Recent Beauvoir scholarship works by reversing influence direction and defending her concepts

Evidence

Two tactics have played a central role in bringing Beauvoir into prominence. Th e fi rst corrects the widespread and mistaken assumption that Beauvoir’s philosophical works merely presuppose and extend Sartre’s work by showing, contrary to popular opinion, that the lines of infl uence oft en go the other way round. Th e second argues that Beauvoir’s account of various concepts like freedom and intersubjectivity diff er from, and, according to some, improve upon Sartre. Although these two lines sometimes stand in tension with one another, overall they have been successful in many ways: the number of books recently published on Beauvoir surpasses those published on Sartre; anthologies of existentialism now, unlike in the past, contain texts by Beauvoir; and most North American Sartreans recognize the importance of Beauvoir and are open to analysis of her work at their meetings. — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 163

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s core historiographical question about authorship/influence in the Beauvoir-Sartre relationship. This passage describes the two scholarly tactics (reversing influence; distinguishing concepts) that structure the whole debate. — connects to: Beauvoir deliberately sought interlocutors who could challenge her thinking — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 362; A revisionist scholarly movement now challenges conventional Sartre-Beauvoir influence narratives — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 48; Beauvoir scholarship’s one-way influence narrative is strategically motivated — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 164 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Beauvoir studies contests her subordination to Sartre as a mere follower #expands (0.90) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 44
• Beauvoir scholarship’s one-way influence narrative is strategically motivated #corroborates (0.82) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 164