth feelings of de Beauvoir.

Tiresome, Repetitive, Naive
Having read all of De Beauvoir's autobiographies, this book was disappointing. The content can only be described as a mere extension of 'Beloved Chicago Man' (again relating to her relationship with Nelson Algren). In the latter, the letters to Algren are immediatly captivating, but quickly become repetitive rather than developed and by the end seem embarrassingly girlish and naive leaving a strong feeling of voyeuristic intrusion. This latest publication is an unnecessary extension of Beloved Chicago Man.

Exceptional Characters, Universal Human Conditions
This tome unites fascinating, ethereal elements of time and place with the more mundane features of long-distance love.

First, the unique bits of which only Simone de Beauvoir can honestly write:The intellectual sceneof post-WWII Paris, firsthand knowledge of Camus and Sartre, a complexnetwork of friendships mixing the communities of European intelligentsia,fascists, existentialists, writers, and actors.Then, of course, there isthe head-over-heels love in which she found herself with Nelson Algren,noted American author, immediately upon making his acquaintance.All ofthese interesting facets add spice to this book.

Surprisingly, what trulymakes this book unforgettable, impossible to put down, at timesembarrassing in its candor and recognizable to the reader are its themes ofcommonality to everyone else on the planet.Anyone who has ever fallen inlove, suffered instant infatuation for another, missed the touch of afar-away lover, or slogged through a long-distance relationship willrelate/commiserate/understand/anticipate both the words and the feelingsbehind them.

Simone de Beauvoir wrote all of these letters to NelsonAlgren in English (not her native French); happily, the misspellings andgrammatical errors are preserved without correction.The reader will noteprogressive improvement in her English abilities as the correspondencelengthens and her relationship matures.

I believe all readers will findthese pages touching, satisfying, and intriguing.Those of you who haveexperienced long-distance passion will enjoy the letters as well, but withthe distinct pain of knowing the inevitable conclusion in advance.

Amazing insights in de Beauvoir
This book gives a real insight into de Beauvoir's character- after reading these letters, one will never again look upon her as a cold intellectual.If anything, they show that the passion she felt with Algren could notcompare to whatever sort of relationship she had with Sartre.Reveals deBeauvoir's true self more than any of her autobiographies. ... Read more

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A poignant account of her mother's death from cancer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

the Realm of Existentialism
Think: dealing with Death and Dying of loved one

"For indeed, comparatively speaking, her death was an easy one."Don't leave me in the power of the brutes.""

It all boils down to have an operation and perhaps live a bit longer or euthanatize and be done with it.The subject is death and dying is a main theme of Existentialism, as it deals with the individual and reality. Simone de Beauvoir's mother is 78 and lives alone -- by choice.She has broken the main femur (A bone of the leg situated between the pelvis and knee in human beings. It is the largest and strongest bone in the body. Also called thighbone.).While in the hospital, it is discovered that this is the least of her problems, as she has peritonitis, a blockage in her intestine, a tumor, cancer.She will surely die (almost immediately) without an operation.Simone must decide.Very well written, A Very Easy Death takes place over a 4 week period -- that is how long de Beauvoir's mother lived, after the operation -- cramming as much life and reality between the book covers as possible, without being sappy or tedious.

"I thought of all those who have no one to make that appeal:what agony it must be to feel oneself a defenceless thing, utterly at the mercy of indifferent doctors and over-worked nurses.No hand on the forehead when terror seizes them; no sedative as soon as pain begins to tear them; no lying prattle to fill the silence of the void."

This book is about as real as it gets!--Katharena Eiermann, 2006,, the Realm of Existentialism -- Presidential Hopeful

Simone,Simone,Simone
Simone,Simone,Simone.
Whenever someone asked me "did you read Sartre?" ,I usually intend to say "yes,lots of books of him ".but actually other than 1-2 books,I heard Sartre a lot from Simone.Anyway,I read this book 10 years ago probably,and as for the other books of her I enjoyed much.It is about the death of her mother.I remembered that in one part of the book ,her mother wanted to hear that Simone becomes religous,but Simone still defended her believes about being a nonreligous woman,eventhough her mother was dying.I really like that ,because no matter what ,she was always behind her ideas,believes,feelings.She was a strong woman.She was smart.I do not admire people,but if I would, I would admire to her.I remember a saying of her which I want to be :"Being a woman,who thinks like a man,and who feels like a woman".In short,in this book you can see her strength as an independent woman again.Enjoy her ,and start to think independtly.Thanks to my dadfor putting Simone's books in his library so that I could discover it.

