She Came to Stay

Name: She Came to Stay
ISBN: 9787532795536

Simone de BeauvoirShanghai Translation Publishing House2024

3.7

Word count: 275K words
Chapters: 4
Series: Simone de Beauvoir Works Series
ISBN: 9787532795536

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Summary

She Came to Stay (L'Invitée), Simone de Beauvoir's debut novel, was published in France by Gallimard in 1943 and shortlisted for that year's Prix Goncourt. Regarded as the work that established her place in French letters, it is also a novel with a strong autobiographical dimension. The story centers on a couple: Pierre and Françoise, who for years have supported each other and granted each other freedom, their lives and thoughts tightly intertwined. Then a young woman, Xavière, is brought into their lives, and the three attempt to form a "trio" that transcends jealousy and possession, believing that "three people who love each other with all their might are more colorful." The ideal of harmony soon falters, however, as power, dependence, suspicion, and exhaustion surface one by one. Françoise, who devotes herself to protecting Xavière, finally makes her own decision after prolonged emotional strain. The novel portrays the conflict between love and freedom with extraordinary subtlety, unfolding in its narrative the philosophical question Beauvoir pondered for years: the opposition between self and other. The epigraph quotes Hegel: "Every consciousness seeks the death of the other." Merleau-Ponty called it "the invention of a new philosophical method of writing." The Chinese edition, translated by Zhou Yiguang, was published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House in 2024 in the "Simone de Beauvoir Works Series."

Editor's review

读波伏瓦，很多人从《第二性》开始，但若想看见这些观念如何在一个人的血肉与情感里生长，《女宾》是不可绕过的入口。它是波伏瓦的第一部小说，也是她把自身经验转化为文学与哲学的第一次尝试：一对伴侣与一位年轻女子的“三重奏”，在理想主义的外壳下逐渐露出人与人之间无法抹平的裂隙。这本书的力量不在于戏剧化的情节，而在于那种近乎残酷的诚实——嫉妒、算计、自我欺骗、以慷慨为名的支配，都被一一照亮。译者是法语文学翻译者周以光，译文保留了原作细密的心理层次与克制而绵长的叙述节奏。对于想理解存在主义文学如何写作、想看清亲密关系中“自由”与“占有”如何互相纠缠的读者，这是一本值得慢读、反复读的书。

Who it's for

A good fit for

喜欢法国文学与存在主义小说的读者
读过《第二性》、想了解波伏瓦文学创作的读者
对亲密关系、自由与嫉妒等主题有思考兴趣的读者
习惯慢节奏心理描写、不追求强情节的读者

Not a good fit for

期待快节奏情节与强反转的读者
对三人关系、情感纠葛题材反感或不适的读者
希望获得明确道德结论或答案式阅读的读者

Reading tips

先读卷首题词与引文，把握“自我与他者”这一哲学线索，再进入叙事。
留意弗朗索瓦丝的视角与自我辩解，把她当作不可靠的叙述者来读。
可与《第二性》中对女性处境的论述对照阅读，体会观念与小说的互文。
全书近五百页、节奏偏慢，建议每次读一两章并随手记下情感变化的节点。

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.

Epigraph
Quotation
Part One (Chapters 1–8)
Part Two (Chapters 1–10)

FAQ

《女宾》是波伏瓦的处女作吗？

是。《女宾》是波伏瓦出版的第一部小说，1943年由伽利玛出版社在法国出版，原名L'Invitée，英译本名为She Came to Stay。该书入围当年龚古尔文学奖，被认为是奠定她文坛地位的作品。

这本书和萨特、奥尔嘉的真实经历有关吗？

有密切关系。小说被视为自传性纪实小说，人物原型通常被认为对应波伏瓦本人、她的终身伴侣萨特以及他们的朋友奥尔嘉。波伏瓦在创作困顿之际，听从萨特建议把自己写进作品，由此写成此书。

没读过《第二性》能读懂吗？

完全可以。小说本身是独立完整的叙事，不依赖哲学术语；了解一些存在主义背景会读得更透，但不了解也不影响理解人物关系与情感走向。

中文版是哪个译本？

目前流传较广的是周以光翻译、上海译文出版社出版的版本；2024年版为平装，约499页，收入“西蒙娜·德·波伏瓦作品系列”，ISBN为9787532795536。

书里真的发生了谋杀或极端情节吗？

小说的核心是三人关系中的情感博弈与心理对抗，结局涉及弗朗索瓦丝的重大决定。建议不带着“悬疑”预期去读，把注意力放在人物心理与哲思层面，阅读体验会更完整。

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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.