Wartime diary - Simone de Beauvoir

Written from September 1939 to January 1941, Simone de Beauvoir\u2019s Wartime Diary gives English readers unabridged access to one of the scandalous texts that threaten to overturn traditional views of Beauvoir\u2019s life and work. Beauvoir\u2019s account of her clandestine affair with Jacques Bost and sexual relationships with various young women challenges the conventional picture of Beauvoir as the devoted companion of Jean-Paul Sartre, just as her account of completing her novel She Came to Stay at a time when Sartre\u2019s philosophy in Being and Nothingness was barely begun calls into question the traditional view of Beauvoir\u2019s novel as merely illustrating Sartre\u2019s philosophy.Most important, the Wartime Diary provides an exciting account of Beauvoir\u2019s philosophical transformation from the prewar solipsism of She Came to Stay to the postwar political engagement of The Second Sex. This edition also features previously unpublished material, including her musings about consciousness and order, recommended reading lists, and notes on labor unions. In providing new insights into Beauvoir\u2019s philosophical development, the Wartime Diary promises to rewrite a crucial chapter of Western philosophy and intellectual history.