Simone de Beauvoir – 20th-century French writer and philosopher, author of “The Second Sex” and the novel “The Mandarins” (Prix Goncourt). Intellectual partner of Jean-Paul Sartre, she was a central figure in feminism. Her work fuses existentialism, reflections on freedom, and women’s emancipation.
📚 Her book “The Second Sex” (1949) became the “bible” of modern feminism. 🎓 She was the second woman in France to pass the philosophy agrégation exam. 💡 With Sartre, she formed the “existentialist couple” – never married, always united. 🌍 Travelled widely – USA, China, Africa – inspiring her writings. 📖 Supported the Algerian independence movement. 🖋 Authored philosophy, novels, and multi-volume memoirs. 🏆 Won the Prix Goncourt for “The Mandarins.” 📺 Advocated women’s rights, abortion, and contraception in the 1970s. 🌈 Her open relationships were controversial at the time. 😮 Odd fact: in youth she dreamed of becoming a nun. 😂 Funny: joked she wore men’s jackets “because they hide manuscripts better.”