A conversation about Inseparable, a never-before-published novel by Simone de Beauvoir, of an intense and vivid girlhood friendship in a post-WWI France of clashing ideals and religious hypocrisy. From the moment Sylvie and Andrée meet in their Parisian day school, they see in each other an accomplice with whom to confront the mysteries of girlhood.  Despite their different natures they rely on each other to safeguard their secrets while entering adulthood in a world that did not pay much attention to the wills and desires of young women. Deemed too intimate to publish during Simone de Beauvoir’s life, Inseparable offers fresh insight into the groundbreaking feminist’s own coming-of-age; her transformative, tragic friendship with her childhood friend Zaza Lacoin; and how her youthful relationships shaped her philosophy.

Kate Kirkpatrick (Becoming Beauvoir: A Life) and Judith G. Coffin (Sex, Love, and Letters: Writing Simone de Beauvoir) talk with Danielle Bobker (The Closet: The Eighteenth Century Architecture of Intimacy) about Inseparable and the ways that misogyny killed off so much of what was uniquely alive and precious in de Beauvoir’s women as they tried determining their own life stories.

About this event’s guests:
Kate Kirkpatrick
Judith G Coffin
Danielle Bobker

Photo of Simone de Beauvoir courtesy of The Irving Penn Foundation.

Toronto Public Library is committed to accessibility. Please call or email us if you are Deaf or have a disability and would like to request accommodation to participate in this program. Please let us know as far in advance as possible and we will do our best to meet your request. At least three weeks’ notice is preferred. Phone 416-393-7099 or email accessibleservices@tpl.ca

Simone de Beauvoir: Inseparable