The original English translation erased Beauvoir as a philosopher
Evidence
It is generally agreed that one of the most serious absences in the first translation was Simone de Beauvoir the philosopher. Much work has been done on reclaiming, valorizing, and expanding upon her role as philosopher since the 1953 publication, thanks to the scholarship of Margaret Simons, Eva Lundgren-Gothlin, Michèle Le Doeuff, Elizabeth Fallaize, Emily Grosholz, Sonia Kruks, and Ingrid Galster, to mention only a few. We were keenly aware of the need to put the philosopher back into her text. To transpose her philosophical style and voice into English was the most crucial task we faced. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 41
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s foundational Continental reading — situates Beauvoir’s philosophical status and its recovery within intellectual history. — connects to: The Second Sex’s English translation distorted its existentialist philosophy — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 686; Parshley’s 1953 translation reversed Beauvoir’s meaning on several core existentialist terms — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 42; Institutional methods systematically erased Beauvoir and other women from philosophy’s canon — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre: The Riddle of…, 326 (+1 more)
- CANDY: A striking, low-context fact: the famous first translation left out Beauvoir the philosopher entirely.
Broader Connections
- Parshley’s 1953 translation reversed Beauvoir’s meaning on several core existentialist terms
#corroborates(0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 42 - Institutional methods systematically erased Beauvoir and other women from philosophy’s canon
#expands(0.85) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 326 - Beauvoir’s philosophical essays reached English readers only recently
#corroborates(0.75) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 28