She Came to Stay

Name: She Came to Stay
ISBN: 9787532747207

Simone de Beauvoir / 周以光Shanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaNov 2016

4.0

Word count: 275K words
Chapters: 21
ISBN: 9787532747207

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Summary

She Came to Stay is Beauvoir's first novel. When Beauvoir felt stuck in her literary work, Sartre asked her why she didn't write herself into her fiction. Inspired, she created She Came to Stay. In the novel she wrote not only about herself but also about her lifelong partner Sartre and their friend Olga. Upon publication, the book attracted wide attention and commentary, establishing Beauvoir's place in French literature. The model of love it portrays was one Beauvoir practiced throughout her life, and for which she was much criticized. Elegant Françoise, young and sharp-tongued Xavière, and Pierre, who loves both women, attempt to build a harmonious trio: "three people doing their utmost to love one another are all the more richly varied..." Yet the trio turns into a "love triangle," breeding jealousy, with suspicion and absurdity lurking everywhere. Françoise, who protects Xavière yet suffers torment from her, finally makes a decision.

Editor's review

As Simone de Beauvoir's first novel, She Came to Stay is not only a literary creation but also a profound exercise in existentialist thought applied to the realm of emotional relationships. Published in 1943, the work forms a diptych with Sartre's Nausea in existentialist literature, though Beauvoir's touch probes more delicately into the labyrinth of human relationships. The novel centers on a three-person relationship; on the surface it is an emotional entanglement, but in essence it is a literary enactment of philosophical themes such as freedom, responsibility, and the gaze of the Other. Through the three characters Françoise, Pierre, and Xavière, Beauvoir constructs a microscopic existentialist laboratory, in which each person defines the self through the gaze of others and bears the consequences of free choice. The tension of this relationship anticipates the theory of the "Other" she would later systematize in The Second Sex. As an editor, I believe the value of this book lies not only in its pioneering emotional narrative but also in how it weaves philosophical reflection seamlessly into the texture of daily life. The Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition is precisely translated, preserving to the greatest extent Beauvoir's cool, analytical style, so that Chinese readers can also feel the intellectual force of the original. For readers who want to understand how existentialism moved from the study into life, and who wish to trace the early formation of Beauvoir's thought, this book is an indispensable key.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in existentialist philosophy who wish to see its literary expression
Researchers or enthusiasts interested in women's writing and female-perspective narrative
Deep readers curious about complex human relationships and emotional structures
Readers who wish to trace the development of Beauvoir's thought and understand the prelude to The Second Sex

Not a good fit for

Readers of popular fiction seeking light, pleasant plots and clear moral conclusions
Readers impatient with philosophical speculation and psychological analysis, who prefer strongly action-driven narrative

Reading tips

Read alongside Beauvoir's philosophical work The Ethics of Ambiguity or a biography to understand her intellectual background
Pay attention to details of "the gaze" and "self-construction" in the narrative; this is key to understanding the characters' motives
Do not rush to make moral judgments about the characters; try to understand the existential dilemmas behind their choices

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
第一部
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第二部
第一章
第二章
第三章
第四章
第五章
第六章
第七章
第八章
第九章
第十章

FAQ

What is the connection between She Came to Stay and Beauvoir's later work The Second Sex?

She Came to Stay is an early exercise in Beauvoir's literary and philosophical thinking. Its exploration of the "Other," freedom, and situation laid the literary and intellectual groundwork for The Second Sex's systematic analysis of woman's situation as the "Other." The relational tension in the novel can be seen as a concrete rehearsal of her gender theory.

Is the three-person relationship in this book a purely emotional story?

By no means. The three-person relationship here is a philosophical experimental field, through which Beauvoir explores the core propositions of existentialism: how an individual maintains freedom within relationships with others, and how one bears ethical responsibility in free choice. The emotional entanglement is the surface; philosophical inquiry is the core.

Can readers without a philosophy background understand this book?

Yes. Beauvoir's literary talent makes her ideas highly readable. Readers can first enjoy it as a psychologically deep novel and feel the subtle tension of the characters' relationships. If the philosophical implications spark their interest, they can consult relevant interpretations for deeper exploration.

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About the author

Simone de Beauvoir Author · French · 1908–1986

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) was a French existentialist writer, philosopher, and pioneering feminist theorist, born and died in Paris. She graduated from the Sorbonne, passed the philosophy agrégation in 1929 and met Sartre, and in 1945 co-founded Les Temps modernes with Sartre and others. Her landmark work The Second Sex laid the foundation of modern feminist theory, examining women's condition through facts, myths, and lived experience; her novel The Mandarins won the 1954 Prix Goncourt. Her autobiographical works, including All Said and Done, Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, A Very Easy Death, and The Ethics of Ambiguity, combine philosophical reflection with literary quality and span biography, social and cultural criticism, and foreign literature, earning her a wide readership in the Chinese-speaking world.

周以光 Author

Zhou Yiguang is an author included in a Chinese book database, but the publicly available information about this person is quite limited: no clear record has been found of an English name, nationality, or dates of birth and death. The database contains two works by this author, the representative one being Female Guests (Nübin), usually classified under foreign literature. Judging from this classification and the nature of the work, Zhou Yiguang's writing appears to be connected with the translation and introduction of foreign literary works or with related literary creation, with themes leaning toward expressions of overseas literature and nuanced depictions of human relationships. The title Female Guests suggests that the work may center on female characters and their social circumstances, with an emphasis on psychological and emotional portrayal. Because the available material confirms only these limited facts, it is not yet possible to reconstruct a complete biography or the full scope of the author's writing; readers seeking further understanding will have to wait for more public information to emerge.