Simone de Beauvoir's Reading List
The 5 books that shaped Simone de Beauvoir — philosopher & feminist.
Author of The Second Sex, she laid the intellectual foundation for modern feminism and existentialist ethics.
Influential Books
The Second Sex
Simone de Beauvoir(1949)
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." De Beauvoir's foundational text of modern feminism.
Being and Nothingness
Jean-Paul Sartre(1943)
Sartre was de Beauvoir's lifelong partner and intellectual companion. His existentialism was her starting point.
The Phenomenology of Spirit
G.W.F. Hegel(1807)
De Beauvoir applied Hegel's master-slave dialectic to gender — women as the "Other" in patriarchal society.
The Mandarins
Simone de Beauvoir(1954)
De Beauvoir's Prix Goncourt–winning novel — a roman à clef about postwar Parisian intellectual life.
A Room of One's Own
Virginia Woolf(1929)
Woolf's feminist essay — a woman needs money and a room to write. De Beauvoir built on this foundation.