Simone de Beauvoir, Le Deuxième Sexe [The Second Sex]

Vassilis Manoussakis (University of the Peloponnese)
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Le Deuxième Sexe

[The Second Sex] is undoubtedly the most famous, and, according to most critics, the best book Simone de Beauvoir has authored. It consists of two volumes and sheds fresh light on the position of women throughout history, concluding with an analysis of contemporary womanhood. It is often regarded as the first full-length socio-philosophical study on the status of women in society. It certainly was revolutionary in its own time and has formed the basis for the development of feminist literary theory toward the end of the twentieth century. As an existentialist philosopher and Jean Paul Sartre’s life-companion, Beauvoir incorporates in her book the existentialist concepts of personal freedom of choice, of accepting responsibility for the choices one makes, of bad faith…

1349 words

Citation: Manoussakis, Vassilis. "Le Deuxième Sexe". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11130, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11130 Le Deuxième Sexe 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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