Forget Sartre; De Beauvoir by way of Camus
While enjoyable, this isn't a particularly great memoir.I find it to be a bit choppy, and most of the characters (including De Beauvoir herself) come off as exceedingly unlikable.Still, the subject of death is an interesting one, and the novel is short enough that anyone who is interested enough to consider reading it really has nothing to lose.

What I do find most interesting, however, is how De Beauvoir (who consults her over-rated companion Sartre in the memoir) seems to be preaching Albert Camus' concept of the quantitative life, and living life with full consciousness.Ultimately, the memoir is rather tragic because De Beauvoirs' dying, once inauthentic mother realizes this on her death bed, when it's too late.It's an excellent message, and although it's better from Camus' pen, it is interesting hearing it from De Beauvoir as well.

Death Comes Not So Easily
This is a book I would put on a must read list. Death has been spirited away behind closed doors, and banished from our thoughts until it forces its way through, as it always will. This is a must read for anyone working in "Health Care" or with the elderly, also anyone counseling families and the dying. I would hope to find it on a required reading list for medical schools as well. de Beauvoir gives an honest, raw account of her thoughts and fears as her Mother dies; it is a bit reassuring to see that not all of those thoughts are pure and idyllic. She gives any ethics committee a firm reference pointin the consideration of assisted death vs. assisted living. Read this book, it will enhance your life.

I LOVE MY MOMMY!
The connection we have with our mothers is sacred.They are what brought us into this world, but the only thing that could separate us tighter is death.Our spirits and memories are ours to keep, but there is no longer any physical connection.In "A Very Easy Death", a relationship with a mother and daughter had gotten closer because of a death.In this death is what bonds the daughter to give full dedication and devotion to be with her mother. Unfortunately, the death that is connecting both daughter and mother is the death of her mother that is about to occur.Cancer is what is taking her mother away from her.While her mother is suffering and fighting against the cancer, the daughter is there by her side.She notices, "a full-blooded, spirited woman lived on inside her, but a stranger to herself, deformed and mutilated (Beauvoir 43)."Simone, the daughter, sees her full-hearted, spirited mother inside, but the cancer is the stranger of her body that is deforming and mutilating her. Although, Simone shows no suffering when she's around her mother, but she is indeed disturb when she's alone.Her mother is leaving her.Simone state "everyday had an irreplaceable value for her.And she was going to die.She did not know it:but I did.In her name, I revolted against it (Beauvoir 83)."Simone is spending precious time with her mother - spending valuable time, but the cancer is what is stopping her mother to notice it.The cancer has taken over her mother's life.This still does not stop Simone from being with her though. There is nowhere in doubt I'll leave my mother while she's miserable and suffering all at once.I cannot bare to think my mother actually leaving me, but it has to happen eventually.In "A Very Easy Death", Simone's mother demonstrates a role model on her own daughter and me.She displays a true role model that is fighting against her death.I enjoyed this novel dearly.It showed me that I should always keep that connection I have with my mother until the day "I" die. ... Read more

Product Description
This definitive biography is based on five years of interviews with de Beauvoir, and is written with her full cooperation. Bair penetrates the mystique of this brilliant and often paradoxical woman, who has been called one of the great minds of the 20th century, and surely, one of the most famously unconventional figures of her generation. "As a reference work . . . Simone de Beauvoir can be considered definitive".--The Atlantic. 16-page photographic insert. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Very Interesting
I read this biography because it was impossible for me to read Letters to Sartre without some assistance. I found myself completely engaged in this biography - it was a truly fascinating read. The chapters are usually less than 15 pages long, which I find makes for easier reading. There are extensive notes that expound upon statements, provide details of how others interpreted aspects of Simone's life and work, and site sources/references. It gets a little tedious going back and forth, but I'm glad Bair felt the need to include them.

Simone stated on numerous occasions - in interviews with Bair and in her autobiographies - that it was impossible to write about herself without writing about Sartre; this became quite clear early on because their lives were so intertwined. The story of their relationship is amazing - I found myself appalled, touched, envious, angered and saddened as I read about the progression of their friendship. While it's hard to sympathize with Simone, I found myself really disliking Sartre because it seemed like most of the time, all he did was take while Simone did nothing but give - which she seemed okay with, whether this is how she saw it or not.

