Customer Reviews (1)

Self-Deception versus Lucidity
This is an intriguing collection of three short stories by Beauvoir, written after the publication of three of her volumes of memoirs and - probably as a consequence - much less directly autobiographical than most of her earlier fiction. Each is written from the viewpoint of a 'broken', or potentially broken woman; that is a woman whose whole life is called into question by her perception that she has been let down or even betrayed by her husband and/or her children. Beauvoir had received many letters from women in such a position and what makes this collection so distinctive is that she had detected self-deception ('mauvaise foi') in many of these letters and set out to illustrate the phenomenon. In the first story, an elderly woman eventually attains a lucidity which overcomes her earlier self-deception; in the second, Murielle carries her self-deception to the extreme of mental illness, even madness; and the third story investigates the very processes of self-deception in great detail, leaving the central character at a point where she may or may not pull out of the depths of her despair. In all three cases, the reader is expected to work hard at seeing through the woman's attempts to hide the truth from herself, and, as Beauvoir records, many failed to do this, seeing the characters as simply wronged by their loved ones. In the end, however, whether they are more sinned against than sinning should probably be seen as less significant than the devastating pain that they experience - pain inextricably but intricately bound up with the fact that they live in a male-dominated society. ... Read more

Product Description
In this intimate memoir, Bianca Lamblin tells the story of her menage a trois with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, and their abandonment of her, a Jew, at the onset of World War II. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Tangled up with Sartre and Simone.
Although I'm not usually interested in other people's sexual affairs, reading this telling memoir of the unconventional relationship shared by French existentialists, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, and her protege, Bianca Bienenfeld, was intriguing. Lamblin was a sixteen-year-old student at the Lycee Moliere when she was seduced by her professor, de Beauvoir ("the Beaver"), who was twenty-nine.Their menage a trois began the following year, in 1938, when de Beauvoir introduced Lamblin to her partner/lover, Sartre, who was thirty-three (p. 170), and ended in 1940 when, at de Beauvoir's instigation, Sartre abandoned Lamblin.Lamblin was a Jewish teenager at the time, and the breakup occurred on the eve of WWII. However, it was only after she was later humiliated by the 1990 posthumous publication of de Beauvoir's LETTERS TO SARTRE, in which de Beauvoir ridiculed Lamblin and her "pathetic nature" (p. 7), and exposed their intimate relationship to the world, that Lamblin wrote this account of "the threesome." As the saying goes, "hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and this is a work of "bitter memories" (p. 102), written by a woman dismissed by the two lovers who nearly destroyed her life.

De Beauvoir acknowledged to Sartre that their liason with Lamblin filled her with remorse for the suffering it caused her protege."She's the only person to whom we've really done harm, but we have harmed her," she wrote, "she weeps all the time--she wept three times during dinner, and she weeps at home when she has to read a book or go to the kitchen to eat . . . She's terribly unhappy" (p. 133).At one time Lamblin also admitted to de Beauvoir that despite the fact that she "suffered greatly" because of her liason with de Beauvoir and Sartre, they nevertheless gave her philosophy and "a broader view of the world" (p. 173).However, with time, Lamblin's perspective shifted, and sadly she concludes her memoir noting that, in the end, "Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir did me only wrong" (p. 173).Stated differently, Lamblin's memoir is a testament that her mentors taught her the cruelty of love.

Lamblin's memoir also offers a fascinating, first-hand glimpse into the infamous "morganatic marriage" (p. 27) or "essential" relationship between de Beauvoir and Sartre: no marriage (too boring), no children (too demanding), and freedom to live their own lives and pursue their own sentimental and sexual adventures.Their only promise was to tell each other everything without lies (p. 23). She contrasts this unconventional relationship against her own subsequent marriage to Bernard Lamblin.Although, on a personal level, Lamblin may succeed in exposing her former lovers in a very different light than what they probably would have preferred, her memoir fails in the end to diminish the intellectual stature of de Beauvoir and Sartre.

G. Merritt

Andre Breton's Justification?
SdB attacked Andre Breton for having made love and dumped Nadja, a prostitute.In this book it is revealed that while SdB was attacking Breton she was committing statutory rape with a teenage student.This book puts SdB's many calumnies (she wanted power, and would use any lie or innuendo or sleep with anyone that mattered to get it) into a deeply troubling perspective.It's no wonder that her hero was Chairman Mao.

Castor's castoff
A tragically desperate attempt of Bianca Lamblin, the "contingent" by-product of the Simone de Beauvoir/Jean-Paul Sartre "essential" relationship, to retrospectively appropriate her life after Journal de guerre and Letters to Sartre revealed all the chilling detachment with which Simone de Beauvoir adroitly manipulated her as the unsuspecting victim of the "threesome." Despite her claim to have finally regained the status of a subject of her own story, Lamblin's final stance as a victim undermines her narrative. One almost wishes she would have stopped a couple of paragraphs short of the end. Her final decision to reject the experience as "having done her only wrong" leaves her with all the pain she tried to alleviate by writing.

