You can immerse yourself wonderfully in Parisian life from the end of the 1920s onwards with the excellent personal exhibition on Simone De Beauvoir at the Literaturhaus Munich. Texts and images from the everyday life of the writer paint a picture with a dense atmosphere - inspiring and challenging at the same time. Simone de Beauvoir received prominent recognition as a writer - for example, the Prix Goncourt in 1954 for her novel "Les Mandarins," which was published in German the same year. However, she was not considered a co-founder of the most influential school of philosophy of the 20th century, existentialism. Nevertheless, her long relationship with Jean Paul Sartre and their uninterrupted conversations formed its philosophical foundation. Her close relationship to phenomenology is also hardly present in public discourse.
Unlike Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir wrote existentialist ideas into novels, not just theoretical works - for example, "All Men Are Mortal". "The Second Sex" is considered a foundational work on gender research. As a central result of this inquiry work can be considered what is also a main thesis of existentialism: that man and woman designs his and her own identity. In the texts she examines the conditions and prerequisites of being a woman - from a historical as well as a biological, psychological and ethnological perspective. One of the most famous quotes from the 900-page book is probably, "You are not born a woman, you are made one." She pioneered the analysis of how gender identity is culturally shaped and applied these findings to her own life. She lived as she saw fit, maintained numerous relationships, and did not allow herself to be forced into any social corset.
The book caused a scandal, because the demand for self-determined sexuality and individual role definition had something deeply revolutionary about it. Together with Sartre, de Beauvoir had already declared her support for an open relationship in independence and equality in 1930. To this day, feminists and researchers in gender studies refer to the fundamental work in "The Second Sex". Writer Julia Korbik's statement confirms its relevance: "I read 'The Second Sex' when I want to remember what feminism has already achieved. But above all: when I want to remind myself of all that feminism has not yet achieved and I need ammunition and food for thought for my feminist commitment."
The exhibition, inspiringly staged and curated by Eva Kraus & Katharina Chrubasik, Tanja Graf & Anna Seethaler, assisted by Klara Pinnau, also includes an installation of translations into other languages, supplemented with dates. The translation into German was the first ever in 1951. In 1953, the translation into English followed. Vatican and Spain blacklisted the book. First editions, translations and new editions are presented in the exhibition and give an impression of the unheard-of reach of the text.
Portraits of the writer from different periods connect the individual stations with documents and photographs, commentaries and exhibits. Numerous video statements, for example by Iris Radisch, give the exhibits current contextualization.
Simone de Beauvoir also described the possibilities of determining one's own path in life as a woman in her book "The Inseparables," which she wrote in 1954. This testimony to female friendship was impressively presented in a reading at the Literaturhaus in early May. The dialogue by translator Amelie Thoma and Beauvoir specialist Julia Korbik was congenially complemented by actor Xenia Tilings' reading, which made the scenes tangible in a way that was as spot-on and mysterious at the same time as it was untheatrical. Details from Amelia Thoma's life as a translator, such as the search for similar speech rhythms in the other language, gave a vivid impression of the demands and beauties of the demanding task of translating more than words. Julia Korbik, who has already provided numerous reasons in her book "Oh, Simone" to deal with de Beauvoir even today as a (young) woman, reported on some experiences that were also used in the autobiography "Memoirs of a Daughter from a Good Family" or in the collection of stories "Marcelle". The book was not supposed to be published; it was not until seven decades after it was written that de Beauvoir's adopted daughter, Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir, released the novel.
However, even if one or the other passage might be familiar, it is still recommended to read this book, especially if one does not want to enter de Beauvoir's work from the existentialist side. The genre "literature about girlfriends" was far from invented at that time, so here too the author was ahead of her time. The meeting and the relationship of the girls Andrée and Sylvie is modeled on their own experiences with de Beauvoirs friend Élisabeth Lacoin, called Zaza. The diverse feelings of love, enthusiasm and attraction, to jealousy and rejection, stand as equally important narrative themes alongside the external circumstances. Social, especially religious and patriarchal constraints are precisely unmasked. An interesting detail: despite the enduring close relationship, the girlfriends stick to the formal "vous" as their form of address. This is also how Simone de Beauvoir addressed Sartre - a gesture of inner distance or the legacy of a politely strict upbringing?
A long video interview conducted by Alice Schwarzer with Simone de Beauvoir in 1973 in her Paris apartment is a highlight of the exhibition and conveys an impression of the author's imperturbability and demanding gentleness. It is supplemented with conversations involving Sartre, which also deal with freedom and life plans. An inspiring multifaceted exhibition, about an icon of the 20th century.
https://www.literaturhaus-muenchen.de/ausstellung/simone-de-beauvoir/
on view until June 11, 2023,
Literaturhaus Munich, Salvatorplatz 1, 80333 Munich, Germany.