{"product_id":"sex-love-and-letters-writing-simone-de-beauvoir-hardback-9781501750540","title":"Sex, Love, and Letters; Writing Simone De Beauvoir (Hardback) 9781501750540","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eSex, Love, and Letters\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eWriting Simone De Beauvoir\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eJudith G. Coffin (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781501750540\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 15 September 2020\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e328 pages, 4 b\u0026amp;w halftones - 4 Halftones, black and white\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.907 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eCoffin opens up a new perspective onto a major writer, and makes a convincing case for her continuing intellectual relevance.\u003c\/p\u003e (Publisher's Weekly) \u003cp\u003eThis beautifully written, frequently moving book is a crucial addition to the scholarship on Simone de Beauvoir.\u003c\/p\u003e (Kirkus Reviews) \u003cp\u003e[Coffin] writes engagingly about... historic developments while paying strict attention to the vivid immediacy of those letters that range far and wide across the categories of sentiment, education, and motive, revealing personalities that run the gamut from the elegant to the crude, the appreciative to the demanding.\u003c\/p\u003e (Boston Review) \u003cp\u003eSeveral years ago, Coffin had the great fortune to be the first researcher to open an uncataloged Beauvoir archive.... No less fortunately, she had the great intelligence and skill to translate these letters into English for us and cast them in a lucid and fascinating account of Beauvoir's relationship to her readers then and since.\u003c\/p\u003e (Los Angeles Review of Books) \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSex, Love, and Letters\u003c\/i\u003e is a highly engaging book that provides an excellent contribution to the field of Beauvoir scholarship. Coffin provides readers with an exceptionally rich picture of the cultural landscape of France and beyond in the decades after World War II, which is indispensable for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Beauvoir's work.\u003c\/p\u003e (Simone de Beauvoir Studies) \u003cp\u003eThe title of Judith Coffin's book evokes, for those of us old enough to remember it, Steven Soderbergh's 1989 hit movie, \u003ci\u003eSex, Lies, and Videotape\u003c\/i\u003e, whose main argument, according to the late and great Roger Ebert, was that 'conversation is better than sex—more intimate, more voluptuous.'\u003c\/p\u003e (H-France Review)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWhen Judith G. Coffin discovered a virtually unexplored treasure trove of letters to Simone de Beauvoir from Beauvoir's international readers, it inspired Coffin to explore the intimate bond between the famed author and her reading public.\u003c\/b\u003e This correspondence, at the heart of \u003ci\u003eSex, Love, and Letters\u003c\/i\u003e, immerses us in the tumultuous decades from the late 1940s to the 1970s—from the painful aftermath of World War II to the horror and shame of French colonial brutality in Algeria and through the dilemmas and exhilarations of the early gay liberation and feminist movements. The letters also provide a glimpse into the power of reading and the power of readers to seduce their favorite authors.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe relationship between Beauvoir and her audience proved especially long, intimate, and vexed. Coffin traces this relationship, from the publication of Beauvoir's acclaimed \u003ci\u003eThe Second Sex\u003c\/i\u003e to the release of the last volume of her memoirs, offering an unfamiliar perspective on one of the most magnetic and polarizing philosophers of the twentieth century. Along the way, we meet many of the greatest writers of Beauvoir's generation—Hannah Arendt; Dominique Aury, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Story of O\u003c\/i\u003e; François Mauriac, winner of the Nobel Prize and nemesis of Albert Camus; Betty Friedan; and, of course, Jean-Paul Sartre—bringing the electrically charged salon experience to life.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSex, Love, and Letters\u003c\/i\u003e lays bare the private lives and political emotions of the letter writers and of Beauvoir herself. Her readers did not simply pen fan letters but, as Coffin shows, engaged in a dialogue that revealed intellectual and literary life to be a joint and collaborative production. \"This must happen to you often, doesn't it?\" wrote one. \"That people write to you and tell you about their lives?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003cbr\u003e 1. The Intimate Life of the Nation: Reading The Second Sex in 1949\u003cbr\u003e 2. Beauvoir, Kinsey, and Midcentury Sex\u003cbr\u003e 3. Readers and Writers\u003cbr\u003e 4. The Algerian War and the Scandal of Torture\u003cbr\u003e 5. Shame as Political Feeling\u003cbr\u003e 6. Second Takes on The Second Sex\u003cbr\u003e 7. Couple Troubles\u003cbr\u003e 8. Sexual Politics and Feminism\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Cornell University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52735352471832,"sku":"9781501750540","price":24.75,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/sex-love-and-letters-writing-simone-de-beauvoir-hardback-9781501750540","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}