I'm unsure what a 'rufous odour' smells like, but I am more intrigued by Beauvoir's comment that 'she had a pungent fecal odour which made things pretty unpleasant'. Is Beauvoir merely claiming that she smelled like shit, or were they engaged in some sort of coprophagous kink? If the latter, that might qualify as leading someone into debauchery (or whatever the phrase was).
That's from a complaint filed by Sorokine's mother. The age of consent in France was then 13, Kirkpatrick explains. Should we take the complaint of an angry mother as the gospel? This is all under the Vichy government, which was ultra-conservative.
I was once a big Sartre fan, but with the years my opinion had gone downhill. Then one night, with insomnia, I bought Bernard Henri Levy's book, the Century of Sartre. I don't know why but I often buy books on impulse when I can't sleep. It's very long, Levy has read everything Sartre wrote and although he has no sympathy for Sartre's politics, he seduces the reader into liking Sartre once again. If you haven't read it, I recommend it.
Beauvoir was finally fired for her reading list as much as for her sex llife. She had the young women read Gide and Proust, who were very "scandalous" by the standards of provincial France and that got the authorities investigating her. I'll take a look at exactly what Kirkpatrick says later. I read the book at least 5 years ago and my memory is not great.
In 1942 the age of consent for homosexual relations was raised to 23 by the Vichy Government, but previous to that the relations Beauvoir had were legal.
Yes, but I think she's (possibly) wrong. It's possibly not about the age of consent per se, but about "inciting a minor to debauchery". (I've seen the text of the police complaint.)
I have the Kate Kirkpatrick biography of Beauvoir and she indicates, as I recall correctly, that these young women were all over the legal age of consent in France at the time. If you closely examine the mating history of almost everyone, myself included, you'll find some seedy details if you measure them by contemporary progressive standards, standards which at times seem a bit puritanical to me, a survivor from the 60's.
I'm not sure Kirkpatrick quite has that right. (I've seen the same claim, but it's hard to get to the truth of matters.)
Beauvoir was subject to a police investigation (which seems odd if it's straightforwardly a matter of the age of consent). It seems that there was a law to do with "inciting a minor to debauchery"--but it's difficult to find out exactly (I tried!)
I'm not sure the "contemporary progressive standards" argument works. As you'll see in Part 3, the mother of Nathalie Sorokine makes exactly the sort of complaint about Beauvoir's behaviour that one would expect today (i.e., asymmetrical power, consent is distorted, etc).
I'm unsure what a 'rufous odour' smells like, but I am more intrigued by Beauvoir's comment that 'she had a pungent fecal odour which made things pretty unpleasant'. Is Beauvoir merely claiming that she smelled like shit, or were they engaged in some sort of coprophagous kink? If the latter, that might qualify as leading someone into debauchery (or whatever the phrase was).
Kirkpatrick, p. 180
That's from a complaint filed by Sorokine's mother. The age of consent in France was then 13, Kirkpatrick explains. Should we take the complaint of an angry mother as the gospel? This is all under the Vichy government, which was ultra-conservative.
Well, Beauvior's diary and letters to Sartre confirm the substance of the complaint (even if Sorokine's mother's motives were suspect).
Read Pt 3 on Tuesday! :)
Looking forward to the next post chapter.
I was once a big Sartre fan, but with the years my opinion had gone downhill. Then one night, with insomnia, I bought Bernard Henri Levy's book, the Century of Sartre. I don't know why but I often buy books on impulse when I can't sleep. It's very long, Levy has read everything Sartre wrote and although he has no sympathy for Sartre's politics, he seduces the reader into liking Sartre once again. If you haven't read it, I recommend it.
Beauvoir was finally fired for her reading list as much as for her sex llife. She had the young women read Gide and Proust, who were very "scandalous" by the standards of provincial France and that got the authorities investigating her. I'll take a look at exactly what Kirkpatrick says later. I read the book at least 5 years ago and my memory is not great.
Yes, that's true (it's all in part 3), but only because they all systematically lied to the authorities.
Her license to teach was actually reinstated in 1945.
Kirkpatrick, p. 170, Spanish translation.
In 1942 the age of consent for homosexual relations was raised to 23 by the Vichy Government, but previous to that the relations Beauvoir had were legal.
Yes, but I think she's (possibly) wrong. It's possibly not about the age of consent per se, but about "inciting a minor to debauchery". (I've seen the text of the police complaint.)
I have the Kate Kirkpatrick biography of Beauvoir and she indicates, as I recall correctly, that these young women were all over the legal age of consent in France at the time. If you closely examine the mating history of almost everyone, myself included, you'll find some seedy details if you measure them by contemporary progressive standards, standards which at times seem a bit puritanical to me, a survivor from the 60's.
I'm not sure Kirkpatrick quite has that right. (I've seen the same claim, but it's hard to get to the truth of matters.)
Beauvoir was subject to a police investigation (which seems odd if it's straightforwardly a matter of the age of consent). It seems that there was a law to do with "inciting a minor to debauchery"--but it's difficult to find out exactly (I tried!)
I'm not sure the "contemporary progressive standards" argument works. As you'll see in Part 3, the mother of Nathalie Sorokine makes exactly the sort of complaint about Beauvoir's behaviour that one would expect today (i.e., asymmetrical power, consent is distorted, etc).