Parshley’s 1953 translation reversed Beauvoir’s meaning on several core existentialist terms

Evidence

The first English-language translation did not always recognize the philosophical terminology in The Second Sex. Take the crucial word “authentic,” meaning “to be in good faith.” As Toril Moi points out, Parshley changed it into “real, genuine, and true.” The distinctive existentialist term pour-soi, usually translated as “for-itself” (pour-soi referring to human consciousness), became “her true nature in itself.” Thus, Parshley’s “being-in-itself” (en-soi, lacking human consciousness) is a reversal of Simone de Beauvoir’s meaning. Margaret Simons and Toril Moi have unearthed and brought to light many other examples, such as the use of “alienation,” “alterity,” “subject,” and the verb “to posit,” which are by now well documented. One particularly striking example is the title of Volume II; “L’expérience vécue” (“Lived Experience”) was translated as “Woman’s Life Today,” weakening the philosophical tenor of the French. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 42

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the reading the core existentialist vocabulary (pour-soi, en-soi, authentic, lived experience) that the reader is prioritizing for this foundational reading of Beauvoir. — connects to: The Second Sex’s English translation distorted its existentialist philosophy — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 686; The original English translation erased Beauvoir as a philosopher — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 41; Howard Parshley’s flawed translation obscured The Second Sex’s philosophical status — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 56
• DEFINE: Defines pour-soi (human consciousness, ‘for-itself’) against en-soi (lacking consciousness, ‘being-in-itself’) — the crucial apparatus for the whole text.
• ADDENDUM: The translation-fidelity question parallels the ‘grafting as narrative metaphor’ theme only distantly; more directly it echoes how words carry philosophical weight — relevant if the reader ever writes about translation as loss.

Broader Connections

• Howard Parshley’s flawed translation obscured The Second Sex’s philosophical status #corroborates (0.95) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 56