The only reason I am not giving this biography five stars is that Bair relied on Simone extensively for information. Simone admitted herself that she wasn't 100% truthful/accurate in her autobiographies and memoirs and I believe she had a history of deceiving biographers. And apparently, she lied to Bair also. She told Bair that she never had sexual relationships with women when in fact she did (she details these in her letters to Sartre) and she stated that her letters to Sartre were unemotional and short - just quick jottings down of her day to day life (her letters could be quite emotional and very lengthy). I am curious to know if she really believed she was telling the truth when she told Bair - and others - that most of her letters to Sartre were missing or if she was intentionally deceptive.

Bair spent a decent amount of space on Simone's fiction and she frequently correlates events with the autobiographies in the notes (she lets the reader know about the 'corrections' Simone made in her interviews with Bair and made note of inconsistencies). I am grateful for this biography because I now want to read more of Simone's work that I had not previously wanted to (particularly America Day by Day and Adieux: A Farewell to Sartre).

THE DEFINITIVE BIOGRAPHY OF A MAJOR 20TH CENTURY INTELLECTUAL
Deirdre Bair intereviewed de Beauvoir for five years, before producing this magisterial biography.Although de Beauvoir wrote four volumes of autobiography (Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter (Perennial Classics); The Prime of Life: The Autobiography of Simone De Beauvoir; Hard Times: Force of Circumstance, Volume II: 1952-1962 (The Autobiography of Simone de Beauvoir); All Said and Done), Bair's account give much that de Beauvoir herself left out.

De Beauvoir explains the origin of her "Beaver" ("Castor" in French) nickname, which was given to her by fellow student Rene Maheu in honor of her "prodigious work habits" (i.e., "You're a little beaver").When Bair asked about de Beauvoir's possible romantic relationship with Maheu in these early days, "The question produced a thunderclap of anger: 'That is absolutely not true ... I never even kissed a man on the mouth then, never, never, never!"

Of course, de Beauvoir's relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre is chronicled in some detail.Bair deals frankly with de Beauvoir's deference to Sartre: "Simone de Beauvoir declared repeatedly for the rest of her life that Sartre's intellect was superior to her own, and her remarks have caused consternation and anger in equal parts among those who study her life and work.This is probably because she frequently describes herself in ways which would make it seem that she never had a thought or idea that was not first given to her by Sartre."Bair notes that they DID originally discuss marriage: "He proposed, citing the budgetary advantages of being posted to the same city and living in the same quarters.She declined, refusing to give in to bourgeois standards imposed by circumstances."

Bair chronicles the unusual sexual relationship between them: e.g., "It was the first of a succession of intense friendships Simone de Beauvoir formed with her students, all of whom subsequently acquiesed to sexual liasisons with Sartre."Sartre "openly paraded all his other women in full public view," while she "kept all her affairs as secret as possible because 'It didn't look good for me to be with other men.People expected me to be faithful, so I pretended that I was.'"Bair writes the "She told (writer Nelson) Algren that she and Sartre had stopped being lovers after their first eight or ten years together because Sartre was 'never enthusiastic in bed,' but that their friendship had become strong and deep." (De Beauvoir denied---not very convincingly---sexual relationships with women.)Her romantic relationship with Nelson Algren broke up as she wrote about the relationship: "Algren's rage over 'The Mandarins' was nothing compared to his fury over what she wrote about him in the memoirs."

Concerning the enigmatic statement "I was gypped" at the end of the third volume of her autobiography, de Beauvoir explained to Bair, "It was as if everything Sartre and I had worked for meant nothing.We had very little hope in our lives, and I expressed it in my writing."

De Beauvoir admitted her heavy alcohol use in later life to Bair: "I like to drink very much.... I mean, I feel better when I drink something in the morning.... the drinking I do during the day and the evening---that, for me, is essential.I need that."

This is a very detailed, absorbing, and insightful biography of one of the 20th century's most important and influential writers and intellectuals.

Lots of information but - yawn - hard work to get to it.
Turgid.There is no question this book is based on genuine and scholarly research. But the ordinary but informed reader is better leaving this one to the academicians.

Bad book!
According to Claude Lanzmann there are several major errors which do occur in Bairs book, and basically it's gives a rotten and unworthy presentation of de Beauvoirs life and work.

/Leah Greber

Complete
Really, this book was a page-turner, a book of facts so well-written it made one want to know more, more, more, even when the knowing was almost painful out of de Beauvoir empathy. I wanted to read it as a companion tode Beauvoir's autobiographical series and was particularly grateful to Bairfor pointing out incidents in which de Beauvoir "guilded thelily" when she recounted her own life. De Beauvoir's autobiography andthis make perfect companions for a study on auto/biography and itssubjectivication. (Also see Silent Woman by Janet Malcom.)

