The Second Sex - Hardcover

Beauvoir, Simone De

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307265560 ISBN 13: 9780307265562

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2010

Synopsis

Newly translated and unabridged in English for the first time, and brilliantly introduced by Judith Thurman, Simone de Beauvoir's masterpiece weaves together history, philosophy, economics, biology, and a host of other disciplines to analyze the Western notion of -woman- and to explore the power of sexuality.
Sixty years after its initial publication, The Second Sex is still as eye-opening and pertinent as ever. This triumphant and genuinely revolutionary book began as an exceptional woman's attempt to find out who and what she was. Drawing on extensive interviews with women of every age and station of life, masterfully synthesizing research about women's bodies and psyches as well as their historic and economic roles, The Second Sex is an encyclopedic and cogently argued document about inequality and enforced -otherness.-
This long-awaited new translation pays particular attention to the existentialist terms and French nuances that may have been misconstrued in the first English edition; restores Beauvoir's phrasing, rhythms, and tone; and reinstates significant portions of the -Myths- and -History- chapters that were originally cut due to length, including accounts of more than seventy female figures.
A vital and life-changing work that has dramatically revised the way women talk and think about themselves, Beauvoir's magisterial treatise continues to provoke and inspire.

About this title

Review:

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir posed questions many men, and women, had yet to ponder when the book was released in 1953. "One wonders if women still exist, if they will always exist, whether or not it is desirable that they should..." she says in this comprehensive treatise on women. She weaves together history, philosophy, economics, biology and a host of other disciplines to show women's place in the world and to postulate on the power of sexuality. This is a powerful piece of writing in a time before "feminism" was even a phrase, much less a movement. --Christine Buttery

Review:

Praise from the UK for the new edition of "The Second Sex"
[A] masterpiece. . . . Restores essential passages that have been missing for 60 years. "The Times"
Groundbreaking. . . . A fresh, much expanded, more intelligible book which repays re-reading by adherents of the old version, and cries out for attention from young women who have not been exposed to this most powerful of feminist thinkers. "The Second Sex" [is] the foundation text of second-wave feminism. It is probably the most important and influential philosophical treatise of the 20th century. "The Irish Times"
"The Second Sex" is an inquiry into a subject with profound implications for the entire human race, and its ideas are as fresh and inspiring as they were when [Beauvoir] began work. . . . Now Beauvoir s great work is available in a full English translation for the first time. . . . It is a fine piece of work, a lucid translation. "The Independent""

Praise from the UK for the new edition of The Second Sex
-[A] masterpiece. . . . Restores essential passages that have been missing for 60 years.- --The Times
-Groundbreaking. . . . A fresh, much expanded, more intelligible book which repays re-reading by adherents of the old version, and cries out for attention from young women who have not been exposed to this most powerful of feminist thinkers. The Second Sex [is] the foundation text of second-wave feminism. It is probably the most important and influential philosophical treatise of the 20th century.- --The Irish Times
-The Second Sex is an inquiry into a subject with profound implications for the entire human race, and its ideas are as fresh and inspiring as they were when [Beauvoir] began work. . . . Now Beauvoir's great work is available in a full English translation for the first time. . . . It is a fine piece of work, a lucid translation.- --The Independent

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0307265560
• ISBN 13: 9780307265562
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 800