Simone de Beauvoir
Paperback | Pages: 240 pages Rating: 3.98 | 1758 Users | 105 Reviews
Declare Appertaining To Books The Blood of Others
| Title | : | The Blood of Others |
| Author | : | Simone de Beauvoir |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Twentieth Century Classics |
| Pages | : | Pages: 240 pages |
| Published | : | 1964 by Penguin Books (first published 1945) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Philosophy. Classics. Cultural. France. Literature |
Explanation Toward Books The Blood of Others
I’ve lately been reading Simone de Beauvoir’s novel The Blood of Others. In general I seem to be able to get a better feel for French existentialists from their fiction than their essays and lectures — at least where Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre are concerned. De Beauvoir is considerably less coy than they were, in their novels, about making her fiction primarily a way of illustrating existentialist philosophy.For example, this scene, in which Hélène ponders with her lover the question “why do we live?”:
“When I was small, I believed in God, and it was wonderful; at every moment of the day something was required of me; then it seemed to me that I must exist. It was an absolute necessity.”
I smiled sympathetically at her. “I think that where you go wrong is that you imagine that your reasons for living ought to fall on you ready-made from heaven, whereas we have to find them for ourselves.”
“But when we know that we’ve found them ourselves, we can’t believe in them. It’s only a way of deceiving ourselves.”
“Why? You don’t find them just like that — out of thin air. We discover them through the strength of a love or a desire, and then what we have found rises before us, solid and real.”
or this argument:
“People are free,” I said, “but only so far as they themselves are concerned; we can neither touch, foresee, nor insist on them using their liberty. That is what I find so painful; the intrinsic worth of an individual exists only for him, not for me; I can only get as far as his outward actions, and to him I am nothing more than an outer appearance, an absurd set of premises; premises that I do not even choose to be…”
“Then don’t get excited,” said Marcel; “if you don’t even make the choice, why punish yourself?”
“I don’t choose to exist, but I am. An absurdity that is responsible for itself, that’s exactly what I am.”
“Well, there must be something.”
“But there might be something else…”
or this steamy existentialist love scene:
“I need you because I love you,” I said.
You were in my arms, and my heart was heavy on account of those cowardly festive echoes and because I was lying to you. Crushed by all those things which existed in spite of me and from which I was separated only by my own anguish. There is nothing left. Nobody on that bed; before me lies a gaping void. And the anguish comes into its own, alone in the void, beyond the vanished things. I am alone. I am that anguish which exists alone, in spite of me; I am merged with that blind existence. In spite of me and yet issuing only from myself. Refuse to exist; I exist. Decide to exist; I exist. Refuse. Decide. I exist. There will be a dawn.
So, yeah… it gets a little heavy-handed at times. But sometimes a lay-it-on-thick melodrama is the best way of getting a philosophy across.
The major theme seems to be about the squeamishness conscientious people have about making choices that involve the sorts of risks to other people that would make them feel guilty if their choices turn out to have bad consequences. One “bad faith” way of dealing with this is to remain passive and to pretend that by not making a particular choice, you are not making any choice at all and therefore are not responsible for the consequences of your decision. Another way is to attach yourself to an organization or ideology that makes your decisions for you. But neither of these things really works; the decisions and their consequences are still yours, and you would have been better off just admitting this from the get go and acting accordingly.
List Books Conducive To The Blood of Others
| Original Title: | Le Sang des autres |
| ISBN: | 0140183337 (ISBN13: 9780140183337) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Suzon, Jean Blomart, Mm. Blomart, M. Blomart, Marcel Ledru, Jacques Ledru, Perrun, Martin (The Blood Of Others), Helene (The Blood Of Others), Laurent (The Blood Of Others), Louise (The Blood Of Others), Madeleine (The Blood Of Others), Elisabeth (The Blood Of Others), Denise (The Blood Of Others) |
| Setting: | Paris(France) |
Rating Appertaining To Books The Blood of Others
Ratings: 3.98 From 1758 Users | 105 ReviewsCritique Appertaining To Books The Blood of Others
exquisite example of existentialism through a novel, I love the themes of responsibility and self vs. other and what it means to be in relation to anOther. Though it takes place during pre-WWII, this novel started paralleling my life in a way that only the most magical books can do. Love Helene as a character.I have just read this - incredibly unusually for me - for the third time. Usually, only Shakespeare, Jane Austen and a few others have that honour from me. The disjointed style is challanging, but I can see that de Beauvoir's beleif in existentionalism shape it. Sometimes a character is seen from inside, and sometimes from the outside. Jean Blomart is sometimes 'I'and sometimes 'he'. Events which took place earlier, or will take place later in the text, intrude in the form of flashbacks or flash
Simone is brilliant. I love the way she writes, it's so poetical. you find so many beautiful sentences while reading her books. At the beginning I thought I was not going to fancy the plot so much, it seemed just chitty chat about the complications of entangled love lives but as it moves further you understand the context all of this was written on (WWII, the occupation of France by the nazis and the revolutionary communism) and it makes it all so freaking interesting.It's amazing to see how
A wonderful account of a group of self involved, drifting people finding themselves through giving themselves up to a cause bigger than themselves in the French Resistance. Even in this translation - which to be honest, left something to be desired - I found it as deeply moving on the second reading as I did the first.
The Blood of Others is a startlingly evocative demonstration of the struggles of France leading into the Nazi invasion and armistice. It delves deeply into the problems with class, political power, and philosophical disassociation of the time, while also managing to paint a heartrending but hopeful image of love. Simone de Beauvoir digs so deep into the psychology of her characters that at times it feels indecent. At times the characters act irrationally, even despicably at a few moments, in
Ive lately been reading Simone de Beauvoirs novel The Blood of Others. In general I seem to be able to get a better feel for French existentialists from their fiction than their essays and lectures at least where Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre are concerned. De Beauvoir is considerably less coy than they were, in their novels, about making her fiction primarily a way of illustrating existentialist philosophy.For example, this scene, in which Hélène ponders with her lover the question why do
They say no man is an island. Whether we wish it or not our lives are deeply woven with the lives of others. Our decisions send ripples out from our bodies. What is freedom if we are always responsible for the lives and suffering of others? In The Blood of Others, de Beauvoir probes the very questions of existence, freedom, and personal responsibility through the story of a group of young people confronted with German occupation during WWII. Equal measures humane and intellectual. I really
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