I had readprevious biographical material on de Beauvoir, but none I ever felt was socomplete, and helped me to know her so well. I strongly recommend this ashistory, literary criticism, psychology and philosophy. ... Read more

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This introduction to de Beauvoir's works of fiction examines her choice of narrative strategies and interprets them both in relation to the sexual politics of writing and to the part which the constraints of history, class and gender increasingly play in the texts. All quotations are translated. ... Read more

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Passionate, freethinking existentialist philosopher-writers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre are one of the world's legendary couples. Their committed but notoriously open union generated no end of controversy in their day. Biographer Hazel Rowley offers the first dual portrait of these two colossal figures and their intense, often embattled relationship. Through original interviews and access to new primary sources, Rowley portrays Sartre and Beauvoir up close.

Customer Reviews (3)

There has got to be better
I bought this book as some follow up reading on these two amazing existentialists I had just recently learned about in class. The material is amazing these were two fantastic characters but the author failed to present it in the style it deserved. It is akwardly written with brief sentences and focuses on dumb details instead of all the juicy stuff that Sartes and Beauvoir were famous for. I mean, she even tones down the sex but thats what these two were all about. Disappointing read, only got through half of it before simply lost interest. Hopefully there is a better book written on them out there. The store that sent it sent it quickly though which was nice.

compelling.....addicting.... scandalous
I loved the story line and the philosophical questions confronted in this work that certainly changed my view on traditional relationships and the significance of marriage.

Vivid and engaging portrait of a relationship -- but philosophically unenlightening
This well-researched and detailed portrait of a remarkable and unique relationship between two remarkable and unique people is never less than engaging.It is well worth reading for anyone who has even a passing interest in the intellectual climate in France just preceding, during and after WWII, a period that produced an amazing list of artists and philosophers: Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze, Camus, Sartre, Beauvoir, Lanzmann (all of whom figure in this narrative), the nouvelle vague in cinema, and many more.For that matter, it is well worth reading for anyone who is interested in life, and the details of these lives are intrinsically fascinating (which is not always to say admirable).Rowley had an almost unprecedented access to historical materials, and to many of the people involved, and put together a sensitive and coherent picture of Sartre and Beauvoir from roughly the time they met to their deaths.That she is able to paint such an intimate and compassionate portrait that does not shy away from depicting faults and inconsistencies in their lives and thought is a testament to Rowley's skills as a writer and as a historian.

The major weakness of the book is that her talent with philosophy is not equally on display here.In the course of telling her story, Rowley mentions the philosophical works of Sartre and Beauvoir, but says very little to illuminate the connection between their thinking and their lives.Even where she does discuss such connections, the links are fairly superficial.(Or, the connections are of the sort that can be made at the level of pop psychology between an artist and his or her work.)Existentialism comes across in her book in its fairly popular form: that there is no essence of human being and that we define ourselves through our actions.The connection between Sartre's existentialism and phenomenology gets summarized in the claim that Sartre learned from phenomenology that philosophy could be about everyday life.What she doesn't note is that beyond the fact Sartre learned from phenomenology to focus on everyday life, he also engaged in a systematic effort to redescribe life -- to show that our ordinary ways of conceiving everyday life are deeply flawed.Beauvoir's own significant and original philosophical work (apart from "The Second Sex") is hardly discussed -- her "Ethics of Ambiguity," for example, is never even mentioned.What she doesn't note is that Beauvoir had developed a powerful typology of ways in which one might respond to and realize freedom in one's life, in her "Ethics of Ambiguity" -- and it would be interesting to consider where she must have fit on that continuum.Perhaps most egregiously, she fails to emphasize that for both Sartre and Beauvoir, existentialist freedom is not primarily about the rejection of traditional bonds but about the recognition of the ways in which we bind ourselves to others through our projects and commitments -- so that "authenticity" is not just about being oneself but about the discovery that one cannot avoid belonging to others and to deny one's commitments to others is bad faith.If Sartre painted this inevitibility as a kind of hell in "No Exit," Beauvoir especially in the "Ethics of Ambiguity" depicts an acceptance of the ambiguous commitments that emerge from our being with others as the only genuine freedom and the only possible salvation.(In spite of her desire to depict Beauvoir as independent of Sartre, and her emphasis of Sartre's unwavering respect for her as a thinker, Rowley doesn't really give a sense of the independence of Beauvoir as a thinker -- and what comes across for the most part here is the popular but I think misleading picture of Sartre as the philosopher and Beauvoir as the memoirist who occasionally also applied philosophy to subjects like women and aging.)On this reading, then Sartre and Beauvoir come across primarily as writers whose ideas and commitments evolved over time to become more political, who rejected standard morality including and especially the moral prescriptions that reinforce the family, and who shared a unique form of relationship (that involved fidelity to each other in the sense that they would always tell each other the truth, even where they were willing to lie to others with whom they had secondary relationships).One might have wished for a more detailed account of their thinking if only because such an account would help to pose the question how their life must have been conceived by themselves, in accordance with their own thinking.Otherwise, and in spite of the book's other merits as a piece of history and biography that can complement a study of their work (or of the period), the book ends up reading like a soap opera for intellectuals.While I think this point deserves emphasis I don't want to overemphasize this.One of the merits of Rowley's book is that she takes as her model of biography the autobiographical works of Beauvoir -- and to that extent she does employ a similar approach to reflection on their lives that Beauvoir employs in her published works.I just would have liked to see a bit more reflection in the book about the relation between their lives and their more focused philosophical reflections.First and foremost, Sartre and Beavoir are engaged thinkers and a biography that rarely engages with their deepest thinking except at the superficial level of brief summary, seems to me to be lacking. Having said that, I should reiterate that apart from such misgivings I found the book to be very well written and thoroughly enjoyable and could hardly put it down. ... Read more

