I wrote this review for Amazon:
I am giving this book three stars because I don't recall ever being so frustrated while reading a book of letters. I've read a lot of books of letters by women I know little or nothing about and was able to read the letters without feeling completely in the dark. The first time I picked up this book, I gave up 100 pages in so I could read Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography in the hopes of not being so confused and to get a better feel for Simone's life. The footnotes offer very minimal biographical information - they detail people mentioned, directors of movies mentioned, and more often than not refer the reader to Simone's memoirs (which I have not read) rather than synopsize what the editor/translator, Quinton Hoare, has deigned to cut out. Even after reading the biography, I found myself getting irritated because of the near complete lack of biographical information. The letters end abruptly with one letter from 1963 with no explanation; even a simple "No letters were found after this date" would have sufficed.
I was also irritated because in the introduction, Quintin Hoare states that this translation "represents some two thirds of the French edition" because it "seemed preferable to leave out material overlapping with De Beauvoir's autobiographical volumes or, in particular, her book on the United States." Obviously the original editor of the French edition didn't feel the need to edit the letters in such a way so I'm curious to know why he took it upon himself to make so many cuts.
So - I really disliked the book itself, but I really enjoyed reading the letters. The letters are split up into six sections. The bulk of these letters - 274 pages - takes place between September 1939 and March 1941, when Sartre was mobilized for WWII and subsequently a prisoner of war. These read more like a journal than anything else because she wrote to Sartre daily and told him pretty much everything about what happened in her life on a sometimes hourly basis. The length of these letters and the details are phenomenal - it's as if nothing was too minute to mention. The next largest section - 84 pages - are the letters she wrote while she was in the America. I particularly enjoyed this section because I had previously read A Transatlantic Love Affair: Letters to Nelson Algren and was curious to know what happened during her trips to America and the time she spent with Nelson Algren - these letters filled in the gaps.
Having said all of that, I would strongly suggest reading a biography and/or her memoirs before reading these letters, otherwise you most likely not be able to appreciate them fully.
I am giving this book three stars because I don't recall ever being so frustrated while reading a book of letters. I've read a lot of books of letters by women I know little or nothing about and was able to read the letters without feeling completely in the dark. The first time I picked up this book, I gave up 100 pages in so I could read Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography in the hopes of not being so confused and to get a better feel for Simone's life. The footnotes offer very minimal biographical information - they detail people mentioned, directors of movies mentioned, and more often than not refer the reader to Simone's memoirs (which I have not read) rather than synopsize what the editor/translator, Quinton Hoare, has deigned to cut out. Even after reading the biography, I found myself getting irritated because of the near complete lack of biographical information. The letters end abruptly with one letter from 1963 with no explanation; even a simple "No letters were found after this date" would have sufficed.
I was also irritated because in the introduction, Quintin Hoare states that this translation "represents some two thirds of the French edition" because it "seemed preferable to leave out material overlapping with De Beauvoir's autobiographical volumes or, in particular, her book on the United States." Obviously the original editor of the French edition didn't feel the need to edit the letters in such a way so I'm curious to know why he took it upon himself to make so many cuts.
So - I really disliked the book itself, but I really enjoyed reading the letters. The letters are split up into six sections. The bulk of these letters - 274 pages - takes place between September 1939 and March 1941, when Sartre was mobilized for WWII and subsequently a prisoner of war. These read more like a journal than anything else because she wrote to Sartre daily and told him pretty much everything about what happened in her life on a sometimes hourly basis. The length of these letters and the details are phenomenal - it's as if nothing was too minute to mention. The next largest section - 84 pages - are the letters she wrote while she was in the America. I particularly enjoyed this section because I had previously read A Transatlantic Love Affair: Letters to Nelson Algren and was curious to know what happened during her trips to America and the time she spent with Nelson Algren - these letters filled in the gaps.
Having said all of that, I would strongly suggest reading a biography and/or her memoirs before reading these letters, otherwise you most likely not be able to appreciate them fully.
