Simone de Beauvoir Kit

This kit brings together two autobiographical novels by Simone de Beauvoir, portraits of key moments in the personal and intellectual development of one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century.

The Inseparables (128 pages)

Written in 1954, five years after the publication of The Second Sex , Inseparables is the autobiographical novel that tells the story of the passionate friendship that united Sylvie (Simone de Beauvoir) and Andrée (Élisabeth Lacoin, Zaza).

Sylvie and Andrée met at age 9 at Desir school, in Paris during the First World War. Andrée is fun, cheeky, and daring; Sylvie, more traditional and shy, quickly finds herself irrevocably attracted to her. However, behind her rebellious attitude, Andrée must contend with a fervent Catholic family whose rigid traditions and oppressive environment are determined to crush any expression of individuality. Together, they forge a path to freedom from the conventions of their time and stifling expectations, unaware of the tragic price they will have to pay for their freedom and intellectual and existential ambitions.

The Inseparables recounts the experiences that underpinned the revolt and work of the great French philosopher: her emancipation and the antagonism between intellectuals and conservatives. It also portrays and denounces a hypocritical and fanatical society. This cathartic story of Simone de Beauvoir, published with personal photos and letters exchanged between the two friends, as well as an introduction by Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir, constitutes a true literary event.

Misunderstanding in Moscow (144 pp.)

André and Nicole, two retired university professors feeling the weight of aging, travel to the Soviet Union for the second time in their lives. There, they meet André's daughter from his first marriage, Macha, a determined woman living in the great experiment of 20th-century socialism. Thus begins a series of misunderstandings related to individual and collective issues—lack of communication, the idea of aging, long-term love, the role and identity of women, political expectations, and so on.

Misunderstanding in Moscow , which draws on the experiences of Simone de Beauvoir and her husband, Jean-Paul Sartre, on a trip to the Soviet Union, is a moving account of political and sentimental disappointments that shed light on the singularity of our existence.