Sex and Philosophy: Rethinking de Beauvoir and Sartre

by Edward Fullbrook, Kate Fullbrook

Overview

An intriguing and highly readable new book examining the fascinating personal and intellectual relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781847060655
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/01/2008
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Edward Fullbrook is a Research Fellow in Economics at the University of the West of England, UK. Together with his late wife, Kate Fullbrook, he is the co-author of Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre: The Remaking of a Twentieth-Century Legend (Basic Books, 1994) and Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Introduction (Polity, 1997). Kate Fullbrook was Professor of English at the University of the West of England until her death in 2003. Together with her husband, Edward Fullbrook, she co-authored Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre: The Remaking of a Twentieth-Century Legend (Basic Books, 1994) and Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Introduction (Polity, 1997).

Table of Contents

AcknowledgementsIntroduction
Part I: Sartre and Beauvoir
1. Final Exams
2. Courtship and Union
3. Carousing
4. Would-be Authors
5. More Carousing
6. The Family Jewels
7. The 'Lost' Letters
Part II: Sartre or Beauvoir?
8. A 'Preposterous' Thesis
9. Two Beginnings, One Philosophy
10. Whose Ethics?
11. The Absence of Beauvoir
12. Beauvoir in the Intellectual Marketplace
Part III: Beauvoir and Beauvoir
13. Gender and Method
14. Gender and Ethics
15. The Second Sex
16. The Second Sex and the Genre Trap
 
Bibliography: Jean-Paul Sartre
 
Bibliography: Simone de Beauvoir

Editorial Reviews

Despite her fame as a celebrated philosopher and grand dame of 20th-century feminism, Simone de Beauvoir is still surrounded by questions, particularly regarding her romantic and intellectual relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre. Was she truly the victim of his renowned philandering? Was she simply the midwife to his philosophy? Here, Edward Fullbrook and his late wife, Kate Fullbrook, (coauthors, The Remaking of a Twentieth-Century Legend: Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre) attempt to illuminate de Beauvoir's primary role in originating many of the philosophical ideas attributed to Sartre. In their accessible overview of Sartre's and de Beauvoir's philosophies, the Fullbrooks reiterate the argument that they make in earlier works: Sartre plagiarized de Beauvoir's thoughts, laid bare in de Beauvoir's novel She Came To Stay. The Fullbrooks also argue that it was de Beauvoir's need for sexual freedom that determined the famously open terms of their sexual relationship. Leveraging the tools of the biographer, literary critic, philosopher, and historian, the authors offer a thorough investigation of the Sartre-de Beauvoir story, attempting to distinguish the truth from the legend of their relationship. Recommended for academic libraries.
—Leigh Anne Palmer

Library Journal

"In their accessible overview of Sartre's and de Beauvoir's philosophies, the Fullbrooks reiterate the argument that they make in earlier works: Sartre plagiarized de Beauvoir's thoughts, laid bare in de Beauvoir's novel She Came To Stay...Leveraging the tools of the biographer, literary critic, philosopher, and historian, the authors offer a thorough investigation of the Sartre-de Beauvoir story, attempting to distinguish the truth from the legend of their relationship. Recommended for academic libraries." - Leigh Anne Palmer, Library Journal, October 1, 2008--Sanford Lakoff "Library Journal "

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"Other biographers may challenge the standard account of Beauvoir and Sartre's sexual relationship, but only Edward and Kate Fullbrook pose as radical a challenge to the standard account of their philosophical relationship, arguing that Beauvoir, rather than Sartre, originated much of the philosophy they shared. Their new book strengthens their case with some interesting new material, including a discussion of Beauvoir's and Sartre's work on the phenomenon of absence." - Margaret A. Simons, William and Margaret Going Professor, Department of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, USA

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Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name: "Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow: yes;mso-style-parent: "";mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;mso-para-margin:0in;mso-para-margin-bottom: .0001pt;mso-pagination: widow-orphan;font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language: #0400;mso-fareast-language: #0400;mso-bidi-language: #0400;}"Leveraging the tools of the biographer, literarycritic, philosopher, and historian, the authors offer a thorough investigationof the Sartre-de Beauvoir story, attempting to distinguish the truth from thelegend of their relationship. Recommended for academic libraries." --Library Journal

From the Publisher