Simone de Beauvoir

In this comprehensive overview of Simone de Beauvoir's life and ideas, author Mary Evans explores the women celebrated as "the woman to whom all women owe the most." Analyzing the relationship between de Beauvoir's work and late twentieth century feminist theory, Evans demonstrates the importance of de Beauvoir's ideas--showing how her work resists simplistic readings, and cannot be reduced to oppositions between masculine and feminine, rational and irrational, or social and natural. This volume also discusses Simone de Beauvoir's influence on the women's movement as well as how and why she distanced herself from women, spending most of her time with men. Mary Evans argues that de Beauvoir's work is autobiographical and presents a new and important analysis of the complex relationship between fact, fiction, and autobiography. This book also demonstrates that de Beauvior's profound political agenda for a "New Woman" is a vital legacy for feminism today. As such, it is essential reading for students and academics of women's studies, sociology, and the history of ideas; as well as the general reader interested in this extremely influential thinker.