Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex

[NickAdams]

I purchased a copy of Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex yesterday and was curious as to how accurate it was. I've read some passages and wanted to know if it still held true for todays woman. I would love any input from anyone who has read it.

[Jozanny]

All I've read of de Beauvoir was The Mandarians, and I don't know how much of her ideas for The Second Sex was embedded in the novel. Wiki mentions Parshley's translation was a bum rap, but my French was only ever passable, so I am out of my depth in relation to that controversy. Do you have a new edition?

[NickAdams]

All I've read of de Beauvoir was The Mandarians, and I don't know how much of her ideas for The Second Sex was embedded in the novel. Wiki mentions Parshley's translation was a bum rap, but my French was only ever passable, so I am out of my depth in relation to that controversy. Do you have a new edition?

I read that too, after the purchase, so feedback on the accuracy of the translation would be even better.

How was The Mandarins?

[Jozanny]

How was The Mandarins?

Schematic, dense. I may be mistaken but believe I read it twice and can't remember much. Back then, I conveniently glided over Sartre, although on a relatively recent book buying spree I bought Being and Nothingness, with a silent groan, and it still sits in my closet shelf.

I mention it because I question how much Simone's novel tells the lay reader about the man who put Existentialism in upper track curriculums.

If what Wiki says is true I am rather shocked that Knopf won't reissue with an updated translation for SS. It ushered in second wave feminism. Should we write the publisher?:p

I will be interested to read your posts about how you like it Nick, since purportedly, de Beauvoir has increasingly gained in stature.

[NickAdams]

Schematic, dense. I may be mistaken but believe I read it twice and can't remember much. Back then, I conveniently glided over Sartre, although on a relatively recent book buying spree I bought Being and Nothingness, with a silent groan, and it still sits in my closet shelf.

I mention it because I question how much Simone's novel tells the lay reader about the man who put Existentialism in upper track curriculums.

If what Wiki says is true I am rather shocked that Knopf won't reissue with an updated translation for SS. It ushered in second wave feminism. Should we write the publisher?:p

I will be interested to read your posts about how you like it Nick, since purportedly, de Beauvoir has increasingly gained in stature.

The poor translation has removed any urgency that I had connected with the book. The passages that I read seemed less philosophical and more biological and psychological, which I attribute to the translator being a biologist. Maybe there's truth in there despite it.