Simone de Beauvoir

This systematic study sets Beauvoir's fiction within the context of her life and works as a whole before examining each of her stories in detail: her earliest collection of tales; her first published novel; the novels of her 'moral period'; the prize-winning Les Mandarins; and her final stories, including one not published until six years after her death. The continuities and developments in her major themes are analysed, and the distinctive features of her artistic achievements assessed.