Diary of a Philosophy Student

Volume 2, 1928-29

Simone Beauvoir, Barbara Klaw, Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir, Margaret A. Simons, Marybeth Timmermann

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780252085918, 9780252042546
• eBook ISBN: 9780252051388
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Philosopher Biographies

Simone de Beauvoir, still a teen, began a diary while a philosophy student at the Sorbonne. Written in 1926-27—before Beauvoir met Jean-Paul Sartre—the diaries reveal previously unknown details about her life and times and offer critical insights into her early intellectual interests, philosophy, and literary works.

Presented for the first time in translation, this fully annotated first volume of the Diary includes essays from Barbara Klaw and Margaret A. Simons that address its philosophical, historical, and literary significance. It remains an invaluable resource for tracing the development of Beauvoir's independent thinking and her influence on philosophy, feminism, and the world.

Errata for Diary of a Philosophy Student, Volume 1, 1926–27

1926 (SECOND NOTEBOOK)

p. 83, line 18: “because of Cocteau” should read “and Cocteau's precepts.”

p. 101, line 22: “irritate him” should read “invite him over.”

p. 119, line 26: insert “(p. 60)” before “All right.”

p. 144, line 3: “dead people” should read “maestros.”

p. 150, line 13: “Luxembourg Gardens” should read “Musée du Luxembourg.”

p. 154, line 9: “intoxicated” should read “thrilled.”

p. 158, line 36: “intoxications” should read “raptures.”

p. 160, line 33: “self-intoxication” should read “exhilaration with myself.”

p. 167, line 9: “The Self” should read “Evening.”

p. 169, line 1: “youthful” might also be translated as “childish.”

p. 175, line 10: “I was astonished to savor” should read “I marveled at savoring.”

p. 177, line 6: “(oh, gallery 143)” should read “(oh, the gallery of Jacque's home).”

p. 184, line 30: “faciès” should read “facies.”

p. 184, line 32: “apellant” should read “appelant.”

p. 184, n. *, line 1: “letters” should read “words.”

p. 187, line 28: “intoxication” should read “exhilaration” both times.

p. 187, line 33: “daughter” should read “lady.”

p. 195, line 6: “love” should read “comfort.”

p. 199, n. 2, line 6: “published as Études [Studies]” should read “among others.”

p. 200, n. 4: the first sentence should read “This quotation is a modified version of ‘Qu'un cri sorte de là,’ from Charles Ferninand Ramuz's Adieu à beaucoup de personnages (1924); my translation.”

p. 201, n. 19: the first two sentences should be deleted.

p. 203, n. 42: “play” should read “dialogue.”

p. 210, n. 121, line 1: “most likely refers to” should read “might refer to.”

p. 210, n. 121, lines 5–8: “One might…204” should read “Jacques might also be the friend in question. See Mémoires, 83–85, 168–169, 125–131, 274–282; Memoirs, 60–61, 91–96, 120–122, 198–204.”

p. 211, n. 125: “Hélène” should read “Henriette;” after “sister”; insert “Henriette became known years later as the painter by the name of Hélène de Beauvoir.”

p. 220, n. 276, line 13: “Bertrande” should read “Bertrand;” delete “or Hélène.”

p. 222, n. 301, line 4: “and student of” should read “well-versed in.”

p. 222, n. 311: “Hegel's notion…532” should read “Félix Ravaisson's Essai sur la Métaphysique d'Aristote, vol. 1, p. 462 (first published in 1837 and later reprinted in philosophy textbooks such as Nicolas Joseph Schwartz's Manuel de l'histoire de la philosophe ancienne, p. 13). Ravaisson writes ‘Avec la réciprocité d'affection, l'amitié exige donc entre les amis la réciprocité absolue et comme l'identité de conscience.’ (Correspondence of February 15, 2011, from Toril Moi to Margaret Simons).”

p. 223, n. 324: after “word.” insert, “It was later determined that beatitude [béatitude] was the correct deciphering of this word.”