She started the book with a purpose of making her life cohere in the face of betrayal. Her naive loyalty and guilelessness help her "cling instinctively to life," as she seems to find consolation in her simple moral choices and unselfish devotion. Despite her plain, predictable, unengaging style, I sympathized with Lamblin in her struggle to maintain a precarious balance between objectivity and self-vindication. She tries to distance herself from Simone de Beauvoir, stressing their differences and disengaging herself from her famous lover's philosophical influence by reclaiming her own war-time experience as a Jew and choosing to have a family and children. And yet she continues to be constantly tormented by her inferiority to the existential duo - her attacks on Sartre's "revolutionary" ideas, for instance, remain purely emotional. She is profoundly not at peace with herself, irritated, angry, and oftentimes behaves like a hurt child, throwing the same words back at her offenders ("Truly, I would call THEIR intelligence monstrous and at the same time downright feeble").

And yet her innate grace and her perhaps never completely squelched attachment to "the Beaver" make her stop short from launching an open smearing campaign. Because she is keenly aware that the reader will be perceiving her book as an attempt at "retributive justice," she makes an effort to stay as objective as possible, which, in my opinion, is exactly what prevents her from venting her hurt feelings. Despite a simplified Lacanian explanation of her life Lamblin offers at the very end of the book, her story is a tragic example of an unresolved conflict.

But perhaps what vindicates her is a sense the reader gets of a fundamental private turmoil and instability on which Simone de Beauvoir's seemingly "philosophically justified" world was based. It comes as a nice reprieve for someone who was tempted to make her ideas from The Second Sex into life principles.

Professeurs Dearest!
On the surface, A Disgraceful Affair is Bianca Lamblin's account of her brief triangular relationship with Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre and how that affair affected her life long after Sartre's, then Beauvoir's,romantic interest waned. Its carefully guarded sentences reveal a woman whohas been deepley hurt by her mentors but who is being painstakingly carefulin her effort to be fair as she sets the record straight. Readers lookingfor juicy tidbits will need to look elsewhere (Lamblin describes Sartre asa charming wooer but an unskilled lover, and does not waste inkelaborating).

If the reader takes the facts as the author presentsthem--and there is nothing implausible or erractic in what Lamblinrelates--what unfolds is a brief, startlingly clear reflection on what itmeans to evolve one's own workable philosophy of life based on the cardsone is dealt and the living examples one has to choose from. After herrejection by her existentalist mentors, Lamblin consciously chose aconventional, slightly leftist, life. Her mentors' narcissism seems to haveturned her away from a life focused on pursuing celebrity and gettingpublished (aside from a few academic philosophy articles, A DisgracefulAffair is Lamblin's only published work, one she didn't begin writing untilshe was in her seventies and all the key figures in the story had died).Unlike her mentors, she chose to marry and have children, decisions thatdisturbed and disgusted Beauvoir.

Those looking for portraits of Sartreand Beauvoir should know that Beauvoir (unfortunately called "theBeaver" throughout the book, a nickname that might have been betterleft untranslated) is the more fully realized. Lamblin renewed herrelationship with Beauvoir after the War and continued to have platonicmeetings with her for the rest of Beauvoir's life. Lamblin's depiction ofBeauvoir's life after Sartre's death is one of profound pathos andemotional disenfranchisement. By that point, Beauvoir's alcoholism wasquite advanced and the reader senses that the great thinker and prolificwriter's death must have been a lonely, troubled, and confusing endindeed.

The reader should be warned that there is a sort of craftlessnessto Lamblin's writing. For me, this added to the sense of authenticity ofwhat she was attempting to communicate. She often tells the reader what sheis going to say--or why she is relating a particular incident--beforelaunching into her account of an event. This tends to pull the reader upshort. As off-putting as this might be, for me it further convinced me ofthe author's essential guilelessness and I ultimately judged this practiceas awkward but not offensive. In addition, I suspect that Julie Plovnick'stranslation of the French original is a little wooden and literal-minded(for instance, she translates "lucide" as "lucid" in acontext where I suspect "perceptive" might have been the intendedmeaning).

