SdB panel

I went to a Simone de Beauvior panel discussion over the weekend. The event was at The National Museum of Women in the Arts. The panel consisted of Dr. Susan Suleiman of Harvard, Constance Borde, Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, and Dr. Debra Bergoffen of both American University and George Mason University.

I had been really looking forward to the panel, as I hadn't been to any lectures or the like in a while. Justin, a friend from grad school, had mentioned on Facebook that he would be going. I messaged him when I arrived, but sadly he couldn't make it. I then noticed Richard, another friend from grad school , with who I shared most of my classes at Mason. It was good to catch up with him. He had a couple of his students with him. We promised to try to grab a beer sometime soon.

Before the panel kicked off, the ladies gave brief lectures involving their expertise on de Beauvior.

Suleiman kicked things off. She mainly spoke about de Beauvoir's novel The Mandarins. I found the lecture to be fascinating, because I have only experienced de Beauvoir as a philosopher.  Suleiman did a fab job of mapping out the connections between the fictional characters of the novel and the real people in de Beauvoir's life that they were inspired by.  I think that I'll try to get my hands on a copy, and give it a go.

Borde and Malovany-Chevallier have recently, relatively speaking, released a new translation of de Beauvoir's The Second Sex. As an American who can barely stammer through English, I have nothing but respect for translators. So, it was enlightening to hear them discuss to challenges of their undertaking.

Bringing up the rear, Bergoffen explained a bit of de Beauvoir's philosophy. This was the section I was most familiar with. Richard had taken one of Begoffen's classes while she was still teaching at Mason. He loved it. I never got to take her.

After the lectures, all the ladies came back out on stage together for the panel. There was a good back and forth with the audience. The questions mostly involved the nature of the translation, how de Beauvoir's ideas matched or failed to match up with current feminism, and her personal and professional relationships. Everything was overwhelmingly positive. No one brought up anything negative about de Beauvoir including her history of statutory rape. I thought that it was worth bringing up since the topic of de Beauvoir's work to bring the sexual assault of women to the forefront. No one else did, and I didn't feel like breaking the vibe. So, I didn't bring it up to the panel.

When the panel had concluded, I approached Dr. Bergoffen. I was wearing my George Mason t-shirt, and I was glad to see that it made her happy. I ask her if de Beauvoir ever answered for her habit of sleeping with underage students? She said that de Beauvoir absolutely refused to even admit that what she did was wrong at all. Bergoffen added that in their letters to each other that de Beauvoir and Sartre could be awful in how they spoke of other people. I was glad the Dr. Bergoffen found this as disturbing as I did.

I hit the road after that. It was an excellent event.

Despite her moral failings, I do find de Beauvoir, and her philosophy, worthy of study.