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This is a 610 page masterpiece by one of the great writers of the 20th century. ... Read more

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As an ardent feminist Simone de Beauvoir was in the vanguard of French intellectual life for more than forty years. Raised in a strict and highly traditional Catholic family, De Beauvoir rejected the religious and social values of her family early on and advanced a radical political and philosophical debate that was in direct opposition to the Catholic Church. This provocative, carefully argued book reveals that the woman whose most important and famous work--The Second Sex--was banned by the Catholic Church, had a tenacious grasp of the rudiments and refinements of Catholicism. Indeed, this was one of the foundations on which she built her philosophy. Joseph Mahon documents the formative influences of home, school, and Church on the mind of France's most famous female philosopher, novelist, and essayist. Examining her memoirs, philosophical monographs, and short stories, Mahon reveals a vocabulary that remains richly Catholic. This book offers a major contribution to feminist philosophy, ethical theory, philosophy of religion, and cultural studies. ... Read more

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This is a 610 page masterpiece by one of the great writers of the 20th century. ... Read more

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In this intimate memoir, Bianca Lamblin tells the story of her menage a trois with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and their abandonment of her, a Jew, at the onset of World War II. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Tangled up with Sartre and Simone.
Although I'm not usually interested in other people's sexual affairs, reading this telling memoir of the unconventional relationship shared by French existentialists, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and her protege, Bianca Bienenfeld, was intriguing. Lamblin was a sixteen-year-old student at the Lycee Moliere when she was seduced by her professor, de Beauvoir ("the Beaver"), who was twenty-nine.Their menage a trois began the following year, in 1938, when de Beauvoir introduced Lamblin to her partner/lover, Sartre, who was thirty-three (p. 170), and ended in 1940 when, at de Beauvoir's instigation, Sartre abandoned Lamblin.Lamblin was a Jewish teenager at the time, and the breakup occurred on the eve of WWII. However, it was only after she was later humiliated by the 1990 posthumous publication of de Beauvoir's LETTERS TO SARTRE, in which de Beauvoir ridiculed Lamblin and her "pathetic nature" (p. 7), and exposed their intimate relationship to the world, that Lamblin wrote this account of "the threesome." As the saying goes, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and this is a work of "bitter memories" (p. 102), written by a woman dismissed by the two lovers who nearly destroyed her life.

De Beauvoir acknowledged to Sartre that their liason with Lamblin filled her with remorse for the suffering it caused her protege."She's the only person to whom we've really done harm, but we have harmed her," she wrote, "she weeps all the time--she wept three times during dinner, and she weeps at home when she has to read a book or go to the kitchen to eat . . . She's terribly unhappy" (p. 133).At one time Lamblin also admitted to de Beauvoir that despite the fact that she "suffered greatly" because of her liason with de Beauvoir and Sartre, they nevertheless gave her philosophy and "a broader view of the world" (p. 173).However, with time, Lamblin's perspective shifted, and sadly she concludes her memoir noting that, in the end, "Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir did me only wrong" (p. 173).Stated differently, Lamblin's memoir is a testament that her mentors taught her the cruelty of love.