Readers interested in the way people, and especially women,make meaning of the troubles life throws their way will enjoy this book.Other books along this line that I have enjoyed are Girl Interrupted bySusanna Kaysen, The Liar's Club by Mary Karr, and A Loving Gentleman: TheLove Story of William Faulkner and Meta Carpenter by Meta Carpenter Wildeand Orin Borsten. ... Read more

Product Description
Simone de Beauvoir, whose name is inextricably linked with that of Jean-Paul Sartre, became famous as a leader of the existentialist movement and as a member of a coterie of influential left-wing intellectuals in postwar France. Latterly, however, she was perhaps best known as a leading advocate of feminism. Originally published in 1981, this was the first full-scale study of Simone de Beauvoir. The focus is the key existentialist concept of commitment (engagement), which is central to her thought, and its translation into action. Thus, a good deal of the book is devoted to a biographical study, while the author examines commitment as embodied in Simone de Beauvoir's ethics, politics, writings, and feminism. Apart from considering the whole span ofher life and work, the book is important in the way it draws on a number of press interviews and other direct statements rather than the literary work only. ... Read more

Product Description
Much has been written on Simone de Beauvoir, one of France’s leading intellectual figures of the 20th century. The sheer volume of her autobiographical writings testifies to her indefatigable questioning of the nature of existence and her personal and public engagement in the world over the best part of a century. This study aims to re-evaluate her extensive autobiographical œuvre, exploring its place in relation to the French autobiographical canon, and in the light of recent theorisations of autobiography. It presents readings which engage critically with existentialism, feminist theory, and autobiography studies generally, in particular focusing on the question of ‘autothanatography’, a term developed by theorists such as Jacques Derrida and Louis Marin. A new reading of the autobiographies via the lens of thanatos is presented with questions of gender in mind, and the nature of autobiography as genre is also explored more fully with particular attention paid to narrative voice. Close readings of the autobiographical œuvre combine with contextual details, critical overviews and links to recent developments in critiques of Beauvoir’s fiction and philosophy. The study would be of particular interest to scholars in the following areas: 20th century French literature and culture; Autobiography studies; Literary theory; existentialism; Women’s studies. ... Read more

Product Description
While earlier research considered Simone de Beauvoir in theperspectives of Existentialism or Feminism, this work is the first toemphasize her reflective and descriptive approach and the full rangeof issues she addresses. There are valuable chapters and sections thatare historical and/or comparative, but most of the contents of thiswork critically examine Beauvoir's views on old age (whereon she isthe first phenomenologist to work), biology, gender, ethics, ethnicity(where she is among the first), and politics (again among the first).Besides their systematic as well as historical significance, thesechapters show her philosophy as on a par with those of Merleau-Pontyand Jean-Paul Sartre in quality, richness and distinctiveness ofproblematics, and the penetration of her insight into collective aswell as individual human life within the socio-historical world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

another Beauvoir
A very beautiful book which reveals another Simon de beauvoir: the one in love. She's passionate, sincere, writing with her heart to his "beloved" transatlantic love. They met in America when Simon cameto give a cycle of conferences around the States, and they started to writefrom this moment. We see how their love rises, how they open their heartsletter by letter, and we realize that her love was nothing but authentic.It's also a very interesting reading about life in Paris among theintellectuals of the time, the day by day with Sartre and their travellingtogether around the world. You really get in touch with this time and thiscircle of people. Very touching. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Five fine tales
This collection of five early tales is so wonderfully interwoven together that you might forget you're reading five separate tales of five different young women.

In de Beauvoir's first two autobiographical volumes--Memoirs ofa Dutiful Daughter, and The Prime of Life, I found myself relating to many of her own thoughts and feelings that she described.Thoughts about men, family, friends, religion, and independence. Likewise, in this first work of fiction which she did not deem worthy of publication until 40 years after she wrote it, I also could identify withher characters' similar thoughts and emotions. It is a nice complement to her autobiographies, because her characters are based on herself and those she knew.

This book gave me another angle with which to view those people in her life; in particular, her dearest friend Zaza, (as Anne) and her overbearing mother. The nearly four pages of pleading prayer by "Anne's" mother which opens the Anne chapter, is an amusing yet damning indictment against the mother. It clearly reveals her character and it is one of the best parts of the book!

For a richer and more precise account of Simone de Beauvoir's earlier years, read her autobiographies. Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. :-)

Amazing Collection of Short Stories
The stories in this wonderful book are all tied together through their characters and makes this collection an interesting and enjoyable read.Many thoughts of the woman protagonists mirror some of my own as they struggle with men, faith, education, family and their own insecurities.

Beautifully written before Simone de Beauvoir's famous The Second Sex, you see the beginnings of her philosophy emerging in each story.A delightful read and definitely recommended to all, especially fans of De Bauvoir's other writings.

Sadly out of print !
I recall, perhaps I was in college, WHEN THINGS OF THE SPIRIT COME FIRST came out in paperback.I'm afraid I've lost track of my copy over the years. It's an early work of De Beauvoir's, three closely interlocked, charming short stories.I found it hard to put down. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of the letters of Simone de Beauvoir, written in English to her lover Nelson Algren. They provide a portrait of the love of a man and woman in their forties, as well as an account of de Beauvoir's life in the 1950s and friendships with Camus, Colette and Genet. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Exactly the same as "Transatlantic Love Affair"
This a great book, which really shows the true character of Simone de Beauvoir.See the many positive reviews of "A Transatlantic Love Affair"- it is the same book."Beloved Chicago Man" is merely the title by this British publisher.Don't get both! ... Read more