Simone de Beauvoir Writing the Self: Philosophy Becomes Autobiography

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The development of Simone de Beauvoir's notion of self in both her philosophical and autobiographical writings is analyzed in this volume. Two ideas of the self are isolated: the existential notion of the self and the "gendered self", which she developed in "The Second Sex", and which represents a major departure from existential philosophy. Beginning with a study of her early esays, the author proceeds to discuss Beauvoir's major philosophical works and her autobiographical writings where three personae emerge - the child, the woman in love, and the writer. This analysis highlights the innovative quality of Beauvoir's thought. It also shows that writing an autobiography can be a philosophically inventive enterprise and one in which Beauvoir created her most profound analysis of the self.

Reviews

"This lucid, authoritative book does a superb job in demonstrating the power of autobiography as a means of 'solving the self.' As one who uses autobiography in several academic and research contexts, I am delighted to see two such rigorous minds as Jo-Ann Pilardi's and Simone de Beauvoir's meeting in the field of autobiographical study--a field all too often cursed by Warm Fuzziness."-Professor Clarinda Harriss, Chair English Department, Towson University
.,."stands out as a worthy text which could easily be used in a philosophy or literature course presenting The Second Sex. It is a very understandable and valuable addition to current Beauvoirian scholarship."-Biography
...stands out as a worthy text which could easily be used in a philosophy or literature course presenting The Second Sex. It is a very understandable and valuable addition to current Beauvoirian scholarship.-Biography
De Beauvoir's literary attempt at self-construction is self-consciously an act of transcendence in whic de Beauvoir attempts to give due credit to the limits imposed on the self by social situation and by the transcendence of others. The tensions in and complexity of this project emerge well from Pilardi's discussion.-Philosophy in Review
..."stands out as a worthy text which could easily be used in a philosophy or literature course presenting The Second Sex. It is a very understandable and valuable addition to current Beauvoirian scholarship."-Biography
"De Beauvoir's literary attempt at self-construction is self-consciously an act of transcendence in whic de Beauvoir attempts to give due credit to the limits imposed on the self by social situation and by the transcendence of others. The tensions in and complexity of this project emerge well from Pilardi's discussion."-Philosophy in Review

Author Bio

JO-ANN PILARDI is Professor of Philosophy and Women's Studies at Towson University in Maryland, where she is also Director of Women's Studies. Her main areas of expertise are feminist philosophy, phenomenology and existentialism, postmodernism, and social and political philosophy.