Lamblin's memoir also offers a fascinating, first-hand glimpse into the infamous "morganatic marriage" (p. 27) or "essential" relationship between de Beauvoir and Sartre: no marriage (too boring), no children (too demanding), and freedom to live their own lives and pursue their own sentimental and sexual adventures.Their only promise was to tell each other everything without lies (p. 23). She contrasts this unconventional relationship against her own subsequent marriage to Bernard Lamblin.Although, on a personal level, Lamblin may succeed in exposing her former lovers in a very different light than what they probably would have preferred, her memoir fails in the end to diminish the intellectual stature of de Beauvoir and Sartre.

G. Merritt

Andre Breton's Justification?
SdB attacked Andre Breton for having made love and dumped Nadja, a prostitute.In this book it is revealed that while SdB was attacking Breton she was committing statutory rape with a teenage student.This book puts SdB's many calumnies (she wanted power, and would use any lie or innuendo or sleep with anyone that mattered to get it) into a deeply troubling perspective.It's no wonder that her hero was Chairman Mao.

Castor's castoff
A tragically desperate attempt of Bianca Lamblin, the "contingent" by-product of the Simone de Beauvoir/Jean-Paul Sartre "essential" relationship, to retrospectively appropriate her life after Journal de guerre and Letters to Sartre revealed all the chilling detachment with which Simone de Beauvoir adroitly manipulated her as the unsuspecting victim of the "threesome." Despite her claim to have finally regained the status of a subject of her own story, Lamblin's final stance as a victim undermines her narrative. One almost wishes she would have stopped a couple of paragraphs short of the end. Her final decision to reject the experience as "having done her only wrong" leaves her with all the pain she tried to alleviate by writing.

She started the book with a purpose of making her life cohere in the face of betrayal. Her naive loyalty and guilelessness help her "cling instinctively to life," as she seems to find consolation in her simple moral choices and unselfish devotion. Despite her plain, predictable, unengaging style, I sympathized with Lamblin in her struggle to maintain a precarious balance between objectivity and self-vindication. She tries to distance herself from Simone de Beauvoir, stressing their differences and disengaging herself from her famous lover's philosophical influence by reclaiming her own war-time experience as a Jew and choosing to have a family and children. And yet she continues to be constantly tormented by her inferiority to the existential duo - her attacks on Sartre's "revolutionary" ideas, for instance, remain purely emotional. She is profoundly not at peace with herself, irritated, angry, and oftentimes behaves like a hurt child, throwing the same words back at her offenders ("Truly, I would call THEIR intelligence monstrous and at the same time downright feeble").

And yet her innate grace and her perhaps never completely squelched attachment to "the Beaver" make her stop short from launching an open smearing campaign. Because she is keenly aware that the reader will be perceiving her book as an attempt at "retributive justice," she makes an effort to stay as objective as possible, which, in my opinion, is exactly what prevents her from venting her hurt feelings. Despite a simplified Lacanian explanation of her life Lamblin offers at the very end of the book, her story is a tragic example of an unresolved conflict.

But perhaps what vindicates her is a sense the reader gets of a fundamental private turmoil and instability on which Simone de Beauvoir's seemingly "philosophically justified" world was based. It comes as a nice reprieve for someone who was tempted to make her ideas from The Second Sex into life principles.

Professeurs Dearest!
On the surface, A Disgraceful Affair is Bianca Lamblin's account of her brief triangular relationship with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre and how that affair affected her life long after Sartre's, then Beauvoir's,romantic interest waned. Its carefully guarded sentences reveal a woman whohas been deepley hurt by her mentors but who is being painstakingly carefulin her effort to be fair as she sets the record straight. Readers lookingfor juicy tidbits will need to look elsewhere (Lamblin describes Sartre asa charming wooer but an unskilled lover, and does not waste inkelaborating).

If the reader takes the facts as the author presentsthem--and there is nothing implausible or erractic in what Lamblinrelates--what unfolds is a brief, startlingly clear reflection on what itmeans to evolve one's own workable philosophy of life based on the cardsone is dealt and the living examples one has to choose from. After herrejection by her existentalist mentors, Lamblin consciously chose aconventional, slightly leftist, life. Her mentors' narcissism seems to haveturned her away from a life focused on pursuing celebrity and gettingpublished (aside from a few academic philosophy articles, A DisgracefulAffair is Lamblin's only published work, one she didn't begin writing untilshe was in her seventies and all the key figures in the story had died).Unlike her mentors, she chose to marry and have children, decisions thatdisturbed and disgusted Beauvoir.