1927 (FOURTH NOTEBOOK)

p. 230, lines 16 and 17: “self-important” should read “autonomous.”

p. 230, line 29: “young girl” should read “young woman.”

p. 233, line 20: “Are the barbarians right” should read “Would the barbarians be right?”

p. 234, line 19: After “Équipes Sociales,” insert the following note: “The Château de Malmaison was formerly the residence of Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais.”

p. 236, lines 12 and 13: “the gathering of any dream leaves in the dreamer's heart” should read, “and without heartbreak leaves the harvesting of a dream to the heart that stole it.”

p. 239, line 19: “drunkenness” should read “euphoria.”

p. 239, line 22: “a snack” should read “the afternoon snack.”

p. 243, line 6: “verses” should read “worms.”

p. 245, line 27: “girls who go to l’École Normale” should read “Normaliennes [female Normalians].”

p. 245, line 33: “lemonade again” should read “another lemon squeezed dry.”

p. 247, line 22: “charitable work” should read “social work.”

p. 251, n. *, line 2: “only the life of the real exists because” should read “only life is real since.”

p. 255, line 21: “But arrive where?” should be in standard font.

p. 266, line 20: “thesis” should read “diplôme.”

p. 268, line 19: “woods” should read “Bois de Boulogne park.”

p. 273, line 2: “a snack” should read “the afternoon snack.”

p. 276, line 25: “will sacrifice” should read “would sacrifice.”

p. 279, line 35: delete “it” after “perceive.”

p. 287, line 1: “imagine” should read “represent.”

p. 287, line 23: “near to” should read “then about.”

p. 287, line 30: “dirty, poorly kept” should read “dirty students in need of bathing.”

p. 289, line 21: “questions (for the agrégation)” should read “subjects to be presented during the agrégation oral exams.”

p. 290, line 10: “…and you want a discreet heart…” should not be surrounded by quotation marks.

p. 291, line 33: “students” should read “students in middle or high school.”

p. 298, line 21: “lacking” should read “failed.”

p. 301, line 20: the heading “August 4” should read “August 3.”

p. 303, line 1: the heading “Thursday, August 5” should read “Thursday, August 4.”

p. 306, line 30: “The letter I wrote in response is there” should read “The letter I wrote is there and the response.”

p. 307, line 5: “more feverish” should read “no longer feverish.”

p. 312, line 29: “I compare a life weary of being to this painful return where a sole person kept going” should read “I compare it to this distressing return where one person alone maintained a life weary of being.”

p. 313, line 8: “assignments” should read “essays.”

p. 314, line 2: “at twilight every day” should read “with the passing of time.”

p. 315, line 14: “study groups” should read “Équipes Sociales.”

p. 315, line 21: “chatted seriously” should read “had a serious discussion.”

p. 316, line 6: “some of them in this home of mine” should read “definitely; in this home of mine.”

p. 317, line 10: “girlfriend” should read “friend.”

p. 317, line 11: “on a lakeside bench” should read “on a bench in the Bois de Boulogne park.”

p. 317, line 13–14: “sensitivity” should read “finesse.”

p. 318, line 2: “Nyu” should read “Nju.”

p. 318, line 18: “woods” should read “Bois de Boulogne park.”

p. 322, n. 33: “From Mallarmé's ‘Apparition,’ trans. Lewisohn. Beauvoir also quoted this poem on October 6, 1926” should read “From Mallarmé's ‘Apparition.’ See note 132 in Beauvoir's 1926 diary.”

p. 328, n. 115: “Critique de la raison pure [Critique of Pure Reason]” should read “Critique de la raison pratique [Critique of Practical Reason].”

p. 329, n. 129, should read as follows: The diplôme, or Diplôme d’études supérieures (DES), refers to a graduate thesis equivalent to today's Masters (maîtrise) in France (CJ 513). Following her success on the exams in ethics and psychology in the spring of 1928, Simone de Beauvoir met with Prof. Brunschvicg who suggested for her diplôme topic, “The Concept in Leibniz” (Beauvoir, Mémoires 369; Memoirs 266). The highly competitive exam, the agrégation, consisted of three essays written during three specified time periods, and one oral exam. The longest of the written exams was a six-hour essay written on a previously unannounced topic. The other two written exams were each four hours long and from subjects announced in advance. The oral exam included one lengthy lesson, on a topic not covered in coursework, for which the student had seven hours to prepare [la grande leçon], and several shorter oral quizzes on philosophers selected at random by the jury, including one each in French, Latin, Greek, and either English or German. Successful completion of the agrégation was required to teach in certain high schools [lycées] or in universities [Facultés] and guaranteed a job for life in the national French educational system (email correspondence between Sylvie Le Bon de Beauvoir and Barbara Klaw of July 16 and 19, 2007).

p. 330, n. 134: From “In 1925” through “Simone de Beauvoir, 49),” should read “The historic educational reforms of 1924 permitted women for the first time to attend the École Normale Supérieure on rue d'Ulm and to take all of the agrégation exams and c...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword to the Beauvoir Series
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• On Reading Beauvoir's Early Writings, 1926–1930, as a Philosophy of Self-Help
• Sixth Notebook: September 27, 1928–September 12, 1929
• Bibliography
• Index
• Errata for Diary of a Philosophy Student, Volume 1, 1926–27
• Contributors