Beauvoir and The Second Sex: Feminism, Race, and the Origins of Existentialism

By Margaret A. Simons

Book Overview

In a compelling chronicle of her search to understand Beauvoir's philosophy in The Second Sex, Margaret A. Simons offers a unique perspective on Beauvoir's wide-ranging contribution to twentieth-century thought. She details the discovery of the origins of Beauvoir's existential philosophy in her handwritten diary from 1927; uncovers evidence of the sexist exclusion of Beauvoir from the philosophical canon; reveals evidence that the African-American writer Richard Wright provided Beauvoir with the theoretical model of oppression that she used in The Second Sex; shows the influence of The Second Sex in transforming Sartre's philosophy and in laying the theoretical foundations of radical feminism; and addresses feminist issues of racism, motherhood, and lesbian identity.

Simons also draws on her experience as a Women's Liberation organizer as she witnessed how women used The Second Sex in defining the foundations of radical feminism. Bringing together her work as both activist and scholar, Simons offers a highly original contribution to the renaissance of Beauvoir scholarship.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847692566
• ISBN13: 9780847692569
• Release Date: December 1998
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.1" x 6.1"