Those looking for portraits of Sartreand Beauvoir should know that Beauvoir (unfortunately called "theBeaver" throughout the book, a nickname that might have been betterleft untranslated) is the more fully realized. Lamblin renewed herrelationship with Beauvoir after the War and continued to have platonicmeetings with her for the rest of Beauvoir's life. Lamblin's depiction ofBeauvoir's life after Sartre's death is one of profound pathos andemotional disenfranchisement. By that point, Beauvoir's alcoholism wasquite advanced and the reader senses that the great thinker and prolificwriter's death must have been a lonely, troubled, and confusing endindeed.

The reader should be warned that there is a sort of craftlessnessto Lamblin's writing. For me, this added to the sense of authenticity ofwhat she was attempting to communicate. She often tells the reader what sheis going to say--or why she is relating a particular incident--beforelaunching into her account of an event. This tends to pull the reader upshort. As off-putting as this might be, for me it further convinced me ofthe author's essential guilelessness and I ultimately judged this practiceas awkward but not offensive. In addition, I suspect that Julie Plovnick'stranslation of the French original is a little wooden and literal-minded(for instance, she translates "lucide" as "lucid" in acontext where I suspect "perceptive" might have been the intendedmeaning).

Readers interested in the way people, and especially women,make meaning of the troubles life throws their way will enjoy this book.Other books along this line that I have enjoyed are Girl Interrupted bySusanna Kaysen, The Liar's Club by Mary Karr, and A Loving Gentleman: TheLove Story of William Faulkner and Meta Carpenter by Meta Carpenter Wildeand Orin Borsten. ... Read more

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A great book!
I'm very pleased with my new book!!!!. Everything turned out to be as I expected. Thank you to everyone involved in this project. Mercy! Thank you!
Elena. ... Read more

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The best entry-point to existentialism
Written in 1945, and set during the German occupation a few years earlier, the world was in a bleak predicament, and the French existentialist movement was in full force - with their general belief that it is us as individuals who have the power to bring essence and meaning to our own lives, not Gods or people in positions of authority. For those people interested in this area, but who prefer a good read to philosophical dogma, you should read De Beauvoir instead of Sartre. This book seeks out to touch upon some of the key ideas in existentialism - including the mundane (this isn't how it sounds!) alienation, freedom and commitment. It does this through the awakening of the French resistance movement seen through the eyes of two lovers (Helene and Jean). In some ways, I feel like it deals with some of the conflicts within existentialism and within Beauvoir herself. Unlike other existentialist novels, this book weaves dogma and story effectively, and is the closest any book in the genre gets to a love story.

I am still thinking about this novel hours after I've finished it
Who are you truly responsible to in times of turmoil, when you have certain convictions, you want to agitate for your country's freedom, and yet you know your actions have--and will continue to have, dire consequences for your loved ones, friends, and fellow citizens?

These are questions Simone de Beauvoir explores through her characters in The Blood of Others. This is a novel that engaged me further with each succeeding chapter--it gets better and better. Descriptions of the French people escaping their German occupied towns, clogging up roads and stuck in their cars without gas or food, are especially vivid, not to mention the vacillating emotions of anguish, love, hatred, and everything in between among the characters.

Also, the dialogues of the main characters--Jean and Helene, with their respective parents, are particularly poignant as they deal with the skeptism and disapproval of their elders.

The back and forth transitions from third person to first person (Jean Blomart) throughout the novel are a bit jarring to the flow of reading and caused some confusion in the beginning for me. That is my only minor complaint!

The Blood of Others has forced me to think about the issues that are important to me, and made me wonder how far I would go to preserve what I believe in. It is a thought provoking, well-written novel.

the best of Simone de Beauvoir's novels
This novel is far better than any of her other novels.It has a gripping plot (in spite of being a European novel and a "literary" novel).It dramatizes some of the essential themes of Sartrean existentialism and throws the reader into the world in a vivid way.

It has not received the promotion of her other novels, probably because it has a plot.Unless you share the prejudice against compelling fiction, do not let this preconception make you miss one of the best novels of the twentieth century.

