The Second Sex
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| The Second Sex | |
|---|---|
 Vintage Reissue edition (1989) |
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| Author | Simone de Beauvoir |
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Genre(s) | Philosophy Feminism |
| Publication date | 1949 |
| Media type | Hardback Softback |
| Pages | 800 |
| ISBN | 0-679-72451-6 |
| OCLC Number | 20905133 |
The Second Sex (French: Le Deuxième Sexe, June 1949) is one of the best-known works of the French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir. It is a work on the treatment of women throughout history and often regarded as a major work of feminist literature.
Contents |
[edit] Woman and the Other
In it she argues that women throughout history have been defined as the "other" sex, an aberration from the "normal" male sex.[1] Beauvoir wrote the book after attempting to write about herself. The first thing she wrote was that she was a woman, but she realized that she needed to define what a woman was, which became the intent of the book.
[edit] Gender and sex
Judith Butler says that Beauvoir's formulation that "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman",[2] distinguishes the terms 'sex' and 'gender'. Butler says that the book suggests that 'gender' is an aspect of identity which is "gradually acquired". Butler sees The Second Sex as potentially providing a radical understanding of gender.[3]
[edit] Translations
Toril Moi points out that the 1953 English translation of The Second Sex by H.M. Parshley, frequently reissued, is poor.[4] The delicate vocabulary of philosophical concepts is frequently mistranslated, and great swaths of the text have been excised.[5] The English publication rights to the book are owned by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc and, according to Moi, although the publishers have been made aware of the problems with the English text, they have long insisted that there was really no need for a new translation,[4] even though Simone de Beauvoir herself explicitly requested one in a 1985 interview: "I would like very much for another translation of The Second Sex to be done, one that is much more faithful, more complete and more faithful."[6] The publishers gave in to those requests, and commissioned a new translation to Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevalier.[7] The result is considered even poorer, missing several points of Beauvoir's lexicon and style.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ de Beauvoir, Simone, Force of Circumstances translated by Richard Howard (Penguin, 1968)
- ^ de Beauvoir, Simone The Second Sex(Vintage Books, 1973), p. 301
- ^ Butler, Judith, 'Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoir's Second Sex' in Yale French Studies, No. 72 (1986), pp. 35-49.
- ^ a b Moi, Toril, 'While we wait: The English translation of The Second Sex' in Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society vol. 27, no 4 (2002), pp. 1005–1035
- ^ Simons, Margaret, 'The Silencing of Simone de Beauvoir: Guess What's Missing from The Second Sex' in Beauvoir and The Second Sex (1999), pp. 61-71
- ^ Simons, Margaret, 'Beauvoir Interview (1985)' in Beauvoir and The Second Sex (1999), pp. 93-94
- ^ Moi, Toril. It changed my life! The Guardian, January 12, 2008.
- ^ Moi, Toril, 'The Adulteress Wife', in London Review of Books vol. 32, no 3 (2010), pp. 3–6.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- 'The Second Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir (Free English Translation of a small part of the book)
