FRANKLIN LIBRARY: SIGNED 60: SIMONE De BEAUVOIR: THE SECOND SEX: WOMEN
Item History & Price
Franklin Library leather edition of Simone de Beauvoir's "The Second Sex, " a limited edition, Translated and edited by H.M. Parshley, Illustrated by Eugene Karlin, PERSONALLY SIGNED by SIMONE de BEAUVOIR, one of the SIGNED 60 series, PERSONALLY SIGNED by Simone de Beauvoir, signature protected by onion-skin paper, published in 1979. Bound in hunter green leather, the book has green French moire silk end leaves, satin book marker, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, hubbed spine,... gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition---except for 'very, very minor' specs on top gilt---noticed when held to the light. Simone de Beauvoir, who was born in 1908, was a French novelist and essayist, and one of the leading existentialist writers. She was romantically linked with French author, Jean-Paul Sartre. Beauvoir writes in the 'special message, ' "I was nearing my forties when I undertook to write "The Second Sex. . ." Unmarried and childless, I did not have the responsibilities incumbent on motherhood. In the opening chapter, Beauvoir asks "What is woman?" She argues that man is considered the default, while woman is considered the "Other." "Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not herself but as relative to him." Beauvoir describes the relationship of ovum to sperm in various creatures (fish, insects, mammals), leading up to the human being. She describes women's subordination to the species in terms of reproduction, compares the physiology of men and women, concluding that values cannot be based on physiology and that the facts of biology must be viewed in light of the ontological, economic, social, and physiological context. According to Beauvoir, two factors explain the evolution of women's condition: participation in production and freedom from reproductive slavery. Beauvoir writes that motherhood left woman "riveted to her body" like an animal and made it possible for men to dominate her and Nature. She describes man's gradual domination of women, starting with the statue of a female Great Goddess found in Susa, and eventually the opinion of ancient Greeks like Pythagoras who wrote, "There is a good principle that created order, light and man and a bad principle that created chaos, darkness and woman." Beauvoir writes that men oppress women when they seek to perpetuate the family and keep patrimony intact. She compares women's situation in ancient Greece with Rome. In Greece, with exceptions like Sparta where there were no restraints on women's freedom, women were treated almost like slaves. In Rome because men were still the masters, women enjoyed more rights but, still discriminated against on the basis of their sex, had only empty freedom. Discussing Christianity, Beauvoir argues that, with the exception of the German tradition, it and its clergy have served to subordinate women. She also describes prostitution and the changes in dynamics brought about by courtly love that occurred about the twelfth century. Through the nineteenth century women's legal status remained unchanged. Some men helped women's status through their works. The Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century gave women an escape from their homes but they were paid little for their work. Beauvoir traces the growth of trade unions and participation by women. She examines the spread of birth control methods and the history of abortion. Beauvoir relates the history of women's suffrage, and writes that women like Rosa Luxemburg and Marie Curie "brilliantly demonstrate that it is not women's inferiority that has determined their historical insignificance: it is their historical insignificance that has doomed them to inferiority." Beauvoir provides a presentation about the "everlasting disappointment" of women, for the most part from a male heterosexual's point of view. She covers female menstruation, virginity, and female sexuality including copulation, marriage. motherhood, and prostitution. Beauvoir writes that sexual division is maintained in homosexuality. In Part Two, Beauvoir contrasts a girl's upbringing with a boy's, who at age 3 or 4 is told he is a "little man." A girl is taught to be a woman and her "feminine" destiny is imposed on her by society. She has no innate "maternal instinct." A girl comes to believe in and to worship a male god and to create imaginary adult lovers. The discovery of sex is a "phenomenon as painful as weaning" and she views it with disgust. When she discovers that men, not women, are the masters of the world this "imperiously modifies her consciousness of herself." Beauvoir describes puberty, the beginning of menstruation, and the way girls imagine sex with a man. Beauvoir writes that "to ask two spouses bound by practical, social and moral ties to satisfy each other sexually for their whole lives is pure absurdity." She describes the work of married women, including housecleaning, writing that it is "holding away death but also refusing life." She thinks, "what makes the lot of the wife-servant ungratifying is the division of labor that dooms her wholly to the general and inessential." Beauvoir writes that a woman finds her dignity only in accepting her vassalage which is bed "service" and housework "service." She thinks that marriage "almost always destroys woman." She quotes Sophia Tolstoy who wrote in her diary: "you are stuck there forever and there you must sit." Beauvoir thinks marriage is a perverted institution oppressing both men and women. In Beauvoir's view, abortions performed legally by doctors would have little risk to the mother. She argues that the Catholic Church cannot make the claim that the souls of the unborn would not end up in heaven because of their lack of baptism because that would be contradictory to other Church teachings. She writes that the issue of abortion is not an issue of morality but of "masculine sadism" toward woman. Beauvoir writes that when a woman becomes elderly, she has half of her adult life left to live. A woman might choose to live through her children (often her son) or her grandchildren but she faces "solitude, regret, and ennui." To pass her time she might engage in useless "women's handiwork, " watercolors, music or reading, or she might join charitable organizations. Beauvoir thinks it is pointless to try to decide whether a woman is superior or inferior, and that it is obvious that the man's situation is "infinitely preferable." She writes, "for woman there is no other way out than to work for her liberation." Beauvoir discusses the lives of several women. She also mentions women with careers who are able to escape sadism and masochism. Singled out are "actresses, dancers, and singers" who may achieve independence. Among writers, Beauvoir chooses only Emily Bronte, Virginia Woolf, Colette, and Katherine Mansfield. Beauvoir then says that women don't "challenge the human condition" and that in comparison to the few "greats", a woman comes out as "mediocre." In her conclusion, Beauvoir looks forward to a future when women and men are equals., She concludes that, "to carry off this supreme victory, men and women must, among other things and beyond their natural differentiations---- RARE and GORGEOUS volume! I offer COMBINED shipping.