Thought provoking and beautiful
Through the study of the social ethics of France under German occupation, Simone de Beauvoir describes the true question at the heart of existentialism - 'How much responsibility can one truly have for other peoples' lives?' - and the ethical and moral questions that are raised as a consequence. That said, the book is lively and weaves the philosophical theme into the story seamlessly. Profound and uplifting. ... Read more

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Interesting but superficial
This book is interesting, but superficial.It is the famous writer's travelogue, which reads like a primer for Europeans who are interested in modern China.Well, I do not mean to accuse Beauvoir of Orientalism.In fact, this book is OK.But in many ways Beauvoir only offers very simplified and flat description, which can be offered by many other writers.This book is not outstanding at all.But it has its own historic asset.

SdB's Most Important Book
Anyone who tries to understand Simone de Beauvoir without reading this book is a damned fool.This book is her masterpiece, and provides the blueprint for the entire future of the women's movement! ... Read more

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Continuing the story of a fascinating life
"After the War: Force of Circumstance Vol. 1" by Simone de Beauvoir is the shortest of the five volumes of her autobiography and picks up right where �The Prime of Life� left off. At the end of �Prime,� France had been liberated, but the WWII was not over, and this book outlines the end of the conflict and the emergence of the non-Communist left, which de Beauvoir later fictionalizes in �The Mandarins.� Again, she writes compellingly of her life in Paris with her famous circle of friends including Jean Genet, Albert Camus, Richard Wright and Alberto Giacometti. She writes of interesting travels, including a trip she took to Northern Africa, and of Sartre�s work and her own writing (during the course of this book, she writes �All Men Are Mortal,� �The Second Sex� and she drafts �The Mandarins�).

But the central focus of this volume is her love affair with Chicago writer Nelson Algren (�The Man with the Golden Arm�). She meets Algren on a tour she makes of the United States that is funded by a group that brings her over on a reading/lecture tour. (She and Sartre are now becoming famous by the years of this book, 1944 to 1952.) She spends time with him in the United States, making a trip south through the southwest, Mexico and Guatamala with him, which she doesn�t outline completely here as she has written of it more extensively in her book �America Day by Day.� The relationship runs its course within the pages of this book as Algren gives up on her ever being for him what he wants, remarrying his ex-wife by the last pages. Resigned to this fate, not able to leave Sartre or France (though she and Sartre seem to have an agreement to share finances, take long vacations together and work together, they never lived together and are free to see others as they wish), she is still very disappointed by the end of the affair. On the last visit to his cabin outside Chicago, she says she is glad they have come to a mutual understanding and will be friends. Algren replies to her that he can never offer her anything less than love.

The French intelligentsia during this time are grappling with the knowledge of the Holocaust and the onset of the Cold War. Sartre and de Beauvoir were deeply sympathetic with the world�s communists, but Sartre never joined the party, apparently because he couldn�t countenance on a daily basis the �thought-control� aspect of the central committee. De Beauvoir writes quite a bit about the various left and right publications in Paris at the time, the political views of their editorial boards and the personal and political attacks that were made from their various pages. Their friendship with Camus breaks up by the end of the book as he has become too anti-communist for Sartre and de Beauvoir and the other editors of their monthly publication, Les Temps Modernes.

This was a much quicker read than the first two, but engaging in the same episodic way. I don�t know if it could as easily stand on its own, as she references many things from the second volume as if one should know of them. The story of her love affair with Algren is very moving and sad, and she writes from time to time of difficult times, emotionally, as she ages and confronts herself as a woman in her 40s, making a name for herself.

Insight into a woman and her time
Simone de Beauvoir the memoirist was one of the great literary stylists of the century.This book focuses on the end of WWII and the disappointments which followed when French intellectuals and politicians failed to unite;when France's power diminished and when Communism's inability to solve theproblems of mankind became obvious.Reading Simone provides insight intohow the McCarthy era evolved and how the Cold War came about.Alhough itscast includes the philosophical and literary stars of the mid-20th century,this book is more than a gossipy treat: it is a road map to theunderstanding of how Europe and America dealt with mending the wounds ofwar and how the remainder of the century was shaped. ... Read more

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This is the first full-length study to explore Simone de Beauvoir's autobiographical and biographical writings in the context of her ideas on selfhood as formulated in The Second Sex and other philosophical essays of the 1940s. Ursula Tidd presents a detailed analysis of Beauvoir's engagement with issues of gender, sexuality and race, as part of her auto/biographical strategy in seeking to write herself into the male-constructed autobiographical canon. Tidd offers new readings of Beauvoir's unpublished diaries and recently published letters along with more well-known philosophical and autobiographical texts. ... Read more