A Dangerous Liaison : A Revelatory New Biography of Simon De Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre

The renowned biographer offers a tale of intellectual and romantic rivalry in this "dazzling portrait of Sartre and De Beauvoir's relationship" ( The Guardian ). Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir were two of the twentieth century's most prominent authors and philosophers, and the story of their decades-long relationship is one of the most famous literary romances of all time. From the corridors of the Sorbonne to the cafés of Paris's Left Bank, Sartre and de Beauvoir were intimate rivals in both intellectual debate and sexual conquest. In A Dangerous Liaison, Carole Seymour-Jones vividly describes how the beautiful and gifted de Beauvoir fell in love with the squinting, arrogant, hard-drinking Sartre. We learn about that first summer of 1929, filled with heated debates and dangerous ideas that led them to experiment with new ways of living. We hear how Sartre compromised with the Nazis and fell into a Soviet honey-trap. And, thanks to recently discovered letters written by the avowed feminist de Beauvoir, Seymour-Jones reveals the full story behind the couple's philosophy of free love, including de Beauvoir's lesbianism and her pimping of younger girls for Sartre in order to keep his love. **The renowned biographer offers a tale of intellectual and romantic rivalry in this "dazzling portrait of Sartre and De Beauvoir's relationship" (__The Guardian__).** Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir were two of the twentieth century's most prominent authors and philosophers, and the story of their decades-long relationship is one of the most famous literary romances of all time. From the corridors of the Sorbonne to the cafés of Paris's Left Bank, Sartre and de Beauvoir were intimate rivals in both intellectual debate and sexual conquest. In , Carole Seymour-Jones vividly describes how the beautiful and gifted de Beauvoir fell in love with the squinting, arrogant, hard-drinking Sartre. We learn about that first summer of 1929, filled with heated debates and dangerous ideas that led them to experiment with new ways of living. We hear how Sartre compromised with the Nazis and fell into a Soviet honey-trap. And, thanks to recently discovered letters written by the avowed feminist de Beauvoir, Seymour-Jones reveals the full story behind the couple's philosophy of free love, including de Beauvoir's lesbianism and her pimping of younger girls for Sartre in order to keep his love. A Dangerous Liaison tells the intense, passionate, and sometimes painful story of how two brilliant free-thinkers, lovers, and rivals came to share a relationship that lasted more than fifty years.Moving from the corridors of the Sorbonne to the cafés of Paris's Left Bank, we discover how the strikingly beautiful and gifted young Simone DeBeauvoir came to fall in love with the squinting, arrogant, hard- drinking Jean-Paul Sartre. We learn about that first summer of 1929, filled with heated debates that went on long into the night, sexual rivalry and betrayal, and the dangerous ideas that led people to experiment with new ways of behaving. We hear how Sartre compromised with the Nazis and fell into a Soviet honey-trap. And, thanks to recently discovered letters written by the avowed feminist DeBeauvoir, Seymour-Jones reveals the darker, more dangerous side to the couple's philosophy of free love, including Simone's lesbianism and her pimping of younger girls for Jean-Paul in order to keep his love. Finally available in the U.S., this is a compelling and fascinating account of what lay behind the legend that this brilliant, tempestuous couple created. A Dangerous Liaison tells the intense, passionate, and sometimes-painful story of how two brilliant freethinkers, lovers, and rivals came to share a relationship that lasted more than 50 years. This is the first dual biography of Simone De Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sarte Traces the more than fifty-year relationship shared by the writing-philosophy duo, describing it was shaped by evolving modes of thought as well as Sartre's alcoholism, DeBeauvoir's lesbianism, and their controversial political affiliations.