Simone de Beauvoir, une jeune fille qui dérange
(Simone de Beauvoir, disturbing young woman) Book not yet available in English
Summary:
A comic retracing the early life of Simone de Beauvoir, from the age of three to her meeting with Jean-Paul Sartre. Beauvoir was born to a bourgeois family where she always felt restricted by the burden of expectations and social conventions, leading to terrible tantrums. She was on bad terms with her domineering mother, but realised as she grew up that her mother was unhappy in her role as a wife forced to kowtow to her husband. Beauvoir’s first encounter with Zaza, a rather wild little girl just like herself, was a breath of fresh air—until Zaza tragically died in 1929. Books were what gave the young Simone her freedom: she was a keen reader from early childhood, determined to become a writer. Her rejection of dutiful daughterhood earned her the wrath of her parents, who were displeased when she passed her baccalauréat and agrégation exams. They pressured her to make a good marriage, but she refused, dreaming of a man who would treat her as his equal. She fell in love with Jean-Paul Sartre, who shared her love of freedom, and became a teacher: though it cost her her parents, she could at long last enjoy the autonomy she had craved for so long.
Edited by: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord
Comment:
A black and white comic in nine chapters, recounting the crucial stages of Simone de Beauvoir’s early life. The chapters give the narrative a lively rhythm, each illustrating a new stage in her feminist thought. In choosing to describe Beauvoir’s youth, Sophie Carquain focuses on a period of her biography that is perhaps less familiar to readers, fleshing out the background of a woman we think we know well. The narration carefully foregrounds the prejudices of the time, which Beauvoir later fought in her philosophy, novels, and essays. The drawings pleasantly and aptly illustrate the narrative.