Simone de Beauvoir, Les Bouches inutiles [Who Shall Die?]

Yoann Malinge (Catholic University of Louvain)

Ed. by Hugo Azerad, University of Cambridge
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.07: French Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Averis (University of Western Australia), Hugo Azerad (University of Cambridge), Patrick ffrench (King's College London), Edward Forman (University of Bristol), Akane Kawakami (Birkbeck, University of London), Siobhán McIlvanney (King's College London), Sinan Richards (King's College London), Tim Unwin (University of Bristol), David Williams (University of Sheffield)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1945

Places

France (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play

Resources

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Introduction

Les Bouches inutiles [literally: The Useless Mouths, but the title was translated as Who Shall Die?] is a play written by Simone de Beauvoir in 1943. It is composed of two acts and eight tableaux and was performed for the first time in November 1945, in a staging by Michel Vitold at the Théâtre des Carrefours, before being published by Gallimard in December of the same year. The director was also an actor; he had performed in several plays written by Jean-Paul Sartre, notably, Huis clos. The theater in which the play was created still exists, under the name of “théâtre des Bouffes-du-Nord”.

Les Bouches inutiles

[literally:

The Useless Mouths

but the title was translated as

Who Shall Die?

] is a play written by Simone de Beauvoir in 1943. It is composed of two acts and…

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2567 words

Citation: Malinge, Yoann. "Les Bouches inutiles". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 October 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=14977, accessed 09 May 2024.]

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