We are meeting on Bastille Day, July 14th to discuss the new translation of Simone de Beauvoir's ground shaking The Second Sex at 7pm at Inquiring Minds in Saugerties.
If we are to read this book as one of the GREAT BOOKS, as in actually reading this book as a primary source, and understanding it from our own perpsective, here are some questions to ponder:
If this is your first time reading this, how do yu find the book? Does it resonate with you? Is it dated, if so, how so?
If you read this book in its first translation--do you remember how that made you feel? How does the book strike you now?
If we are to read this book in context of modern life, academics, philosophy and feminism we might find that there have been 2 major reviews that have been negative. I might ask why...and I might answer my own question with--sexism is alive and well.
There have been a few negative reviews--The London Review of Books, for instance. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v32/n03/toril-moi/the-adulteress-wife
Read the letters back and forth,and you will see that the contention is that this volume is not the scholarly annotated one, but just a translation of one of the foundational books of 20th century feminism.
The second negative review was in the NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/30/books/review/Gray-t.html
and a critique of Simone herself http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/being-and-frumpiness/
It is my hope that the reviews will not discourage women from reading this translation...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment